Our People

DFGN is a community of like-minded individuals who share a common goal: driving change. Our community is diverse, with people from all walks of life, each bringing unique experiences and perspectives that enrich our collective efforts. We believe that change starts with individuals, and we take pride in the hardworking humans behind the scenes who make DFGN-R a success. Get to know our people!

Scientific Advisory Board

ANITA KOCSIS

Director Design Factory Melbourne, Professor Swinburne University of Technology

Prof. Anita Kocsis is the Director of Design Factory Melbourne, Swinburne University’s interdisciplinary innovation lab. Anita is a champion of the lab to create the conditions for innovation by working on challenges beyond the scope of a single discipline or research practice. Kocsis spans academia and enterprise operating in complex multi-stakeholder environments including a start-up in the museum sector at EPFL Lausanne, Principal Innovation Fellow at the Australian Nuclear Scientific Organisation and a member of the Experience Research Society.

Arzu is the co-founder and current director of METU Design Factory, and she is a Professor in Department of Architecture where she teaches computational design, acoustics, biomimetics and machine learning. Arzu has a background as a mechanical engineer from METU where she got her Ph.D. While she was doing her PhD., she had been in the Netherlands, Delft University of Technology with NATO scholarship and studied acoustics and noise control. She went to Tokyo Institute of Technology for her post doctoral studies and she still collaborates with TIT.

ARZU GÖNENÇ SORGUÇ

Director METU Design Factory, Professor at Middle East Technical University, Department of Architecture

ASSAF KREBS

Co-director, Design Factory Shenkar, Senior faculty member, Azrieli Faculty of Design, Shenkar

Dr. Krebs is a designer, researcher, and educator. He is a senior lecturer at the Unit for History and Philosophy of Art, Design and Technology @Shenkar. Krebs is the co-founder and co-director of the Design Factory Shenkar; a member of the GDTA network; a researcher in COST EU research network; and the former co-director of Shenkar International Jamweek. He received his PhD in Classical Studies from Tel Aviv University, and his main research areas are design-thinking, post-modern philosophy, and psychoanalytic theory. Krebs published papers on design education, art, philosophy, literature, and gender. His current project focuses on the skin as a metaphor for radical epistemology of surfaces. Krebs is also an active designer. He won various prizes and scholarships, including the America-Israel Award for promising designers, and his work has been presented in museums and galleries around the world. He is currently a member of the Material Flow Collective design group that develops ecologic-system methodology for designers and serves as Head of Methodology Development @Tikkun Olam Makers (TOM).

Dr. Iandoli is the Dean for the Collins College of Professional Studies, and a Professor in the Division of Computer Science, Mathematics, and Science. Dr. Iandoli served as an Associate Professor at the University of Naples Federico II (Italy), and as Visiting Research Professor at Stevens Institute of Technology. He was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the Center for Collective Intelligence of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has published more than 100 papers on the analysis of interfirm collaboration, collective intelligence in online networks, serving as a member of the editorial board of several academic journals. Dr. Iandoli’s current research focus is on how online interaction and collaboration might be leveraged to help groups, organizations, communities, and companies aggregate and store dispersed knowledge; increase creativity, innovation, and problem solving; and support large-scale, collective intelligence. Dr. Iandoli has served as President of the International Council for Small Business for the 2016–17 term.

LUCA IANDOLI

Dean, Collins College of Professional Studies,

St. John's University

MATTEO VIGNOLI

Associate Professor in Management Science and Engineering, University of Bologna

Matteo Vignoli is Associate Professor of Management Engineering at the University of Bologna. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Padua and was a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University (USA) and Ryerson University (Canada). He is the managing coordinator of oper.space, the Design Factory for Open Innovation of the University of Bologna, and is a member of the Design Thinking ME310/SUGAR network and of the CBI initiative @ CERN. Delegate for the University of Bologna Open Innovation Initiatives @Almacube, Academic Director of various BBS Open Programs, Founder and Trustee of the Future Food Institute. Matteo’s focus is “building the future” with Design Thinking Innovation. His work appeared in: Research Policy, Creativity Innovation Management, Computers & Operations Research, Production Planning & Control and International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management

Organising Committee

ARZU GÖNENÇ SORGUÇ

Director METU Design Factory, Professor at Middle East Technical University, Department of Architecture

Anıl Koç received his bachelor degree in the Department of Architecture at Bilkent University. He is currently working on his master thesis about robotic construction in the Building Science Program at METU. Also, he is a researcher in METU Design Factory and contributes to the IDS(Interdisciplinary Design Studio) class that is offered by METU Design Factory. Apart from his academic background, he also focuses on furniture design.

