Prof. Dr. Melahat Bilge Demirköz, faculty member of the Physics Department at the Middle East Technical University (METU) and member of the Science Committee of Yunus Emre Institute, has been elected to the Forum of Young Global Leaders, launched by the World Economic Forum.

The World Economic Forum, established in 1971 by the world's leading political, business and other leaders as a non-profit organization to shape the global, regional and industrial agenda, has elected Prof. Dr. Melahat Bilge Demirköz as one of the Young Global Leaders.

Prof. Dr. M. Bilge Demirköz

Bilge Demirköz is an astro-particle physicist at the Middle East Technical University. After her undergraduate and graduate studies at MIT and Oxford, she worked at CERN, IFAE Barcelona and Cambridge University. Having worked abroad for 14 years including the silicone particle detectors for the ATLAS experience, data analysis and AMS-02 experiences in space, Demirköz returned to Turkey in 2011. Her goal was to bring Turkey closer to CERN and the international scientific community and establish stable and sustainable research cooperation for the world peace.

Currently, she is setting up a proton radiation test infrastructure in Turkey for space radiation research in cooperation with CERN. Her team consists of five engineers, six physicists, two technicians, 2 administrative staff members and various undergraduate and graduate students. Demirköz received several awards including L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Rising Talents, and paved the way for THE Port - Hackathon at CERN and the Science Diplomacy program of Yunus Emre Institute.

In 2008, she founded the Engin Arık Fellowship to support Turkish students at CERN. She represents Turkey at the CERN User Advisory Committee and, at the same time, he served on the Board of the Arts at CERN. Being a TED fellow, Demirköz is also an associate member of the Turkish Academy of Sciences and a member of the Global Young Academy. Since 2018, she has been serving as a science advisor at the Academic and Scientific Cooperation Project of Turkey (TABİP), which has been launched under the auspices of the Presidency of the Turkish Republic and conducted by Yunus Emre Institute.