M. Mithat Üner completed his BA degree at Hacettepe University School of Business, MBA degree at Gazi University, M.Sc. in International Business at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Ph.D. at the Gazi University Graduate School of Business. Professor Üner also completed postdoc studies at the Pisa University in Italy. He has a long record of service as an academic leader, scholar, and advisor to industry. He taught and served as Dean at Gazi University in Ankara for over three decades. Currently, Professor Üner teaches and serves as Dean at Atılım University School of Business. He has published widely in leading journals on such topics as internationalization of the firm, foreign market entry strategies, services marketing, marketing strategy. Public and private organizations frequently seek him as a speaker and consultant

Oana Ramona LOBONȚ is a Professor Ph.D. habil. within the Finance Department, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, West University of Timisoara, with over 20 years of experience in socio-economic research. The main areas of interest include, among others, Environmental and climate change, Public economics, Energy economics, Institutional economics, Governance, Health Economics, and Societal impact and policy on the other. Her research in these fields has been published in 10 books and over 80 papers indexed in Web of Science academic journals.

Editor of Urban Academy

Jörg Matthes (PhD, University of Zurich) is Professor of Communication Science at the Department of Communication, University of Vienna, Austria, where he directs the Advertising and Media Psychology Research Group (AdMe). His research focuses on digital media effects, advertising and consumer research, sustainability communication, children & media, terrorism and populism as well as empirical methods. He has published more than 200 journal articles and his research activities received awards and honors from the German Communication Association, the International Communication Association, the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, the German Psychological Association, or the World Association for Public Opinion Research. He is also recipient of several top dissertation awards, i.e., by the German Communication Association, the Faculty of Arts of the University of Zurich, and the Swiss Association for Market and Social Research. In 2014, he received the Young Scholar Award by the International Communication Association honoring the most outstanding research career worldwide seven years past the PhD. Two years later, he received AEJMC's Hillier Krieghbaum Under 40 Award which honors scholars "under 40 years of age who have shown outstanding achievement and effort in all three AEJMC areas: teaching, research and public service". In 2019, he was honored with the UNIVIE Teaching Award and in 2021, he was elected as a Fellow of the International Communication Association. He was recipient of an Advanced Grant (2.5 Million Euros) by the European Research Council (ERC) in 2022.

He has served the field as Associate Editor and Editor-in-Chief of Communication Methods & Measures, leading the journal to be ranked as #1 in the Social Science Citation Index in 2022. He also was Associate Editor of The Journal of Communication as well as Human Communication Research and since 2020, he is Associate Editor of The Journal of Advertising. He is currently sitting on the Editorial Board of more than 15 journals.

From 2012 to 2014 he was Vice Chair and then, from 2014-2022, Chair of the Department of Communication at the University of Vienna. Under his leadership, the Department rose to be ranked among the top 30 Departments for communication science in the world. He served as an evaluator and advisor for the quality assessment of higher education institutions and research programs in The Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Bulgaria, or China.

Abiodun Salawu, FNAL is Professor of Journalism, Communication and Media Studies and Director of the research entity, Indigenous Language Media in Africa (ILMA) at the North-West University, South Africa. He has taught and researched media and communication for about three decades in Nigeria and SA. Prior to his academic career, he practised journalism in a number of print media organisations in Nigeria. He has, to his credit, close to 200 scholarly publications in academic journals and books. He has also edited/co-edited fifteen books and authored one. A well-travelled scholar, he has presented papers at conferences in countries across all the continents of the world. Abiodun has also enjoyed fellowships (visiting researcher) at universities in United Kingdom, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Papua New Guinea and Sweden. He has also won a number of research grants. He holds leadership positions in the International Association for Media and Communication Research and the International Association for Minority Language Media Research. He is an editor and a member of editorial/advisory boards of a number of journals. He is rated by the NRF (of SA) as an established researcher at the level of C1 (with international recognition) and he is a member of the Codesria’s College of Senior Academic Mentors.

04.08.1970 tarihinde Ankara’da doğdu. Gazi Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi Ekonometri Bölümünden 1993 yılında bölüm birincisi olarak mezun oldu. 1998 yılında Gazi Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Ekonometri Anabilim Dalında Yüksek Lisans, 2002 yılında Doktora eğitimini tamamladı. 1994 yılında Gazi Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi Ekonometri Bölümü Yöneylem Araştırması Anabilim Dalında Araştırma Görevlisi olarak göreve başladı. 2002 yılında aynı bölümde Öğretim Görevlisi Dr. 2004 yılında ise Yardımcı Doçent Dr., 2011 yılında Doç. Dr. 2015 yılında University of Florida’da üç ay süre ile araştırmacı oldu ve 2017 yılında Profesör oldu. 
Halen yurt içinde çeşitli uluslararası ve ulusal dergilerde yayınlamış olan 72 makalesi, çeşitli ulusal ve uluslararası kongre ve seminerlerde sunulmuş olan 109 tane bildirisi, 34 kitabın bazı bölümlerde katkısı, 4 tane Gazi Üniversitesi Araştırma Fonu projesi, 9 tane AB tarafından fonlanan projesi, 32 adet farklı kuruluşlara hazırlanan projesi vardır. Ekonometri, Yöneylem Araştırması, İstatistiksel Analizler, Etkinlik ve Verimlilik Analizleri, Stratejik Planlama, Bilimsel Araştırma Yöntemleri, Çalışan ve Müşteri Memnuniyeti Değerlendirmesi, Proje Değerlendirme, Anket Analizi, Etki Analizi vb. alanlarda çalışmalar yapmaktadır.
 

