Mert Ateşsal
Mert received his BA in Cultural Studies from Sabancı University along with minors in Philosophy, Art Theory and Criticism, and Gender Studies. He then completed his MA in Philosophy at Bilkent University with a thesis entitled “Do We Need Philosophical Ethics? The Case Against a Unified Ethical Methodology.” His primary areas of interest are metaethics, normative ethics, political philosophy and aesthetics.
Email: mert.atessal@bilkent.edu.tr
Room: H-Z41
Berk Celayir
Berk received his BA and MA in Philosophy from Bilkent University. He is one of the founders of Prokopton: Bilkent Undergraduate Journal of Philosophy and serves as the Editor-in-Chief of Öncül Analitik Felsefe Dergisi. He is also the author of ‘Bilimin Sınırları: Bilim Neyi, Ne Kadar, Nasıl Bilebilir?‘ His primary areas of interest are Philosophy of Mind, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Science, and Philosophy of Religion.
Email: berk.celayir@bilkent.edu.tr
Room: H-Z41
Zeynep Çelik
Zeynep received her BA in English Language and Literature (2020), and MA in Philosophy (2022) from Bilkent University. Her primary research interests are in Social Ontology, Social and Political Philosophy, and Aesthetics. More specifically, the connection between these three fields. Additional areas of interest include Philosophy of AI, Philosophy of Fiction, and a little bit of Metaphysics. In August 2022 she presented her paper entitled “Collective Authorship in Theatrical Works” at the Social Ontology & Collective Intentionality conference at the University of Vienna. She presented the same paper to the annual Society for Women in Philosophy in Turkey (SWIP-TR) conference in December 2022.
Email: imzeynep@gmail.com
Room: H-Z49
Sena Çiftci
Sena received her BA and MA in Bilkent Philosophy. Her primary research interests are focused on gender-related topics, specifically, topics like Black women’s history, trans women, non-binarity, media, and historical feminist studies. She is also interested in working on Simone De Beauvoir and Mary Wollstonecraft. Moreover, she is interested in researching political and international relations studies, and their intersection with philosophy. She presented her paper entitled ‘A Guide Principle for Increasing Positiveness and Freedom Concerning Women’s Sexuality’ at the Society for Women in Philosophy in Turkey (SWIP-TR) conference.
Email: sena.ciftci@bilkent.edu.tr
Room: H-Z41
Bengü Demirtaş
Bengü obtained her BA in Western Languages and Literatures with a double major in Philosophy at Boğaziçi University. She later received her MA in Western Literature at KU Leuven. Her primary research interests are social and political philosophy and philosophy of literature. In July 2024 she will be presenting as part of the SWIP panel at the Joint Session of the Mind and Aristotelian Societies. In October 2024 she participated in the inaugural Princeton-Bilkent Workshop on the History and Philosophy of Science.
Email: bengu.demirtas@bilkent.edu.tr
Room: G-B36
Ziad Eldanaf
Ziad holds both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Philosophy from the American University of Beirut, complemented by a minor in Arabic Language and Literature. With over seven years of teaching experience, he served as an instructor of record at AUB, and has taught a multitude of subjects. His specialization centers on Ontology, particularly in the realm of Hylomorphism, while maintaining a keen interest for Philosophy of Science and Critical Theory. In October 2024 he participated in the inaugural Princeton-Bilkent Workshop on the History and Philosophy of Science.
Email: ziad.eldanaf@bilkent.edu.tr
Room:G-B36
Sina Ersan
Sina received their BA in Philosophy with a certificate in Film Studies at Boğaziçi University in 2022. They obtained their MA in Philosophy at Università della Svizzera Italiana with a thesis titled “An Extension to Judith Butler’s Gender Performativity Theory: Gender queer Inclusiveness & Sexual Orientation Performativity” in 2024. Their main interests are philosophy of physics, queer studies, and philosophy of mind. They also have a huge interest in literature and football.
