The international academic engagement of Istanbul Technical University's Energy Institute began in 2016 with Erasmus+ student exchanges organized by the University of Science and Technology of Oran Mohamed-Boudiaf (USTO-MB) in Algeria, and continued with Erasmus+ teaching activities at USTO-MB in 2019, strengthening over the years.

In 2019, Prof. Dr. Nilgün Baydoğan's "Radiation Protection and Health Physics" lectures at the USTO-MB Faculty of Physics were well-attended by the faculty. Around the same time, ITU participated in the ICM Erasmus Project Monitoring Meeting in Algeria, organized by the Erasmus National Agency. This process laid the foundation for a long-term academic interaction between the two universities at the master's and doctoral levels. https://lnkd.in/dk3MX5t

These collaborations deepened further with research activities in subsequent years; studies conducted by USTO-based master's and doctoral students under the leadership of the ITU Energy Institute resulted in SCI-indexed publications.
Indeed, studies on thin films, photocatalysis, and semiconductor materials conducted through the USTO-ITU partnership were published in various high-impact journals between 2023 and 2025.

From 2025 onward, the collaboration network expanded with the participation of the University of Tirana, Albania. During Prof. Dr. Nilgün Baydoğan's visit to the Faculty of Science at the University of Tirana, the research infrastructure was examined, and concrete steps were taken for joint projects.
In this context, USTO students were directed to the University of Tirana and ITU for research activities, establishing a trilateral scientific collaboration bridge between the three universities.

Today, joint studies conducted between the University of Tirana, USTO-MB, and Istanbul Technical University have created a multidisciplinary research framework in the fields of:

biocompatible materials,
thin film technologies,
radiation-matter interactions,
and
material characterization.

Thanks to these collaborations, young researchers have the opportunity to gain experience across multiple institutions, and the quality of academic output is enhanced through joint publications and projects.

As the ITU Energy Institute, we believe that these projects carried out with our international partners will continue to develop further and that we will continue to provide a strong scientific environment for future researchers.

Collaborative study meetings (Albania, Algeria, and Turkey) brought together researchers and students from the University of Tirana (Albania), USTO-MB Algeria, and ITU. Photos from biocompatible material synthesis and characterization experiments conducted at ITU (2025).


Visit of ITU Energy Institute to Tirana University Faculty of Science laboratories and joint research studies and project discussions (2025).


Announcement posters and course schedule of the "Radiation Protection and Health Physics" courses at STO-MB (June 2019).


Lectures and meetings of Prof. Dr. Nilgün Baydoğan with graduate and doctoral students at the Physics Department of USTO-MB, Algeria (June 2019).


A meeting where researchers and students from USTO-MB Algeria, Lille University France and ITU came together at the USTO-MB rectorate building within the scope of ERASMUS+ activities and discussed joint projects led by the rector (June 2019).