Together for new growth!
Mission
Young individuals, NGOs and corporate companies; To ensure integration with European values and digitalizing world, especially in cultural, social, civil and economic fields
Vision
To make the world a better place with common teaching methods by starting the change from the individual
Values
Unity in diversity
Responsibility
Collective action and solidarity
Compassion
Development and Cooperation
Meet our team!
Turgut Kaan Akkoca, the founder of the European Integration Association (EiG), Chairman of the Supervisory Board and the keynote speaker of the United Nations "Leaders of the Future", works at Deko Elektrik as the Business Development Manager, a Turkish-Chinese Manufacturing and Trade company in the field of electrical products. Focusing on project management in Civil Engineering and holding a bachelor's degree with a thesis on innovation and entrepreneurship trends in the construction industry, Akkoca is also studying for a master's degree in Financial Engineering at Boğaziçi University. After working as an international business development manager in China for a year, he put his interest in World Trade and Financial markets at the service of Erasmus+ and his social entrepreneurship at the service of an NGO. Managing the activities of 1 factory and 1 trading company and leading a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Turkiye with more than 500.000 Euro funds and more than 25 team members, Akkoca is also interested in Global politics and macro economy.
Gözde Nur Kaya is the Project Manager and the Head of the Law Department of European Integration Group (“EIG”). She is graduated from Marmara University and has completed a long-term Erasmus Exchange Programme in Political Sciences and Law in Portugal,2020. She works at NAZALI Tax and Legal Services as the Attorney at Law in the fields of Environmental Law, Sports Law and Commercial Law. She quarterly publishes written bulletins about sustainability and the circular economy. She is also one of the founding members of Istanbul chapter of a student-driven organization for sustainability in economics. Her first experience in international projects was thanks to EIG with “Make It Rural” project including rural entrepreneurship in 2019, Lithuania. In this project, she learned the elements of entrepreneurship and has been encouraged for start-up projects. She has participated as a team leader in another project named “Route to Understanding'' that focuses on the refugee crisis in the Balkan Peninsula and migration all around the world in 2019, North Macedonia. She has developed leading and organisational skills in these projects. By realizing these skills, she started guiding Turkis youths about Erasmus+ projects and still goes on.
Far far away, behind the word mountains, far from the countries Vokalia and Consonantia, there live the blind texts. Separated they live in Bookmarksgrove right at the coast of the Semantics, a large language ocean. A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary regelialia. It is a paradisematic country, in which roasted parts of sentences fly into your mouth.
Derya is a rising 3rd medical student at Cerrahpaşa University in Istanbul. She graduated from Galatasaray High School which provides a francophone education. She is interested in theatre and literature and actively participates in such school clubs. Also participating in many Erasmus+ projects as a group member and leader, she has experience in managing participating group members and travel itineraries. Working as a mathematics and science tutor as well as running a women empowerment organization’s social media, Derya also energises the role of content creation in EIG by planning social media calendars and strategies. Currently Derya focuses on human health from mental, physical, psychological aspects. She aims to raise awareness about reproduction and sexual health by breaking taboos.
Bedrettin Bayaslan graduated from Beykent University Visual Communication Design. He established a student club for educational events and recreational activities. He met with Erasmus+ in 2017 when the project took place in Italy in 2018 which is called "We Radio". Organizationally, he loves to develop strategies, find ideas and move forward. His technical skills related to social media, google advertising, digital media and technology. He is a digital strategist in EiG. Four years ago he applied the worldwide "Scorp'' application used by people from Latin America to Spain. He is currently working as Social Media Manager at Brand The Bliss and Digital Media Manager at Nect Istanbul.
Ilias J. SHAWKAT is the international project manager of European Integration Group (EIG). He is a Medical student in Istanbul. He led a research on the blood parameters of obesity program participants, researcher in the REACH project led by Columbia University's Center for Sustainable Development, and served on the board of the Hiscon International Medical Congress in 2021 and 2022, all with a focus on public health. After discovering his interest in the Erasmus+ Programme, he participated, facilitated and coordinated several international projects. In addition, he established an informal group of young people in Brussels (Future Generation) and is the founder of International Student Club with a large student network in Istanbul. Thus, he has strong organizational and management skills. Ilias has lived in a few different countries and is fluent in 4 languages (English, French, Arabic and Turkish), this experience has equiped him with necessary skills to communicate and lead groups of people from diverse cultural backgrounds.
Uğur Keskin is the president of European Integration Group (EIG) and the district manager of Bosch Company Türkiye. He graduated from Yıldız Teknik University with a bachelor degree in mechanical engineering. Having specialised in digitalization, sustainability, and data analysis, he energises these roles within the organization through various projects and their implementation, practices and management. Recently, he initiated the Erasmus+ project called “Finish Your Plate!” raising awareness on food waste and sustainable actions that can be taken in food consumption. Possessing competence in communications and negotiation, he manages the social media and the social media team, creative team, human resources and volunteer recruitment, organisation and implementation of local projects, as well as managing the sending process for international projects from participant selection to dissemination activities. Currently he is creating and facilitating digital competence workshops for youth workers to digitalize youth work sector in Türkiye.