Email: sina.ersan@bilkent.edu.tr
Room: G-B36
Ahmet Gönüllü
Ahmet completed his MA degree in Philosophy at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Before that he completed a BA degree in Philosophy at Bilkent University, with a minor in Political Science. His primary research interests are collective action and responsibility, global justice, the state, and ethics. In August 2023 Ahmet presented his paper entitled “Is the State the Polity?” at the 11th European Congress of Analytic Philosophy in Vienna. In September 2022 he presented his paper on “We-responsibility” at the Themes from Raimo Tuomela’s Social Ontology workshop at the University of Bucharest. In July 2024, he presented his paper on the question of how the state involves citizens in governance at the Association for Social and Political Philosophy Conference at Swansea University. In 2024 Ahmet was selected as a Global Fellow for Academics Stand Against Poverty (ASAP). In addition, Ahmet has been awarded an Ernst Mach Grant to conduct research at the University of Vienna from October 2024 to June 2025. He has also awarded a TÜBİTAK grant to pursue separate research at the same institution from July 2025 to March 2026.
Email: ahmet.gonullu@bilkent.edu.tr
Room: G-B36
M. Maşuk Şimşek
Maşuk received his BA in Philosophy and Psychology from Bogazici University and MA in Philosophy from Central European University. He is primarily interested in metaphysics of infinity and related topics in philosophy of mind, philosophy of science and philosophy of religion. In 2022 he presented his paper on “Determination Relations and Metaphysical Explanations” at the Varieties of Non-Wellfoundedness Workshop in Ligerz, Switzerland. That paper has now forthcoming in in the journal Dialectica. In October 2024 he participated in the inaugural Princeton-Bilkent Workshop on the History and Philosophy of Science.
Email: masuk.simsek@bilkent.edu.tr
Room: G-B36
Gülden Alaz Meriç
Alaz received both her BA and MA in Philosophy from Middle East Technical University. Her primary research interests lie in developing philosophical approaches to contemporary social challenges, particularly stereotypes, implicit bias, and discrimination. Additionally, she is interested in logic and has served as a teaching assistant for Introduction to Logic since Fall 2022, with a focus on argumentation, and critical thinking. In October 2023 and September 2024, Alaz presented her papers: “On the Nature of Stereotypes” and “Unveiling Sexist Fallacies: Integrating Philosophical Analysis with Practical AI Applications” at the CEPDISC conferences on discrimination in Aarhus, Denmark. She is also passionate about making philosophy accessible to everyone, viewing it as an integral part of everyday life. To share this vision, she writes about philosophical themes found in films, music, and daily experiences on www.artialan.com.
Email: alaz.meric@bilkent.edu.tr
Room: tbd
Berkay Ozar
Berkay received his BS in Psychology from Middle East Technical University and MA in Philosophy from Bilkent University, with a thesis entitled “Reference, Necessity, and Social Terms“. His current research interests lie at the intersection of social ontology, philosophy of language, and modal metaphysics. He is also interested in philosophy of cognitive science. In July 2024 her will be presenting his paper entitled “A Heterogeneous Approach to Social Ontology” at the annual conference of the International Social Ontology Society at Duke University.
Email: berkay.ozar@bilkent.edu.tr
Room: H-Z41
Evrensel Sebep
Evrensel received his BA in Politics and History from Newcastle University. He then completed his MA in Philosophy at the University of Bristol. His interest areas include collective intentionality, democratic theory, social and political philosophy. In June 2022 he presented his paper “What (kind of group) constitutes a political movement?” at the Ontology of Politics workshop at the University of Groningen. In June 2023 he presented his paper on “The Disenfranchisement of the Elderly” at the Bucharest Conference in Analytical Political Theory.
Email: evrenselsebep@gmail.com
Room: HZ-49
Yavuz Selim Şen
Yavuz received their BA in Western Languages and Literatures with a double major in Philosophy at Boğaziçi University and a MA in Philosophy from Bilkent University. Their primary research interests are in ethics and social and political philosophy. They are especially interested in concepts of structural injustice, political normativity, membership, and recognition. In August 2023 he presented his co-authored paper entitled “Social Ontology Meets Political Realism” at the annual Social Ontology conference at Stockholm University.
Email: selim.sen@bilkent.edu.tr
Room: H-129B
Eylül Yücel
Eylül received her BA and MA in Philosophy from Bilkent University. Her primary interests are History of Philosophy, Aesthetics and Animal Ethics. In September 2022 she presented at a workshop organized by the European Society for Early Modern Philosophy at the University of Copenhagen. In October 2023 she presented at a seminar organized by Extending New Narratives in the History of Philosophy at McGill University. Her article entitled “The Place of Animals in Wollstonecraft’s Early Educational Writings” is now forthcoming in Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review.
Email: eylul.yucel@bilkent.edu.tr
Room: HZ-49