ANIL KOÇ

BARIŞ YAZICI

Barış Yazıcı received his Industrial Design BID and MID from Pratt Institute (New York, USA) and his PhD in Industrial Design from METU in 2012. Barış Yazıcı has been working as a lecturer at METU since 2009 and has been a manager at the METU Design Factory since 2016. Apart from his duties at the university, he provides consultancy services to various industrial organizations on design and product development.

Müge is a researcher in METU Design Factory and contributes to classes in Department of Architecture as a part-time instructor. She completed her bachelor studies in Department of Architecture at METU, M.Sc. education in Computational Design and Fabrication Technologies in Architecture program at METU and Tu Delft, PhD studies in Building Sciences Program at METU. Her fields of interest can be listed as biomimetics, nature-informed architecture, computational design, and digital fabrication technologies.

MÜGE KRUŞA YEMİŞCİOĞLU

SERKAN ALKAN

Serkan is a psychologist and member of DF since its establishment. He holds a PhD degree from the Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technology, METU. His specialization areas are mainly human-computer-interaction, distance/online education, MOOCs, and physiological bases of behaviour. He has experience on project development, research centers and strategic planning at tertiary level.

DFGN Team

Felipe is a very diplomatic weirdo who is passionate about international collaboration, innovation and entrepreneurship. Since his early existence, was a very active kid, doing many sports, participating in multiple activities and even creating small businesses in primary school. Yes, you guessed: his background is in business, and he specialises in entrepreneurship and innovation, based on his studies but mainly his experience as an entrepreneur, leader and innovator. Originally from Chile, his purpose in life is to spread innovation methodologies throughout the world. During the last years, he has been leading projects in Latin America in order to achieve this purpose. He is an Innovation Fellow from Stanford University, and he was selected as one of the 50 World Leaders by the University of Pittsburg. He has also been invited to present his vision at conferences around the world, like a TEDx conference a few years ago. Felipe leads the operational side of the Design Factory Global Network, where he takes care of the different resources and aspects of the network.

His friends and family call him “Pipe”, and he wears mainly white t-shirts (he has 9 of the same)

FELIPE GÁRATE

SARA FIGUEIREDO

Sara is an optimist chatterbox that sees design as an act to impact society positively. Her design approach tackles complex challenges through systemic strategies, experimenting and innovating to create meaningful solutions that make a real difference. Sara is a doctoral researcher at Aalto Design Factory, advocating the fields of Product Development and Design Thinking. Her research interests revolve around human-centred design, product-service systems and radical innovation. She was a teaching assistant in the Product Development Project Course (PdP ) for two academic years from 2021 onwards. She handled course practices by crafting methods to trigger collaborative work and helped student teams bring forth innovative products that impact the users and the real industry. Currently, she is the creative strategist of Design Factory Global Network (DFGN), a network of innovation hubs on a mission to create change in the world of learning and research through passion-based culture and fostering radical innovation.

A professional misfit, and a person who has quite hard time defining himself. As a person with ever-growing and changing interests and a strive to explore, he found home in first the METU Design Factory, and in Aalto Design Factory. Building on top of his engineering background, in both of these interdisciplinary cultivating grounds, he developed an interest in building communities and experiences, solving real world problems with a user focused and diverse mindset but always facilitating space for wild ideas and and personal expression. Currently, he is the Community Coordinator in Design Factory Global Network (DFGN), where he is responsible for ensuring seamless communication, fostering a positive community culture and valuable platform experience within the network.

SEMKAN URAGAN