June 27, 2025

Coordinated by the Science Communication Office of the Council of Higher Education, the “Science Café” meetings started with events organized by more than 150 universities in 81 provinces.

The Science Café meetings, which are the first of its kind in the world, will last for two days with the participation of thousands of citizens all over Türkiye and tens of thousands of viewers through live broadcasts.

Erol Özvar, President of the Council of Higher Education, stated that the best answer to the wars and crises in the world is hopeful science stories and said, "Science is hope. With more than 150 universities in 81 provinces, we are organizing the world's largest science society meeting today and tomorrow with the "Science Café" event. Professors carry the science produced at universities from the campus to village squares, fields, historical bridges, hazelnut and tea gardens, trains, ferries, mines and bring them together with their interlocutors. We make science more visible and talk more about science."

At the Science Café meetings, where citizens from all segments of society come together to talk science with university professors, academics explain scientific studies to citizens in a simple way in public places. Citizens show great interest in the events.

At the Science Café meeting organized by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University in Rize, where the adventure of Rize tea from soil to cup was explained, the participants were offered bagels and cheese along with tea, while in Muş, the topic “In the Footsteps of Malazgirt Victory” was discussed at the meeting on the historical Murat Bridge. In Fırat University's event at Harput Castle, where international students spiced up with folk dances, Harput's UNESCO journey and the excavations of the Inner Castle were discussed.

Hacettepe University explained child, family and spouse relations to citizens in Hamamönü, while Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University informed the public about in vitro fertilization treatments and women's reproductive health.

Ağrı İbrahim Çeçen University held a talk titled How Stress Affects Our Body and How We Cope: Antioxidants at Iğdır University Salt Therapy Center, while academics talked with citizens about halite and radiation and the impact of environmental disasters on the public at the Science Café meeting held at the Salt Therapy Center of Iğdır University.

At Akdeniz University, “Water Crisis and the Concept of Thrift” was discussed with the participants over breakfast, while Afyonkarahisar University of Health Sciences informed the citizens about the types of addiction and the fight against addiction. Çukurova University explained how to make the right bread at its event in the prison.

Van Yüzüncü Yıl University held the Science Café event with the program "Pearl Mullet's Unique Migration Journey" on the edge of Lake Van, while Topkapı University took the participants on a journey in the footsteps of scientific thought from a historical perspective with the event "Topkapı from Science to Practice throughout History".

Science is everywhere from AI to green transformation, from space to natural disasters

The aim is to further strengthen the bond between science and society through science café meetings organized in every province of Türkiye on topics ranging from AI to green transformation, from agriculture to tourism, from hypertension to new methods in cancer treatments, from space to natural disasters, from addiction to family communication.

University professors talk about topics such as The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Present and Future, Income Distribution in the Ottoman Empire, Post Menopause, Negotiation Methods between Spouses, What Does Stress Do to Our Body? Neurosound Attention and Perception Enhancement Device, The Effect of Brown Skunk on Hazelnuts, Virtual Addiction, Microplastics: Pollutants of the World, How Does a Tumor Form? First Aid on a Ferry, Bees as the Medicine of the Future, Chemistry of Life, Primary Hyper Blood Pressure, Insects that Make the World Go Round, Photography Training for Village Children in Boğazköy, Podcast and Vodcast Content Production, Chemistry in the Kitchen, Alternatives to Pesticides, New Ways in Cancer Treatments, Preventing Calf Mortality, Know What You Eat: Nutrition Literacy, Silent Threat: Ticks, Reading Mimar Sinan through Istanbul, Love and Attachment, Mucilage in the Marmara Sea, The Contribution of the Minstrelsy Tradition to Turkish Culture, The Search for Water in the Universe, The Door to Space: Is the Sky the Limit?, Adıyaman Ready for Natural Disasters, Preventing Discrimination against the Elderly, Proper Bread Making, Agriculture, Tourism, Barter: Green Journey, Why Heart Attacks at a Young Age Increased?

Science in cafes, gardens, ships, mines

Science Café meetings held outside university campuses took place at the Valide Sultan Ferry in Istanbul, Kuyudüzü Village in Düzce, Eymir Lake and Kuğulupark in Ankara, Zinciriye Madrasah in Aksaray, İshak Pasha Palace in Ağrı, Historical Salt Inn in Adıyaman, Harput Castle in Elazığ, They are held in Hunat Hatun Complex in Kayseri, in a hazelnut garden in Ordu, a tea garden in Antalya, a prison in Adana, Çırahane in Erzincan, Zeugma Museum in Gaziantep, Salt Cave in Iğdır, the historical Murat Bridge in Muş, nursing homes, community gardens, fields, village cafes in every province of Türkiye. Participants in the Science Café events, which are open to the public, are offered local products produced at universities.

The aim of Science Café meetings and science communication is to make the knowledge produced by universities understandable and accessible to the society, to increase trust in science, to make visible the contributions of universities to their cities and regions, the support they offer to the solution of local and global problems, the active role they assume for the future, and to build a bridge between science and society.