Istanbul Esenyurt University hosted the second joint final conference of the Erasmus+ environmental project „Trifold Approach to Circular Economy: Perspectives of Academia, Business, and Wider Society“ (CRCLEcon: 2022-1-BG01-KA220-HED-000085464, www.https://circlecon.eu/). On the campus of Istanbul Esenyurt University, more than 50 representatives of business, public administration and the educational sphere met.
The Rector of the University Prof. Dr. Suleyman Ozdemir addressed the participants with a welcome address.
On behalf of the project contractor "D. A. Tsenov" Academy of Economics the forum was welcomed by Prof. Dr. Andrey Zahariev - head of the team of Svishtov researchers. He thanked the partners from Romania, Serbia and Turkey for the results of the two-year project. The project work of the teams from the four Balkan universities is measured by 15 research monographs, textbooks and reference books published in 5 languages (English, Bulgarian, Serbian, Romanian and Turkish). They are published by publishers in Svishtov, Nis, Bucharest and Istanbul with ISBNs from the national libraries of Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania and Turkiye. As part of the work program of the project, 6 workshops, 4 transnational meetings for project administration and 2 joint final conferences (in Svishtov and Istanbul) were organized and held. Scientists from the partner teams have published scientific reports and articles in prestigious journals and conferences. A project site with digital learning content and multilingual interactivity has been created.
Within the framework of the conference, the institutional partners successively announced the achieved results. Each of them presented the printed set of basic books in the native languages of the partners - Turkish, Serbian, Romanian and Bulgarian.
The team of researchers from the Turkish side was led by Ass. Professor Dr. Ahmed Munir Gokmen, Project Coordinator for Istanbul Esenyurt University. He gave a detailed presentation about the work to a number of Turkish scientists and administrators on the project. Together with him were also the authors of studies on the Turkish experience in the circular economy Ass. Prof. D-r Yasemin Sarici and Ass. Prof. D-r Dr. Saban Onur Viga.
The Romanian delegation was led by the rector of Artifex University of Bucharest Prof. Dr. Alexandru-Lucian Manole, who gave a presentation together with Assoc. Prof. Dr. Catalin Deatcu-Gavril. The team from the Romanian side included Assoc. Prof. Dr. Andrei Buiga, Dr. Veronica Vasile, as well as project activity administrators Maria-Valeria Popescu and Elena Deatcu-Gavril.
The Serbian delegation was led by Prof. Dr. Maja Ivanovic-Djukic, project coordinator for the University of Niš, who also gave a presentation on her team's contribution. In Istanbul together with Prof. Maja Ivanovic-Djukic were Prof. Dr. Tatjana Stevanovic, Prof. Dr. Marija Radosavljevic and researcher Miljana Talic.
For the Bulgarian team, including Head Assist. Professor Dr. Petko Angelov (coordinator of the Bulgarian project team), Senior Lecturer Dr. Margarita Mihaylova (international secretary of the project and proof-reader of the intellectual results in English and Bulgarian) and Prof. Dr. Stoyan Prodanov (reviewer of circular economy research books), the project manager, Prof. Dr. Andrey Zahariev, gave a presentation. He presented in retrospect all the workshops held and emphasized the multilingual intellectual product. Through the books written and published, many good examples of recycling of the basic materials glass, paper, metals and plastic become available in the native languages of the partner countries.
At the end of the forum, Prof. Dr. Andrey Zahariev gave another high assessment to the partners from Istanbul and Bucharest, for whom this is the first project under Key activity 2 "Cooperation between organizations and institutions", sector "Higher education" under the Erasmus+ program. The participants in the forum received the promotional kits of the project provided by the hosts.
During the visit of the foreign delegations in the senate hall of the host university, a meeting was held with the rector Prof. Dr. Suleyman Ozdemir and the vice-rector Prof. Dr. Dincer Atli. Within the framework of the meeting, a bilateral contract for international cooperation was signed between Istanbul Esenyurt University and Artifex University of Bucharest. Prof. Dr. Alexandru-Lucian Manole and Prof. Dr. Andrey Zahariev made wishes with a signature in the honor book of the host university.
