Turkish scientist selected for young leaders’ program

By Serife Cetin

BRUSSELS (AA) - A world-famous Turkish scientist has been among Young Global Leaders selected for the five-year leadership program.

The Forum of Young Global Leaders, the World Economic Forum’s foundation for remarkable leaders under 40, was founded to fuel new models of leadership.

Prof. Bilge Demirkoz will join the five-year leadership program, which brings together diverse, dynamic and globally representative leaders with the mission to create a community with the vision, courage and influence to drive positive change in the world, according to an Anadolu Agency correspondent.

This year's class includes the most decorated Olympian female swimmer of all time, the founder of the first app providing advice on contraception in Bangladesh, and the managing director of a leading supermarket chain looking to ban plastic packaging.

Demirkoz is an astro-particle physicist at the Middle East Technical University in Turkey.

She is building a proton irradiation facility in Turkey for space research in collaboration with the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).

Prof. Demirkoz has received multiple awards, including the L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Rising Talent fellowship, co-funded THE Port humanitarian hackathons at CERN and helped start the Science Diplomacy program of the Yunus Emre Institute.

* Writing by Tuba Sahin from Ankara