Dean's Speaker Series:From Algorithms to Actors: A Socio-Computational..

Guest: Akın Ünver, Özyeğin Univ.

Title: From Algorithms to Actors: A Socio-Computational Approach to Understanding Foreign Interference in International Politics

Bio: Akin Unver is an associate professor of International Relations at Ozyegin University, specializing in conflict research, computational methods and digital crisis communication. Since 2024, he is coordinating DE-CONSPIRATOR, a large HorizonEU project with 15 European universities and research labs, tackling foreign information manipulation across Europe. He is a fellow of Carnegie Endowment's Digital Democracy Network, and an external scientific advisor to the European Cyber Conflict Research Incubator (ECCRI), and the International Panel on Information Environment (IPIE). Previously he served as a research fellow at the Center for Technology and Global Affairs, Oxford University and the GUARD (Global Urban Analytics for Resilient Defence) at the Alan Turing Institute. He is the Istanbul organizer of the Summer Institute in Computational Social Science (SICSS) and the founder of the Istanbul Twitter Developers' Community. He has received numerous prestigious recognitions throughout his career, including the Science Academy of Turkey (Bilim Akademisi) "Outstanding Young Scientist" Award in 2021 and the Turkish Academy of Sciences (TÜBA) "Promising Young Scientist" Award in 2019. In the same year, his research was honored with the "Defense Modelling Program Best Research Project" Award by the Alan Turing Institute in London. Earlier accolades include Kadir Has University's "Promising Young Scientist" Award in 2018 and the Society for Digital Diplomacy's "Best Research Article" Award in 2017. His innovative work was also celebrated at the Oxford University Cybersecurity Program Research Showcase, where he received a research award in 2017. Additionally, his academic excellence was recognized early in his career with the Malcolm H. Kerr "Best Dissertation" Award in the Field of Social Sciences from MESA in 2010.

Date/Time: December 25, 2024, 13:40

Location: FASS G062