Within the scope of the 2214/a International Doctoral Research Fellowship Program supported by TÜBİTAK, Turkish citizens who have passed the doctoral qualifying exam and whose thesis proposal has been accepted are supported to provide research opportunities abroad regarding their theses. Gökçe Uzgören, Research Assistant at Istanbul Gelisim University (IGU), Faculty of Fine Arts (GSF), Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design, has received to "International Doctoral Research Fellowship" by TUBITAK for the research project titled "Regulating Short-Term Rentals: A Comparative Study on the Effect of Airbnb on the Housing Sector in Istanbul and Dublin" which she plans to carry out under the consultancy of Dr. Valesca Lima at Dublin City University (DCU), School of Law and Government.

Res. Asst. Gökçe Uzgören shared her feelings and thoughts as follows:

“As a student at the doctoral thesis stage in the field of urbanism and also an academic working as a research assistant I think it is important to conduct research, on the effects of digital platforms such as Airbnb, where the need for shelter, one of the most basic needs of humanity, is met, on the housing market, in the digitalization process where the number of platforms based on the technology-based capital accumulation model is gradually increasing.

With this project, which was previously proposed as a student researching Airbnb's relationship with the gentrification processes in cities and its socio-spatial consequences, I focused on not only the results of platforms such as Airbnb, but also the operating system of the platform, the actors involved in the process, the power relations between the actors. I think doing research on issues will give me a much more holistic understanding. As an urban planner and academician who has adopted the principle of producing solutions to urban problems in today's world where information and communication technologies create various inequalities in urban life, I think that it will contribute to my career development in terms of adding the dynamics of the digital age to space analysis and drawing attention to the multi-layered structure. It will be a very stimulating experience for me to carry out such a research for six months at Dublin City University in a comparative way between Istanbul and Dublin. I would like to take this opportunity to thank once again to all my lecturers who have contributed to me.”

We congratulate Res. Asst. Gökçe Uzgören and wish her continued success.