METU was deemed worthy of the “International Cooperation Award” for the Black Sea CONNECT project within the scope of the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) 2024 Outstanding Achievement Awards. The awards were presented at the YÖK 2024-2025 Academic Year Opening Ceremony held at the Beştepe Millet Congress and Culture Center on October 8.
The ceremony opened with speeches by YÖK President Prof. Dr. Erol Özvar and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. YÖK President Özvar wished the new academic year to be beneficial to students, academics and administrative staff. President Erdoğan wished success to the university community and the scientific world.
Following President Erdoğan’s speech, YÖK President Prof. Dr. Erol Özvar presented President Erdoğan with an 80-centimeter model of the rocket belonging to the ORDOT project, which METU initiated in the 1960s to develop Turkey’s first air defense system.
“International Cooperation” Award to METU
At the ceremony, the 2024 YÖK Outstanding Achievement Awards, which are given to encourage scientific research, projects, theses and community service activities at universities, were presented to their owners. METU proved its leadership in science once again and was deemed worthy of the award in the “International Cooperation” category with the Black Sea CONNECT project. METU Rector Prof. Dr. Ahmet Yozgatlıgil and project manager Prof. Dr. Barış Salihoğlu received the award from President Erdoğan.
The Black Sea CONNECT project, which was deemed worthy of METU’s “International Cooperation” award, was carried out under the coordination of METU Institute of Marine Sciences faculty members Prof. Dr. Barış Salihoğlu and Prof. Dr. Mustafa Yücel between 2019-2023. The first project in which Turkey undertook the coordination role in the “SOCIAL CHALLENGES – Food security, sustainable agriculture and forest areas, maritime, marine and inland water research and bio-entrepreneurial economy” field of the Horizon 2020 Program established international cooperation networks in order to develop the blue economy potential of the Black Sea. Working with 14 partners and hundreds of stakeholders from leading centers in the Black Sea countries and Europe, the project produced permanent research support mechanisms and offered applicable and realistic strategies to policy makers.
