Name Volkan Ediger | Role Writer | |
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Occupation Energy Adviser to the President of Turkey, Professor of Energy Systems Engineering Notable awards Turkish Journalists Association, Sedat Simavi, Social Sciences Award(2006)Middle East Technical University Best Thesis Supervisor Award (2006);Turkish Association of Petroleum Geologists Cevat Eyup Tasman Award (2007). |
Prof dr volkan ediger ile enerjide bir dakika
Volkan Ş. Ediger, (born 1953, Ereğli-Konya, Turkey) scientist, writer, bureaucrat. After graduating from the Middle East Technical University, he received his PhD from the Pennsylvania State University in 1986. His training is in geology, geochemistry, and palynology and after working as an oil and coal geologist in industry for some years his interest was switched into several energy issues, including energy resources, economics, policy, security and geopolitics. He is married to Elçin Öztürk and has one daughter (Şirin Ediger Bayülgen) and one granddaughter (İstanbul Bayülgen). Ediger’s professional career has been shaped by research, teaching and consultancy simultaneously carried out at industry, university and government. Assigned as the first Energy Adviser to the President of Turkish Republic in 1998 and has worked for a total of twelve years with three presidents, namely H.E. Süleyman Demirel, H.E. Ahmet Necdet Sezer and H.E. Abdullah Gül. Awarded with Sedat Simavi Social Sciences Award in 2006 for his book Neft and Petroleum in the Ottoman Empire and became one of the few authors specialized on science and engineering awarded on social sciences field. He is the first recipient of the Turkish Association of Petroleum Geologists’ Cevat Eyüp Taşman Award in 2007. He has also been listed in Top 10 Most Influential Voices in the Power Generation Today by POWER-GEN Europe in 2013. He is very active in founding NGOs and also in organizing conferences. He is the founder and president of the Energy and Climate Change Foundation (ENIVA) and founding executive committee of the Sustainable Production and Consumption Association (SUT-D), the first NGOs to be working in energy sustainability and climate change in Turkey. He recently served as the General Chair of ICE 2014, which was held by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) in 2014 in Istanbul and 5th Multinational Energy and Value Conference, which was held in İstanbul in 2015. He has been the moderator of the forum for “The Big Energy Question: Powering Our Urban Future” as part of “The Great Energy Challenge”, a National Geographic Society Initiative organized in partnership with Shell in 2014 in Istanbul after Washington D.C. and in London.
Contents
- Prof dr volkan ediger ile enerjide bir dakika
- Energy in one minute with prof volkan ediger
- Academic career
- RD Works in Industry
- Sedat Simavi Award
- Other Awards
- Conference Committees and Commissions
- Professional Societies
- Publications in SCI SSCI Indexed Journals
- Books and Chapters in Book
- Other Publications and Oral Presentations
- References
Energy in one minute with prof volkan ediger
Academic career

Ediger completed his undergraduate (1976) and M.Sc. (1980) studies at Geological Engineering Department of the Middle East Technical University (METU), Turkey and PhD study at the Department of Geosciences of the Pennsylvania State University (PSU), USA in 1986. He was entitled as associate professor in 1992, and full professor in 2010. Dr. Ediger started his academic studies as teaching assistant in METU in 1976-1977 and continued in PSU as research and teaching assistants and laboratory coordinator between 1982 and 1985. He has given undergraduate and graduate courses on various energy subjects and also supervised M.Sc and PhD thesis in METU from 1987 to 2010. His teaching was awarded by the students of the Department of Geological Engineering of METU in 2001. He also received the METU Best Thesis Supervisor Award in 2006. Dr. Ediger became Professor of Energy Economics at Izmir University of Economics in 2010. He also served there as the Founding Director of Research and Graduate Policies (ALP) and Founding Chairman of Sustainable Energy Master Programme in addition to several other committees and boards. He has been working as Professor of Energy Systems Engineering and also as the head of the department at Kadir Has University (KHAS) since 2011. He is the Founding Coordinator of Strategy Development and Research Office (STRAR) and Founding Director of Center for Energy and Sustainable Development (CESD). He is also Chairman of three university committees, member of five university committees and representative of KHAS at Inter-University Council (UAK) and Higher Education Credit and Hostels Institution.
