Important Role for ITU Academics in Türkiye’s Arctic-Focused Strategic Project

ITU faculty members Prof. Dr. Matthias Finger and Prof. Dr. Orhan İnce have been appointed to academic coordination and scientific consultancy roles in TENMAK’s strategic research project titled “Uncovering the Energy Potential in the Arctic.”

Prof. Dr. Matthias Finger and Prof. Dr. Orhan İnce, faculty members at Istanbul Technical University (ITU), have been assigned respectively as project coordinator and scientific advisor in the strategic research project titled “Uncovering the Energy Potential in the Arctic,” initiated by the Turkish Energy, Nuclear and Mineral Research Organization (TENMAK), which operates under the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources of the Republic of Türkiye.

This multidisciplinary project, which aims to analyze the increasingly prominent geopolitical, environmental, economic, and socio-technical transformations in the Arctic region through a multifaceted approach, was launched in July 2025 and is scheduled to last for 42 months. The project seeks to produce original outputs to scientifically evaluate Türkiye’s potential role and strategic interests in this region. Additionally, it is planned to develop applicable roadmaps and policy recommendations regarding Türkiye’s energy policies in the Arctic context.

Prof. Dr. Matthias Finger, who will serve as the project coordinator, will ensure the overall scientific integrity and strategic orientation of the project while providing high-level scientific oversight with attention to the academic quality of the project outputs, theoretical consistency, and their connection to policy. This role is grounded in the intellectual capital and international experience he has developed since 2014 within the scope of the GlobalArctic Project, which he has led.

Prof. Dr. Orhan İnce, who will undertake the role of scientific advisor for the project, will integrate into this project his field-based studies and interdisciplinary research conducted in the Arctic region under the TerrArctic Mega Grant Project, which is supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation and for which he serves as scientific director. Prof. Dr. İnce will provide scientific consultancy particularly on thematic areas such as the impacts of global warming and climate change on the Arctic region; energy security, sustainable management of freshwater resources and agricultural areas, forest fires and ecosystem rehabilitation, access to healthy food, environmental migration, and socioeconomic vulnerability.

Among the primary research areas to which Prof. Dr. İnce will contribute are advanced predictive analyses concerning the impacts of increased methane and carbon dioxide emissions released into the atmosphere due to permafrost thawing on the global climate system; the transport of heavy metals and toxic chemical compounds into soil, water, and atmospheric environments and their environmental health risks; and the likelihood of emerging new pathogens unrecognized by the immune system.

Prof. Dr. Matthias Finger and Prof. Dr. Orhan İnce will also be responsible for the academic guidance of the part-time research team comprising 10 doctoral students within the scope of the project, including the formulation of research plans, evaluation of scientific outputs, and the design of educational programs to be developed as part of the project. In addition, they will play an active role in ensuring the project’s academic representation at both national and international levels.

The active participation of Istanbul Technical University in this project once again confirms our university’s effectiveness in global-scale scientific collaborations and its pioneering role in strategic research areas.

 

Photo 1: Tazovsky settlement, located within the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug of the Russian Federation in the Arctic region. This area holds special importance for both the preservation of the Arctic ecosystem and the sustainability of indigenous communities' cultural heritage.

 

Photo 2: Arctic Circle frontier sign