Bilkent University came off very well in the first Ankara Science Slam, organized by the German Embassy and Dr. Lutz Peschke from İpek University as part of the Turkish-German Year of Science.
The idea of the Science Slam is to present your scientific field in an original, funny, but also instructive way, in 10 minutes flat. The audience, organized in groups, then votes for the most engaging, entertaining and educational presentation.
Ten students, postdoctoral researchers and professors from METU, Hacettepe University, Ankara University, İpek University and Bilkent presented their fields or current research to a large crowd of students and academicians, hosted in the residence of the German ambassador. Tuluhan Çolak
from the Bilkent Department of Chemistry and Merve Mutlu from Molecular Biology, who presented fascinating insights into the synthesis and application of mesoporous materials and new ways of fighting breast cancer, ended up in the
top five, with Merve taking second place.
Dr. Thomas Zimmermann, assistant professor and acting chair of the Department of Archaeology at Bilkent, won the competition with a poem on the trowel, using this indispensable archaeological tool as a metaphor for a journey from antiquarian to modern interdisciplinary research. The event was considered by all to have been a great platform for promoting current research in an extremely entertaining way.