Prof. Dr. Nurcan Meral Özel became the new director of KOERI

Prof. Dr. Nurcan Meral Özel, a member of the Faculty of Geophysics, has been appointed Director of the Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute (KOERI) at Boğaziçi University. Prof. Dr. Özel, who is known for her international involvement in the field of earth sciences and was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun by the Japanese government this year, has led her team in the successful establishment of numerous new terrestrial and submarine monitoring stations from Antarctica to the Equator within the framework of the United Nations (UN).

Prof. Dr. Nurcan Meral Özel, who has achieved great success on the international stage, has been appointed Director of the Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute (KOERI) of Boğaziçi University. Prof. Dr. Özel is a member of the Faculty of Geophysics at Boğaziçi University and holds a PhD in Seismology from Hokkaido University in Japan. During her academic and administrative career, she has led many important international projects and contributed to the development of earthquake research and technology transfer infrastructure in Türkiye. She has been particularly active in establishing platforms for joint scientific and operational cooperation between Japan and Türkiye in the field of geosciences. She has supervised over twenty master and PhD students in geophysics and authored more than 100 international publications.

After the end of Prof. Dr. Haluk Özener's term of office, Prof. Dr. Özel was appointed director of KOERI. She also led the establishment of the KOERI National Tsunami Warning Centre, which provides tsunami warning services for the Eastern Mediterranean, Aegean and Black Seas in Türkiye under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO.

Prof. Dr. Özel was appointed by 184 states to an extremely important role within the United Nations Organisation for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. In this role, she was responsible for eight years for managing a huge "International Monitoring Network" covering 98 countries and consisting of four separate high-tech facilities.

Her involvement in multidimensional scientific and technological projects around the world, in addition to her administrative duties, has strengthened her expertise and recognition in monitoring natural events with high technology.

Throughout her tenure, the scientist has been at the forefront of research aimed at improving and advancing the technological and scientific aspects of the global monitoring system. In 2017, she was recognised as one of the "Six Women Leaders Making an Impact on the International Stage in Technology". Prof. Nurcan Meral Özel was also honored with the Order of the Rising Sun of Japan this year.