Our Team

Professor, Ph.D.  Gökçesu Akşit Dudaklı is a faculty member in the Department of Social Work at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Maltepe University. Holding a bachelor's degree in health management, Dudaklı completed her master's degree in science and technology policies and earned her doctorate in the fields of the history of medicine and the philosophy of science. She received the title of associate professor in the field of gender studies with her research on women's health.

Between 2020 and 2023, she served as the principal investigator in a research project on COVID-19 and collaborated with the European Social Services Alliance. Currently, she is the director of SOYAÇ (Practice and Research Center for Street-Working and Street-Living Children) and is conducting applied research and fieldwork with women, adolescents, and children in the earthquake-affected region as part of the project "Earthquake and Gender-Based Vulnerability: Women's Layered Earthquake Experiences, Hatay, 2023." This project examines the gender-based vulnerabilities that emerged after the earthquake, the conditions that contribute to these vulnerabilities, and how the “layered burden” on women has impacted their lives by comparing the pre- and post-earthquake periods.

Dudaklı has conducted research in areas such as the sociology of health, psycho-social support in disasters, social work with the elderly, migration, and demography. She has taught courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels in these fields and has supervised numerous students in their thesis studies. Her interdisciplinary career and unique perspective serve as an inspiring example for students from various departments and faculties in addressing complex social issues.

In particular, through her Social Sensitivity course, which she offers as a general education elective, she focuses on the concept of sustainability and connects it with topics such as disasters, generations, and the climate crisis. Over the past two years, within the scope of this course, projects with a potential for positive social impact have been developed through the collaboration of students, SOYAÇ volunteers, and researchers from different disciplines within the SOYAÇ team.

Prof. Dr. Gökçesu Akşit Dudaklı’s work aims to contribute positively to both academia and society by fostering social awareness, sustainability, and psycho-social support in disaster situations.

                                                          Kaya YÜKSEK

Kaya Yüksek graduated from the Department of Journalism at Marmara University’s Faculty of Communication in 2013 and completed his master’s degree in the Marketing Communication Program at Maltepe University in 2022.

As part of the Istanbul 2010 Cultural Capital Project, he coordinated the photography of events and their distribution to news agencies. In 2014, he worked as a camera assistant and set photographer for Kanal D’s 32nd Day News Program, later taking on the role of assistant director for the same program.

In 2015, he contributed to the editing of Check-up, a health program on CNN Türk News Channel, and served as its assistant coordinator. Additionally, at CNN Türk, he also worked as an assistant coordinator for the sports program Man of the Match.

Kaya Yüksek has also been involved in national art and film festivals, such as the Antalya Film Festival, where he took on roles in photography and editing on behalf of Birand Production Company.

Since February 2019, he has been serving as the communication and media coordinator at the Practice and Research Center for Street-Working and Street-Living Children (SOYAÇ).