Women in STEM in Turkey
Turkey has one of the higher representations of women among engineering graduates anywhere in Europe — a legacy of early-Republican educational policy combined with sustained university-sector growth. The contemporary policy environment is shaped by TÜBİTAK programs and a strong private-university ecosystem that has invested heavily in research and gender equity.
The participation pattern
Turkey's distinctive feature in cross-country comparisons is the relatively high share of women among engineering graduates — historically around one-third, compared to high-teens or low-twenties percentages in many Western European countries. This is widely traced to the early-Republican policy commitment to women's professional education, which produced a generation of women engineers and architects whose visibility shaped subsequent enrollment patterns. The labour-market translation has been uneven, however, with women's overall STEM workforce participation lagging the enrollment figures.
Major national programs
TÜBİTAK 2247-A National Leaders & Women Researcher Programs
TÜBİTAK — Turkey's Scientific and Technological Research Council — runs multiple funding instruments with explicit gender consideration, including grants targeting women researchers at various career stages. The 2247-A and related programs provide substantial multi-year research funding with structured mentorship.
TÜBİTAK 4004 Nature & Science Schools
Funding program for short-term, hands-on STEM education projects targeting K–12 students, with a substantial subset of projects focused on girls' participation in science. Has supported thousands of project-based workshops across Turkey.
Turkish Women in Science Association (TUKDER)
National professional network for women scientists in Turkey. Runs mentorship programs, organizes the annual women-in-science conference, and advocates for policy changes affecting women researchers' careers. Active across multiple Turkish universities.
Yanındayız (We're With You) Foundation — STEM tracks
A national mentorship organization with strong focus on women in STEM careers, connecting senior professionals with early-career women. Operates in major Turkish cities and runs annual scholarship programs.
Top universities
Middle East Technical University (METU/ODTÜ) and Boğaziçi University are Turkey's largest research universities and have long-established women-in-engineering traditions. METU's women engineering graduates feature prominently in Turkish industry. Among private universities, Sabancı University and Koç University run particularly active women-in-STEM programs with substantial corporate-foundation backing, and both have strong international research collaborations through Horizon Europe and similar instruments. İstanbul Technical University (İTÜ) and Hacettepe University round out the top-tier ecosystem. The TÜBA (Turkish Academy of Sciences) maintains a Women Scientists program supporting senior researchers.
Scholarships open to women in STEM
- TÜBİTAK BİDEB scholarships — for graduate students pursuing STEM research in Turkey, with gender-balanced selection.
- L'Oréal–UNESCO Turkey For Women in Science Awards — annual fellowships for women researchers in life and physical sciences.
- Sabancı Foundation scholarships — for women undergraduates and graduate students at multiple Turkish universities.
- Koç University Anadolu Scholars Program — needs- and merit-based scholarships with strong gender representation in STEM tracks.
- Schlumberger Faculty for the Future Fellowships — open to Turkish women pursuing PhDs internationally.
Notable women in STEM from Turkey
Canan Dağdeviren
Materials scientist and bioelectronics researcher, head of the Conformable Decoders group at MIT Media Lab. Her research on flexible electronic devices for medical applications — particularly wearable cancer-screening patches and brain-interface devices — has been widely covered in international science press. A Forbes 30 Under 30 alumna and frequent example in Turkish STEM education of the international research career path.
Feryal Özel
Astrophysicist at the University of Arizona (Turkish-born), known for work on black holes, neutron stars, and her role in the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration that produced the first direct image of a black hole. Has held visiting and leadership positions in major US astrophysics programs and frequently lectures on STEM career paths for women internationally.