A Symposium on Preparing for an Academic Career in Health Sciences was organized by our institute.

The “Symposium on Preparing for an Academic Career in Health Sciences,” organized by the Trakya University Institute of Health Sciences, was held at the Dr. Ratip Kazancıgil Lecture Hall.

The symposium began with a moment of silence and the national anthem, followed by opening speeches delivered by Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Metin Aydoğdu and Institute Director Prof. Dr. Necdet Süt.

Prof. Dr. Necdet Süt began his speech by stating that their goal is to make this symposium a traditional event. He mentioned that the Trakya University Institute of Health Sciences was established in 1983 and started its educational activities in the 1987–1988 academic year. He noted that the Institute serves four faculties: Pharmacy, Kırkpınar Faculty of Sports Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, and Faculty of Medicine. Across these faculties, there are 30 master's and 19 doctoral programs within 26 departments, and the Institute has graduated 814 students so far, with 84.7% having earned a master’s degree and 15.8% a doctorate.

Emphasizing the importance of students' opinions, Süt spoke about the organization of the Graduate Student Workshop, during which activities aligned with the Institute's mission and vision were discussed, along with the introduction of several new practices. He said,

"As the Institute of Health Sciences, we have established a digital archive and transitioned to a digital thesis system. We also institutionalized plagiarism checks and implemented SMS communication to strengthen our contact with students. Furthermore, we added information pages introducing each department and developed flowcharts for both master's and doctoral programs in English and Turkish."

Süt also noted that changes were made to the doctoral thesis defense exams:

"Our Institute has become a member of ORPHEUS, an international accreditation organization. One of the key standards for doctoral thesis defense exams set by ORPHEUS is that the thesis advisor should not vote on the student's thesis evaluation. This is important to ensure impartiality. Therefore, the advisor’s voting right has been removed, and the number of jury members increased to six."

He also stated that a thesis writing template was prepared on the university website. Reviewing the publication rates of postgraduate theses between 2007 and 2022, he reported that 364 master's theses were turned into publications, with a publication rate of 50% for master's and 60% for doctoral theses. He mentioned the introduction of compulsory courses on article writing and project preparation to encourage research during doctoral studies.

Highlighting the importance given to social responsibility projects, Süt noted that to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Turkey, they carried out landscaping activities in the garden of the Institute building to leave a lasting memory.

In his speech, Prof. Dr. Metin Aydoğdu emphasized that being a good academician is about never losing the love for your work and the spirit of curiosity, and always being open to discovering new knowledge.

After the opening speeches, presentations were delivered by Prof. Dr. Necdet Süt, Assoc. Dr. Fatma Gülsüm Önal, and Assoc. Dr. Gülben Sayılan Özgün.

The symposium concluded with a question-and-answer session.