The 9^th annual Özyeğin University Sectoral Orienteering (SO), one of the flagship events organized by the ÖzU Sectoral Education and Professional Development team, took place between 25 February – 1 March, 2019 at the Çekmeköy Campus.

The event brought together the leading names of the business world with ÖzU students around many different activities such as sectoral talks, panels, case studies, interview simulations, cultural and sporting events, technical visits, interviews and workshops.

The SO program recognized the diverse personal interests and different career goals of students, and offered something for everyone including the ÖzU alumni. As such, it presented opportunities to experience more than 100 academic, professional, social and sportive events featuring about 80 organizations of all types and sizes.

On the second day of the SO week, PLOTINA Team members Dr. Leyla Kayhan-Elbirlik and Dr. Alper Açık gave a joint seminar titled “Gender in Research and Development: Why and How?” The seminar covered a wide range of technical and scientific areas from industrial design to medicine, and discussed how the lack of a sex/gender dimension in these fields impacts the quality and reliability of R&D projects and their outcomes.

Attended by a large group of students and staff, the seminar ended with a thought-provoking Q&A session. It is noteworthy that the ÖzU PLOTINA Team proved to have benefited immensely from the materials and methods introduced in the “Gender Dimension in Research” and “Training the Trainers” workshops held at the PLOTINA meeting organized by the University of Bologna in September 2017.