Istanbul Policy Centre

Istanbul Policy Centre (IPC), physically located at Sabanci University, was founded with a view to improving the quality and effectiveness of public policymaking in Turkey and the region. The Center works to establish a network of cooperation with universities, think tanks, and other similar research institutions both in Turkey and abroad, in order to engage in broad participation of distinguished thinkers, scholars, experts, and practitioners to produce independent research as well as generate policy recommendations on issues of current relevance and significance. Through its university connection, the Center aims to enhance the educational effects of its activities and contribute to the formation of tomorrow’s leaders by offering young researchers and graduate students an opportunity to participate in the research projects it sponsors.

IPC aims to develop a regional resource base to enhance applied policy studies; generate, in cooperation with individual and institutional partners worldwide, future scenarios on the basis of global trends as well as means for regional integration; and promote exemplary designs for public policy making that take into account social, political, and economic factors.

Among the goals and objectives of IPC are:

• Establish and strengthen the intellectual relationship between policy studies and the social sciences.
• Increase the contribution of the social sciences in policy making in Turkey.
• Foster interdisciplinary research among social scientists with a view to preparing them for careers as leaders in policy making.
• Serve, by means of sustaining a network of institutions and individuals, as a domestic and international reference point for promoting public policy research.