Oxford University Opens a Center at Bahçeşehir

Oxford University, one of the world's best educational institutions, is coming to Türkiye. SEESOX (South East European Studies at Oxford), a think tank affiliated with Oxford, will open a center at Bahçeşehir University to carry out Southeast European studies.

Scientific meetings, research and conferences will be organized at the center to be established as a result of the cooperation between Bahçeşehir University and Oxford University. Platforms bringing together journalists, academics, politicians and civil society organizations will be created.

Relations that began with the participation of SEESOX Head Kalypso Nicolaidis in the event "The Europe–Türkiye Project: Reflections on the Relationship in 2030," held at Bahçeşehir University, led to the birth of a new center in Istanbul.

Considering Türkiye's importance in the region, SEESOX-Istanbul is coming to Türkiye with the goal of being a center where interdisciplinary research on the entire region, centered on the Balkans and the Middle East, will be conducted and its results shared with the public. In this way, SEESOX-Istanbul will become a meeting place for leading experts from the surrounding region, stretching from Belgrade to Beirut and from Athens to Cairo, particularly Türkiye, the UK and the European Union. The center's first activity will take place at Bahçeşehir University in September. Launching its work in Türkiye with an international conference titled "New Horizons in Turkish–Greek Connections in the Middle East and the Balkans," SEESOX-Istanbul will use the conference to examine the new opportunities and challenges in Turkish–Greek relations in light of the rapprochement process that has continued for ten years. Nora Fisher Onar of Bahçeşehir University will serve as Director of the SEESOX-Istanbul Center.

SEESOX-Istanbul will also organize every year, open to all undergraduate and graduate students at Bahçeşehir University, the "Bahçeşehir Studentship at Oxford" competition. The topic of the first year's competition has been set as "New Horizons in Turkish–Greek Relations in the Middle East and the Balkans." Research proposals developed by candidate students will be evaluated by a joint Bahçeşehir–Oxford jury, and the winning student will spend 4 weeks at Oxford with all expenses covered. In addition, an Oxford faculty member will provide guidance to the Bahçeşehir University student in their research.