Communication Festival-2 has started with the theme of ‘Communication and Sustainability’

The Communication Festival, organized for the second time at Istanbul Gelişim University, started with the theme ‘Communication and Sustainability: Shedding Light on the Future.’ The festival, which is being held with the participation of experts in the fields of communication and sustainability and has attracted great interest from students, will continue until May 24th.

The ‘Applied Communication Festival-2,’ organized by the three communication departments within the Faculty of Applied Sciences at Istanbul Gelişim University – Public Relations and Advertising, Television Journalism and Programming, New Media and Communication Departments, started on May 21st with the participation of the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of IGU, Abdülkadir Gayretli, and the Rector, Prof. Dr. Bahri Şahin, and will continue until May 25th.

On the first day of ILETFEST2, a panel was organized moderated by Prof. Dr. Atilla Girgin. The panel featured Özge Uzun, the President of IDA; İpek Özgüden Özen, the President of TÜHİD; Sibel Güneş, the General Secretary of TGC; Aydın Şerbetçioğlu, the President of Ratem; Nihat Uludağ, the CNN Türk Regional Director; and Semra Sevinç, the President of the Sustainability Academy.

‘We aim to prepare students for their fields’
Prof. Dr. Kamil Kaya, the Dean of the Faculty of Applied Sciences (UBF) at Istanbul Gelişim University, made the following statements regarding the purpose of ILETFEST2: ‘We have 11 departments in our faculty, 3 of which are directly related to communication: Public Relations and Advertising, Television Journalism and Programming, New Media and Communication Department. This is a festival jointly organized by these 3 departments. Throughout the 4-day festival, experts in the field will be present at our university, offering critiques and conducting various workshop activities. We have organized a 4-day event filled with activities. We are conducting this event to bring our students together with trained and expert individuals in the field and to prepare them for their fields. We thank everyone who contributed to this event.’

‘Theoretical knowledge will find practical application’
The coordinator of the organization where panels, workshops, talks, exhibitions, film screenings, and many other activities will take place, and the Head of the New Media and Communication Department at IGU Faculty of Applied Sciences, Assoc. Dr. Şebnem Gürsoy Ulusoy, stated, ‘We are organizing an academic event where theoreticians in the field of communication and many practitioners in the field come together. In this context, we aim to meet with many participants from the industry and associations. We want our students to find practical applications for the theoretical knowledge they have learned in their classes and to meet with individuals who have experience in the field and have worked in the sector.’

‘We aim to create awareness through sustainability communication’
Assoc. Dr. Sevinç Koçak, a faculty member of the Public Relations and Advertising Department, explained the reason for choosing the theme ‘Sustainability and Communication’ with the following statements: ‘The reason we chose this theme is to create awareness about the point communication has reached today and to spread it to everyone through sustainability communication. For this awareness, we aimed to bring together all the heads of civil society organizations related to the communication industry and the media for a panel. As a result of this panel, we wanted to present the necessary subtopics related to sustainability and communication to the public. We hope our efforts to create awareness in the field of communication and sustainability will be successful. We are continuing to progress towards this goal. Our university is already showing superior achievements in many areas related to sustainability and the environment. We are willing to continue supporting communication-related efforts that complement this.’