Board
Bilgesu Tutal
MSc
President
Bilgesu has a B.Sc. in Biology and a M.Sc. in Environmental Sciences. She has worked for environmental NGOs both voluntarily and professionally for many years. At the beginning of her career, she worked as a biology teacher. She wrote and carried out EU projects to improve skills and raise awareness of teachers and students on environmental education, ecological literacy and bird-watching. She was also a part of various scientific research projects and wrote her master thesis in the field of biogas. She worked in an environmental consultancy firm and coordinated relations with the stakeholders. She designed and developed environmental education content for several organizations and public institutions, conducted workshops and delivered ToT. She continues to develop environmental projects and produce content.
Elif Kalan
MA, MSc
Vice president
Elif is a conflict resolution and community-based peacebuilding expert and consultant having more than 10 years of experience. She supports social groups in improving skills and knowledge to engage with social problems and challenges. She has worked with refugee women, young people, professional staff of local and international organizations where she designed and implemented social programs together with. Her areas of interest are designing programs targeting social issues, conducting trainings to build capacity among groups and developing social impact assessment tools to measure in social development. Some of the organizations she works with are GIZ, UNICEF, UNWOMEN, UNHCR, the European Commission, and Ret International. She is a founding member of Antenna of Turkey and Mediterranean Women Mediators Network.
Tora Benzeyen
MA
General secretary
Tora carried out his academic studies in the field of International Relations. He completed his master’s thesis on the Green 10 coalition formed by 10 leading environmental NGOs in Europe and the environmental policies of the European Union. He took part in voluntary work and projects on youth rights and participation for many years. During his professional career, he worked in various NGOs focused on nature conservation, environment and climate change. In particular, he specialized in the development and implementation of digital communication strategies on the mentioned issues. Currently, he works for a European-based NGO working on climate communication. He is also an active birdwatcher and wildlife artist. He develops conservation projects for raptors and prepares illustrations for various publications.
External experts
Oğuz Tutal
PhD
Climate and environmental economics, EU projects
Yeliz Yılmaz
PhD
Climate modeling, remote sensing, climate data analysis
Christos Georgiadis
MSc
Rural development, nature conservation
Bence Cseke
MA
Circular economy, rural development, urban resilience, international relations