INVITED SPEAKERS

Prof. Dr. Mehmet Karakaş was born in 1969 in Tokat/Reşadiye. After completing his primary and secondary education in Tokat, he enrolled in Istanbul University, Department of Sociology in 1988; he completed his master's and doctoral studies at the same university between 1992 and 1996. He received the title of associate professor in the field of sociology in 2005 and the title of professor in 2011.

He started his working life as a research assistant at Afyon Kocatepe University (AKU) in 1993. He served as the head of the sociology department, where he was appointed as the founding department head, between 1997-2011 and 2008-2019. He served as Director of AKÜ Social Sciences Institute between 2007-2012, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences between 2012-2015, Advisor to the Rector between 2011-2015, and Director of the Social Applications and Research Center between 2014-2019. His academic areas of expertise include topics such as Sociology of Identities, Urban Sociology, Political Sociology, Ethnicity and Nationalisms, Sociology of Consumption, Poverty, Globalization, History of Turkish Thought and Police Research.

Prof. Dr. Mehmet Karakaş, who was appointed as the Rector of Afyon Kocatepe University on April 18, 2019, continued this duty until June 5, 2023, and was reappointed to the same position by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on June 6, 2023.

Born in 1968 in Kahramanmaraş, Muhsin Kar completed his undergraduate studies at Ankara University, Faculty of Political Sciences, Department of Economics. He continued his postgraduate studies in the UK, earning a master's degree in Economic Development at the University of Leicester and a PhD in Economics at Loughborough University. He was a visiting scholar at the University of Southern California in the USA, and received the titles of Associate Professor in 2005 and Professor in 2011 in the field of macroeconomics. He carried out his academic studies at the departments of economics at Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University, Çukurova University, Necmettin Erbakan University and Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University. Mr. Kar served as co-head of department, head of department, deputy director, deputy dean, dean and deputy rector at the universities where he worked. From 2017 to 2021, he served as the Rector of Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University.

In addition to the projects supported by the State Planning Organization and the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK), Mr. Kar took a role as a Bologna Expert in the Bologna Project supported by the Turkish National Agency and carried out by the Council of Higher Education (CoHE), and was elected as the President of the Turkish Higher Education Quality Council on 31 January 2022.  Mr. Kar has conducted studies primarily on the interaction between the financial and real sectors, as well as economic development, growth, foreign direct investment, European integration, and transition economies. He has published in various national/international journals and editorial books, and is a full member of the Turkish Academy of Sciences (TÜBA).

Muhsin Kar has been a Member of the Board of the CBRT since 28 March 2023.