Turkey’s First and Only Office of the Dean of Research Established at ITU

ITU Office of the Dean of Research (ARDEK), which aims to provide innovative solutions to meet the needs of universities, public institutions and various sectors and to make internal and external R&D culture permanent, stands out as Turkey's first and only office of the dean of research.

In the digital age triggered by the pandemic, technological competition is increasing rapidly. Every institution operating in different sectors must adapt to technology and innovative developments. The most important rule of staying in the game in this race is to develop original products and business ideas with high added value. The effective power to realize the necessary potential is R&D studies… Bringing R&D process to an innovative dimension with its scientific knowledge, dynamic students, experts, academics and research infrastructure, ITU has established Turkey’s first office of the dean of research ARDEK in line with this perspective. One of the first representatives of the structure in the global arena is Stanford University… It is observed that this structure has become widespread as of 2020 in countries such as England, Ireland, India, Australia and Iran, and especially in the USA.

Investing in Operational Excellence and the Mission of Disseminating R&D Culture

ITU Office of the Dean of Research (ARDEK), whose infrastructure was laid in January 2021 and was established in May 2021 through ITU Rector Prof. Dr. İsmail Koyuncu’s vision, stands out with its mission of making ITU a research university, facilitating the developing R&D ecosystem, responding to needs rapidly, and providing guidance and financial support in order to maintain continuity. Turkey’s first office of the dean of research ARDEK proceeds by investing in its vision of encouraging interdisciplinary studies and innovation, playing a unifying role among universities, public institutions and the industry, providing rapid coordination in R&D processes, disseminating the operational excellence culture, making internal and external R&D culture permanent and supporting innovative technologies in the entrepreneurship ecosystem within the university.

The Goal is to Become the World's Best Research University

The Dean of ARDEK is an all-round person… In addition to being ITU’s Dean of ARDEK, ITU Department of Physics Engineering Faculty Member Prof. Dr. Altan Çakır, who leads the scientific studies of ITU-CMS group at CERN and serves as a member of the executive board of ITU Artificial Intelligence and Data Science Application and Research Center, is also the head of Artificial Intelligence Platform of Turkey (AITR) and the owner of a software company working on big data analytics in ITU Teknokent… Stating that ARDEK has undertaken the role of a bridge for different collaborations with important stakeholders in the business world and academic framework, Çakır said, “ARDEK was a project that was thought over in detail. Before this structure was established, we were prepared for this process with the 'Dean of Students' structure, which was implemented for the first time in Turkey at ITU. As ARDEK, our most important goal is to direct the connections with external and internal resources in order to create new information, make discoveries, and address scientific and technical challenges with all our faculty members, students and administrative staff... With our research team of 1,700 persons, we proceed toward this goal. In ARDEK, we have three vice-deans who have a voice in critical positions. We have a structure that proceeds with a horizontal hierarchy, not a vertical one. We set out with the aim of creating a perspective that includes the entire team end-to-end, prioritizing research, and setting an example for other universities in Turkey. We are moving forward with a governance model that will accelerate ITU's becoming a world-class research university.”