R&D Works in Industry
Dr. Ediger started his works in industry at the Research Center of Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) in 1977 and served there as chief, manager, deputy head, and project adviser over the years. His career at TPAO mostly included implementation and management of a number of national and international petroleum research projects until 1998 when he became advisor to the president of Turkey. During his industrial career, with the help of United Nations Development Programme Fellowship, he gained great experience on R&D project management during his visits to oil companies and universities in the USA. In addition to research administration and management, he is personally initiated, participated, and coordinated several research projects on petroleum exploration. From 1977 to 1998, his findings are reported in 22 company reports (TPAO Report Nos. 190, 195, 276, 279, 287, 345, 427, 1065, 1185, 1255, 1264, 1265, 1269, 1565, 1755, 1757, 1949, 1964, 2097, 2118, 2191, 2312), some of which are published in various national and international scientific and technical periodicals. Among them the most important ones are Biostratigraphic Atlas of the Autochthonous Sequences in the Southeast Anatolia and A Geological Time Table in Turkish. Both of these studies were the first in Turkey. Two of these reports are published as educational series for short courses on biostratigraphy and organic geochemistry. As a result of R&D studies carried out on palynology at the TPAO Research Center until 1998, Ediger developed a new laboratory technique called MRA (Modified Reissinger Apparatus) and erected 2 new palynomorph genera, namely Transeptaesporites Ediger (1981) and Anatolinites Elsik, Ediger & Batı (1990), and 24 new palynomorph species; Inapertisporites rotundus Ediger (1981), Lacrimasporonoites oviformis Ediger (1981), Dicellaesporites nodusus Ediger (1981), Pluricellaesporites vermiculus Ediger (1981), Multicellaesporites fusus Ediger (1981), Brachysporisporites thraceous Ediger (1981), Transeptaesporites irregularis Ediger (1981), Transeptaesporites symmetricus Ediger (1981), Polyadosporonites enormis Ediger (1981), Polyadosporonites orbis Ediger (1981), Inapertisporites ibrahimii Ediger & Alişan (1989), Uncinulites artuziae Ediger & Alişan (1989), Lacrimasporonites traversii Ediger & Alişan (1989), Dicellaesporites nakomanii Ediger & Alişan (1989), Dicellaesporites akyolii Ediger & Alişan (1989) Dyadosporonites okayi Ediger & Alişan (1989), Multicellasporites elsikii Ediger & Alişan (1989), Anatolinites dongyingensis Elsik, Ediger & Batı (1990), Anatolinites alaskaensis Elsik, Ediger & Batı (1990), Anatolinites alternarioides Elsik, Ediger & Batı (1990), Anatolinites chubutensis Elsik, Ediger & Batı (1990), Anatolinites claibornensis Elsik, Ediger & Batı (1990), Anatolinites holocenicus Elsik, Ediger Batı (1990), Anatolinites reklawensis Elsik, Ediger & Batı (1990).
Sedat Simavi Award
He is the recipient of the Turkish Journalists' Association's , Sedat Simavi Social Sciences Award of 2006 for his book Neft and Petroleum in the Ottoman Empire, which is based on the meticulous research and investigation carried out for 13 years by Ediger on the petroleum phenomenon during the Ottoman Empire Era. The book, which appraises more than one hundred original documents obtained from the Ottoman Archives, also reviews almost all previous literature. In this context Neft and Petroleum in the Ottoman Empire is not only about the petroleum history but also about the energy history, discussing the major economical and political dynamics of energy resources.
Other Awards
Ediger was given Etibank University Scholarship during his undergraduate study and National Science Foundation Research Scholarship during his PhD study in the USA. He won various honors during his education and on his graduation. He has been an elected member of the Sigma XI Scientific Research Society in 1984. He is the owner of Special Contribution Award in Eighth Petroleum Congress of Turkey organized by Turkish Association of Petroleum Geologists in 1990 and Conference Special Award in Geological Aspects of Reservoir Characteristics Conference in Baku in 1995. He was given the Certificate of Appreciation in 2000 and Letter of Appreciation in 2001 by the General Secretariat of the President’s Office of Republic of Turkey. He is the first owner of Cevat Eyüp Taşman Award given by Turkish Association of Petroleum Geologists in 2007. He was included into "Who is Who in Turkey" in 2000 and into the “Who is Who of the Global Energy Industry” in 2008, IBC’s “Top 100 Professionals” in 2009, "Marquis Who is Who in the World" in 2009. He was listed in “Top 10 Most Influential Voices in the Power Generation Today in Europe” in 2013. He was awarded with the "Certificate of Merit" by AAPG (American Association of Petroleum Geologists) in 2015.
Conference Committees and Commissions
Ediger served and has still been serving as member, executive member, and representative at professional societies as follows:
Professional Societies
Publications in SCI-SSCI Indexed Journals
Books and Chapters in Book
Other Publications and Oral Presentations
As of June 2015, Ediger published 40 articles in refereed and non-refereed journals mostly on energy issues. He presented several papers mostly at international scientific conferences of which around 25 published the abstracts. He has been invited 70 times to give speeches or to participate in panel discussions as analyst or discussant by distinguished universities, institutions, companies, and NGOs. He has made moderatorship and chairmanship 30 times, he appeared in TV or radio programs 40 times, and he was interviewed 17 times.