PLENARY SPEAKERS

Prof. Dr. Sündüz ÖZTÜRK KASAR (Yıldız Technical University - TÜRKİYE)

Full Professor in Western Languages and Literatures Department at Yıldız Technical University, Doctor of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) of Paris.  
Prof. Dr. Öztürk Kasar has been teaching at the Francophone Section of Translation and Interpretation of the Department of Western Languages and Literatures at Yıldız Technical University since 1994. She has also been teaching at the Department of Comparative linguistics and Applied languages at Galatasaray University as a guest lecturer since 2013. She focuses on topics in linguistics, semiotics and translation studies. She is particularly interested in the field of semiotics of translation. She has published multiple books, chapters in books and numerous articles and papers in several countries. She also translated literary and theoretical books from French to Turkish. Among the authors she translated from are Maurice Blanchot, Roland Barthes, Paul Ricœur, Honoré de Balzac and Claude Simon.

Mehmet ŞAHİN, Ph.D. (Boğaziçi University – TÜRKİYE)

Mehmet Şahin is full professor in the department of Translation and Interpreting Studies at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul. He completed his undergraduate studies in Translation and Interpretation at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey, where he also received a master’s degree in Teacher Education. He holds a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction with a concentration in Applied Linguistics/TESOL from Iowa State University. His doctoral research focused on computer-assisted language learning and educational technology.

Dr. Şahin’s current research interests include translation studies, translation and interpreting technologies, machine translation, and translator and interpreter education. He has completed several projects as the principal investigator on translation studies funded by The Scientific and Technological Council of Turkey. Besides numerous book chapters and academic papers, Dr. Şahin is the author of the seminal books titled Bilgisayar Destekli Çeviri [Computer-Aided Translation] and Çeviri ve Teknoloji (Translation/ Interpreting and Technology).    

Emeritus Prof. Dr. Turgay KURULTAY

Having completed his education in geology, foreign language teaching and German literature, Prof. Dr. Turgay Kurultay worked in the Foreign Languages Education Department at Istanbul University between 1984 and 1995. Continuing his career in Translation Department after 1995 at the same university, Prof. Dr. Kurultay got his retirement from Istanbul University in 2009, and he continued to work as a professor and thesis supervisor at various universities. He worked as a full-time professor at Yaşar University between 2015-2017 and at the Germanistics Department of Kassel University, Germany between 2018-2019. He has numerous studies and publications in the fields of translation, language and cultural relations. Working as a literary translator in the sector since 1979, Prof. Dr. Kurultay edited various literary and intellectual books and translated the works of prominent authors from German literature like Christa Wolf, Peter Weiss, and Franz Kafka. He was a member of the editorial board of Metis Translation between 1987-1992. As one of the founding members of the Translation Association in Türkiye, he also served as the chair of the association and a member of the board of directors. He is the founder and an active member of the Disaster and Emergency Interpreting Organization. He took active role in the Working Group of Professional Standards for Translators under Vocational Qualifications Institution. Prof. Dr. Kurultay also took part in the Coordination Group created with the collaboration of 10 organizations with Istanbul University taking the lead to improve the professional qualifications of translators.  

Javier FRANCO AIXELÁ (University of Alicante - SPAIN)