See Like a Child receives first prize in USA
The project titled, “Çocuk Gibi Bak (See like a Child)”, initiated by the students of Faculty of Communication, Izmir University of Economics (IUE) and being carried out for two semesters, in order to stop the negative discourse about refugee children, successfully ranked in first place among the 53 projects worldwide that applied to the Peer-to-peer (P2P): Facebook Global Digital Challenge. IUE students delivered the final presentation of the project, which aims to stop negative discourses about, and discrimination against refugee children, especially on social media, and raise awareness among university students, in U.S. Capital, Washington D.C.
Prof. Dr. Ebru Uzunoğlu, Dean, IUE Faculty of Communication, indicated that the faculty worked hard to ensure that the students’ accumulation of knowledge and social responsibility, in addition to their professional knowledge and skills, achieve the highest level. Prof. Dr. Ebru Uzunoğlu said, “We hope to raise our students as world citizens, who are sensitive about both local and universal developments, who can question social events, and act upon them when necessary. We came together with many Syrian children and organized various events as part of this project we had been carrying out for two semesters. We identified the problems faced by refugee children, and worked to help overcome these problems. Çocuk Gibi Bak project now exceeded the borders of Turkey and became global. We will be carrying out our activities at an international platform from now on.”
Assoc. Prof. Selin Türkel, Vice Dean, IUE Faculty of Communication and the Project Advisor, stated that the topic addressed was beyond a local issue, it was a universal issue. Assoc. Prof. Selin Türkel said, “Çocuk Gibi Bak project made it among the four projects from Turkey which qualified to receive grants as part of the ‘Erasmus+ Structured Dialogue’. We will continue our studies to come up with solutions against the discourse of hatred with the participation of overseas universities in the upcoming period.”