Prof. Yorucu was born in 1970 in Nicosia. He earned his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Leicester in 1998. He has been working at Eastern Mediterranean University since 1998. In addition to his academic career, he served for five years as Chief Economic Advisor to the Minister of Economy and Finance and the President of Northern Cyprus. He also served as Visiting Scholar at the College of Europe-Brugge Campus (Belgium) during 2013–2017 summer and at Norman Paterson School of International Affairs-Carleton University, Ottawa, for 2018 summer. He has published many scholarly articles in leading international refereed journals in the field of economic development, construction economics, energy policy, energy economics and applied econometrics. He is Co-author of books published by Springer Publishing Inc: “Southern Energy Corridor: The Role of Turkey in European Energy Security (2018),” “Modern Geopolitics of Eastern Mediterranean Hydrocarbons in an Age of Energy Transformation (2020),” "Islands in Maritime Disputes: Greece Turkey Geo-Political Relations (2022)", and “From Land Disputes to Sustainable Development: A Near East Perspective (2024)”. Prof. Festus Victor Bekun currently serves as Associate Professor at Istanbul Gelisim University in Turkey, and he is also Senior Adjunct Research Fellow at VIZJA University Warsaw Poland. Dr. Bekun has over 311+ referred scientific publications indexed in WOS and Scopus index top-tier outlet. Dr. Bekun research interest is in the areas of agricultural economics, energy economics, sustainability, and carbon reduction policies. Dr. Bekun’s works have appeared in top-tier journals including Science of the Total Environment, Energy & Environment, Journal of Cleaner Production, Energy & Environment, Sustainable Development more Recently Current Issues in Tourism, Heliyon and the Prestigious Renewable and Sustainable Energy Review (RSER) Journal, among others. The author is currently serving as Associate Editor to several WOS and SCOPUS index journals namely: Journal of Sustainable Finance and Investment, Editor-Open Agriculture, Editor—Journal of Risk and Financial Management, Guest Editor-Sustainability, Associate Editor—Journal of Public Affairs among others. Prof. Ibrahim Yitmen holds a Ph.D. in Architecture from Istanbul Technical University, Turkey. Since February 2018, he has served as Professor of Construction Production Management at Jönköping University, Sweden, where he leads research at the forefront of digital innovation in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) sector. His interdisciplinary work bridges socio-technical systems and digital transformation, with recent focus areas including Construction 5.0 for smart, sustainable, and resilient built environments, and Digital Twin-enabled cognitive buildings and infrastructure lifecycle management. A prolific scholar, Professor Yitmen has authored 180+ peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals and conference proceedings. His editorial leadership includes five seminal books on various topics including BIM-enabled Cognitive Computing, Cognitive Digital Twins, and Mars Architecture: Construction 6.0 for Sustainable and Health-Oriented Habitats. An active contributor to global AEC research, Professor Yitmen serves on scientific committees for IT and Computing in Construction at CIB, ASCE, and EC3.
