Metin Çavuş (Coordinator)
Assist. Professor, PhD

Metin Çavuş studied Engineering at İTÜ (BSc) and Art and Design at YTÜ (master’s and PhD). Since 2014, he has been a member of the Communication Design Department at Özyeğin University, teaching photography, video, and interactive cinema. Çavuş is a filmmaker and photographer. His documentary film ‘Kutluğ Ataman’ was released as a DVD, and his photo book on the Istanbul City Walls was published by the Özyeğin University Press. His areas of specialty are film, photography, narrative structures, and interactive cinema.

Zeynep Merve Uygun
Assist. Professor, PhD

Zeynep Merve Uygun has taken part in many international film festivals and workshops as a mentor, tutor and also jury member. Her animated and experiemental documentaries such as IN OUT and Zigzag, besides receving many international awards, have been screened at more than 50 international film festivals including Cannes, Boston Turkish Film Festival, Golden Orange and IF Istanbul (Istanbul Independent Film Festival). Her research interests include visualisation of academic research,  visual representation of body and space in documentary film, digital ethnography, and new media documentaries (interactive documentary, digital storytelling, transmedia documentary etc.).

Volkan Mengi
Instructor, MSc

He graduated with a bachelor degree in Graphic Design: Visual Communications at University for the Creative Arts. He joined various classical guitar societies in England during this period and achieved success in classical guitar contests, received awards. He earned his master degree from London Metropolitan University, Digital Film and Animation MA course. He completed a 1-year guitar making course at London Met, Sir John Cass School of Art, Media Design, by making the vihuela instrument. Later, in Spain and Poland, he held animation workshops. His doctoral education on video games, which started in 2017 at Hungarian University of Fine Arts with Hungarian state scholarship, is still ongoing. Except for the universities where he studied, he worked as a lecturer at Eötvös Loránd University in 2019-2020. He participated in exhibitions in Austria, Czech Republic, England, Germany and Hungary. His research interests lie primarily in the fields of 2D/3D animation, video games and data visualization.

Zeliha İnci Asal
Research Assistant, MSc

Zeliha İnci Asal complete Bachelor’s degree in Communication Design from Istanbul Kultur University in 2009 and completed a master’s degree in Bahceşehir University Film and Television Department in 2019. Asal is continuing her Ph.D. in Bahceşehir University Cinema and Media Studies Department. She gained field experience by working as assistant director, director, and general coordinator for a total of 10 years in cinema, advertising, and video platforms. She worked as a lecturer in the Visual and Media Communication departments of Beykoz University Vocational School for 4 years, giving theoretical and practical courses in the fields of photography, video editing, and visual perception. Asal is continuing to produce content for video platforms in addition to analog photography and short film projects. Lately, she focused on video streaming platforms and the relationship between cinema and philosophy in the academic field.

Onur Turgut
Research Assistant, MSc

Onur  Turgut  received  his  Bachelor’s degree  from  Visual  Communication  Design  department at  Kocaeli  University.  He gratuated  master’s  degree  on  Radio Cinema  and Television  at  Istanbul  University.  His  thesis  topic  is  “Cinephiles  Taste  Preferences: A Bourdieucian Approach.” He continues his doctoral studies at the same school. Turgut  worked  as  a  designer  and  director  before  joining  Özyeğin  University.  His interest  areas  include  Audience  in  Cinema,  Cinema  Sociology  and  Photo  and  Video Works.

Yiğitcan Tumri
Master Student, BSc
Yiğitcan Tumri completed his undergraduate degree at Özyeğin University and continues his education life with a Master’s degree in Özyeğin University’s Design, Technology and Society program. Tumri, who has worked in various fields of photography and video, has improved himself in the sector by working as a director in various productions and at the same time working with different disciplines. He generally continues to improve himself by working in the studio environment and shooting outdoors. He received great acclaim with his various theatrical promotional videos, documentaries and photo series. He has won degrees in various competitions he participated in.
Çağla Irmak Badem
Bachelor Student

Çağla Irmak Badem is a senior student in Communication Design at Ozyegin University Faculty of Architecture and Design. Çağla, has experienced working in several art and design environments which mostly focused on the subjects that are sustainability, ethics and gender equality. She is curious and improved herself in animation, video art, illustration, generative art and more. She continues her studies and organising art & culture events and projects with Kultur und Art Iniative. Her works has selected in several film festivals and design conferences. Çağla is passionate about creating mixed-media animations on the environmental, social and psychological issues. She believes that communicating in any form and with any medium is the key to love and understand. Therefore, she wants to embrace animation in order to increase empathy between people, nature and the universe.