Far far away, behind the word mountains, far from the countries Vokalia and Consonantia, there live the blind texts. Separated they live in Bookmarksgrove right at the coast of the Semantics, a large language ocean. A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary regelialia. It is a paradisematic country, in which roasted parts of sentences fly into your mouth.
Cem Gürbüz, the video editor of the European Integration Association (EiG), edits mostly Youtube videos of EIG. He studies computer education technologies at Boğaziçi University. He has participated in five Erasmus+ projects with EIG.
Elis Sena Vatansever is a physiotherapy and rehabilitation student at the University of Health Sciences; also an active member of the international student club, which aims to explain the opportunities offered by the European Union to students. She is interested in sports and the reflection of physical well-being in psychology. She works within the EIG LifeCircle Team. Elis has been in the Erasmus world for 2 years and has participated in more than 10 projects. It makes her pleased to have the opportunity to share her experiences with other people 🙂
Far far away, behind the word mountains, far from the countries Vokalia and Consonantia, there live the blind texts. Separated they live in Bookmarksgrove right at the coast of the Semantics, a large language ocean. A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary regelialia. It is a paradisematic country, in which roasted parts of sentences fly into your mouth.
Efe Berke Çolaker, is a young entrepreneur who is interested in algorithmic marketing. He has been involved in various entrepreneurship and startups on transportation, crypto money, mobile applications and e-commerce. He is currently implementing activities in the field of digital marketing with his agency called Upper Agency, which is his project to improve the ecosystem.
Ece Buse Cintosun, volunteer member of the European Integration Association (EiG). Graduated from Marmara University as bioengineer and currently master student in Istanbul Technical University on Environmental Biotechnology subject. After finishing the bachelor’s degree, participated to an ESC project in Thessaloniki, Greece. Project was about sustainability and it helped developing an interest on environment. She met with European Integration Group with an Erasmus+ project in Romania and after the project she started to work voluntarily. She started with social media activities then she started to help finding proper places for activities in Istanbul and she is hoping to work for the sponsorship part of the organization to have more information about this subject.
Merve Aydemir is a fleet operation responsible at Bosch Automotive with a bachelor's degree from Bahçeşehir University on Biomedical Engineering. She is a board member at EIG
Hasan Mert İnce is a youth worker and user experience designer. He started his career in the Erasmus+ world and volunteering in non-governmental organizations in 2016. He volunteered as the leading marketing designer and became a board member at EIG. Participating in 9 projects, 4 of which he assisted hosting, he has experience in both marketing design and youth exchange organisation. He started his professional career with the Italian Youth Radio "We Radio" in 2017. He also did other projects in Italy, France, Norway, Czech Republic, Lithuania and Georgia. In 2018, he received the 2nd best project of the year award in the Nantes Creative Generations competition with his project on Immigrant Rights. Currently he continues with his voluntary youth work and UX design career.
Pırıl Sezgin, has been involved with European Volunteering projects throughout her educational life. She graduated from İstanbul University with an associate degree in Food Technology. Then she got her BA in Nutrition and Dietetics from Bahçeşehir University. Previously, she participated in a Leonardo Da Vinci project in high school, and her return to the world of Erasmus Plus occurred ten years later. She is a dietician (but she does not like "diets"), and she focuses on sustainable food practices and loves working with youngsters. On social responsibility, her activities began at the Güzel Istanbul LEO Club and continued with the creation of ideas and speakers to share with the TEDxBahcesehirUniversity team. Together with Kızlar Sahada, she took an active part in the empowerment of women in society. She partakes in the organization and sending team at EiG, and contributes by assisting management of sending processes of participants to international projects, and keeps herself alive by participating in projects.
Sarp Yarkın Dikmen, a European Integration Association (EIG) member, and former Head of Partner & Organization at TEDxBahcesehirUniversity works as a Digital Marketing Senior Specialist at Ingage a Koç group company. He graduated from Bahcesehir University, Department of Economics. He is currently studying Management Information Systems at Anatolia University. He continues to use his interest in global digitalization and the global economy in his business and NGO life.
Zeynep Begüm Keleşoğlu, who is working as a project coordinator at EIG, studies Business Administration at Middle East Technical University. She met Erasmus+ during a tech-themed project in Hatay in 2020. Zeynep is interested in the concepts of multiculturalism and learning by experiment, enjoys creating a co-created product with her playful and team-oriented personality and experiencing the process.
Pelin Berzah is the project manager of EIG. She first started her volunteer work as a high school senior after her exchange year in Germany with YFU in 2015. In 2021 she went to her first Erasmus+ project with EIG and in 2022 became a volunteer there. In 2022 she graduated from Hacettepe University, where she studied English Language and Literature, gained editorial experience as department magazine’s editor, wrote for IDEbiyat magazine, played flag football and rugby. Shortly after her graduation she became an ESC volunteer at Catfarm, an eco-community where a zero-waste, sustainable and vegan lifestyle is practised. Assisting in the hosting of two youth exchanges and managing the social media of Catfarm, she improved her soft skills regarding organisation and management. Currently she is implementing local and international projects about equality, environment, sustainability and green habits.