Prof. Derya Oktay

Dr Derya Oktay (BArch, MSc, PgDipUrban Design, PhD) is currently a Full Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at Maltepe University, Istanbul. Before her current position, she was the founding Dean of the Faculty of Architecture at Ondokuz Mayis University and the Chair of the Department of Architecture. She was the founding Director of the MS in Urban Design Programme, and the founding Director of the Urban Research & Development Center (URDC) at Eastern Mediterranean University, Cyprus. In addition, she has served as the elected President of the Society for International Development (SID) Lefkosa (Nicosia) Chapter in Cyprus. Her areas of research are sustainable urbanism and architecture, architectural design in the urban context, cultural-spatial aspects of cities and housing environments, urban identity, public spaces, and quality of urban life, besides her main field of expertise ‘urban design’. She was a Visiting Professor and scholar at various leading universities including the University of California-Berkeley, Politecnico di Milano, University of Michigan, Oxford Brookes University, and Pratt Institute, New York. She has experience in both qualitative and empirical research funded by the European Commission (EC), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Scientific and Technological Research Centre (TUBITAK), and Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU). She has authored many publications including books, chapters in refereed books, refereed journal articles of the highest categories, conference papers and popular press articles. Her work is widely recognized nationally and internationally. She is the receiver of the ‘WREN PIONEER AWARD 2021’. She was ranked as one of the World’s Top 2% scientists (overall) and Top 1% scientists in the field of Architecture / Built Environment and Design both in 2020 and 2021 based on multidimensional impact research conducted at Stanford University. She has spoken at various national and international platforms as an invited and/or keynote speaker and has been serving on the editorial board of various prestigious journals. She is the Editor-in-Chief of Ekistics and the New Habitat journal since September 2022. She was a Jury Member at various international competitions and was a team member in various national and international urban/architectural design competition projects.