Prof. Dr. Ali Merthan Dündar enrolled in the Department of Eastern Languages and Literatures, Japanese Language and Literature Department at Ankara University Faculty of Languages, History and Geography in 1986 and graduated in 1991. He subsequently completed his M.A. and Ph.D. studies in the field of History (General Turkish History) at the Social Sciences Institute of Hacettepe University. Since 2001, he has been serving as a faculty member in the Japanese Language and Literature Department at Ankara University. In addition, he has taught part-time at Yozgat Bozok University and Ufuk University in Türkiye. Internationally, he has been a visiting researcher and delivered seminars at University of Tokyo, Keio University, Toyo University, Kazan Federal University in the Republic of Tatarstan (Russian Federation), Azerbaijan University of Languages, Stanford University, and University of Cambridge. He has authored or edited 50 books and published 68 academic articles.

Historian Amir Duranović, Associate Professor (University of Sarajevo), obtained his degree in history at the University of Sarajevo in 2007. Now holding a PhD in Modern Bosnian History, his main focus has been Church – State relations in Former Yugoslavia, especially Islam under Communism. So far Duranović has actively participated in dozens of conferences on modern Balkan history including history of political elites, nation building, religious communities, environmental history, diplomatic history etc. He has been involved as guest speaker at several European universities and in USA. Skilful in education capacity building, networking and research, Duranović is also fluent in English, Spanish and Turkish. Duranović's bibliography includes three books, four edited volumes and dozens of papers. Duranović has actively participated in different research and networking projects related to historiography, nationalism and history education. His papers have been published in Bosnian, English, German and Turkish.
 

Ruggero Eugeni trained and worked with Francesco Casetti and Gianfranco Bettetini in film and media studies. His approach derives from semiotics and cultural studies: he mainly focused on the constitution of viewer experience by media and post-media dispositives within different historical and cultural contexts. More recently, he recovered conceptual tools from cognitive neurosciences to recast the idea of audiovisual media experience; from this point of view, he is currently studying (by integrating theoretical and experimental methodologies) the relationship between audiovisual styles and the spectator’s perception of time and rhythm.

Elmedina Duranović is a Research Associate at the Institute of History, University of Sarajevo (UNSA). She earned her PhD in History in 2017 at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Sarajevo. Her scholarly focus lies in the study of the social and economic history of medieval Bosnia.
Within the framework of the Institute’s research agenda, Elmedina Duranović has participated in and led numerous individual and collaborative research projects. She has actively contributed to academic conferences, roundtable discussions, lectures, and public presentations. Her publications include original research articles, review papers, expert studies, and critical reflections on topics related to the medieval history of Bosnia, published in Bosnian, English, and Turkish.
She is one of the editors of the volume Bosna i njeni susjedi u srednjem vijeku – Pristupi i perspektive [Bosnia and Its Neighbours in the Middle Ages – Approaches and Perspectives, Sarajevo, 2019]. She serves as a member of the Doctoral Studies Council at the Department of History, Faculty of Philosophy, UNSA. Additionally, she has been a member of editorial boards of several academic journals both in Bosnia and Herzegovina and abroad. Elmedina Duranović has been actively involved in the work of the Society for the Study of Medieval Bosnian History – Stanak.

Laze Tripkov is a highly accomplished graphic designer and educator with a passion for
interdisciplinary art and design practices. He is currently a professor in Visual Communication
and Graphic Design at the Faculty of Art and Design at the International Balkan University in
Skopje. His expertise spans across creative digital disciplines, including VR immersions, media
art, interactive installations, and emerging technologies research and education.

Laze holds an MA from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw and pursued post-master studies
in Multimedia and Design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Lodz. He conducted research on the
symbols and iconography of the Balkan region as a Fulbright PhD scholar.

His works have been showcased in 15 solo exhibitions and over 75 group exhibitions
worldwide, earning him prestigious awards such as the Golden Bee award from the Moscow
Poster Biennale and the honorable award from the AUG Czech Association of Graphic Design.
Laze is actively involved in various design-related organizations and events, including being a
member of the Rotary Community in Skopje and the World Design Organization. He played a
significant role as a co-founder of Skopje Design Week and served as a program director for
Skopje Creative Festival. Additionally, he was the national coordinator for creative industries in
the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Macedonia and worked as a consultant for the World
Bank PRODE program in Montenegro.

Throughout his career, he has curated and organized numerous design-related exhibitions and
social design projects. He is a sought-after speaker, delivering lectures and workshops, and
serving as an international juror in design-related events and competitions. He served as the
former vice dean at the Faculty of Design and Multimedia, UDG at Podgorica, Montenegro, and
held the position of director at the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Skopje.

PhD at Faculty od Art and Desing, University Jana Evangelista Purkyne, Czech
Republic