Prof. Dr. Mert Ozkaya

Biography

Prof. Dr. Mert Özkaya is a full professor at the Department of Computer Engineering at Yeditepe University, Istanbul. He received his BSc in Computer Engineering from Bilkent University, Turkey (2009), MSc in Computer Science from the University of Essex, UK (2011), and PhD in Computer Science from City, University of London, UK (2014).

Mert has more than 15 years of experience in software engineering, with research interests spanning software architectures, modeling languages, meta-modeling, software ecosystems, formal verification, and empirical software engineering. He leads the Software Engineering Research Group at Yeditepe University and has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed scientific papers. His career has bridged academia and industry, having led or contributed as a principal researcher, language engineer, and tool developer in numerous national and international projects with large software companies across diverse domains, including logistics and transportation, e-commerce, defense, and automotive manufacturing.

He takes a holistic and multidisciplinary approach to industrial problem-solving, with expertise in software and systems architecting, model-based engineering, formal verification, language engineering, and tool construction. Mert has also taught extensively at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, designing and delivering courses on software engineering, software architecture, and software testing, as well as providing specialized model-based engineering training to companies in Turkey. He has reviewed more than 20 national projects and serves regularly as a reviewer for several international journals.

Mert has held significant leadership roles in the scientific community, including serving as the Organization Chair of the 17th European Conference on Software Architecture (ECSA 2023), hosted at Yeditepe University, as well as organizing national conferences (UYMS, UYMK), workshops, and international tutorials.

Since February 2025, Mert has also taken on a national role in directing the digital management and strategic road map of natural disasters, as part of the Presidential Council for Science, Technology, and Innovation in Turkey.

In August 2025, Mert launched his ArcMotus initiative (www.arcmotus.com), a platform designed to connect academia and industry in creating smart, sustainable, and model-driven solutions. ArcMotus began as a vision to integrate cutting-edge research with real-world industrial needs—bridging the gap between theory and practice. Today, it stands as a collaborative hub that develops innovative methodologies, provides specialized trainings, and builds advanced software tools to tackle complex challenges across domains such as smart systems, digital resilience, and future-ready engineering practices.

Through these endeavors, Mert continues to advance both the scientific community and industry, driving forward a vision where systematic, model-driven, and sustainable approaches shape the future of software and digital transformation.