BZLAB
Our Team
Dr. Taner Dursun
Laboratory Manager, Blockchain Solution Architect
He received his BSc degree from Istanbul Technical University, Department of Control and Computer Engineering in 1994. After receiving his master's degree from the same department, he conducted his doctoral studies on Policy-Based Management of Decentralized and High Performance Computing Systems. Since 1998, he has worked as a developer, analyst, system engineer and project manager in various national R&D projects in Information Security, Cryptology, Distributed Systems, High Performance Computing Systems, Security Management Systems, Software Engineering at TÜBİTAK BİLGEM (Informatics and Information Security Research Center). Currently, he is the Senior Principal Researcher and the manager of TÜBİTAK BİLGEM Blockchain Research Laboratory, where he has been working since 2018. His current research interests include blockchain technology, blockchain governance, digital currencies, blockchain architectures, blockchain security, decentralized identity management systems and digital asset storage.
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Dr. Mustafa Takaoğlu
Laboratory Management Assistant, Blockchain Expert
He received his bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees from Istanbul Aydın University, Department of Computer Engineering. Between 2019 and 2022, he worked as an academician at Istanbul Aydın University and as the Director of IAU Blockchain Application and Research Centre and carried out numerous academic publications and activities. His research interests include data science, data security, distributed ledger technologies, blockchain architectures, blockchain cryptology, tokenisation, custody services, CMB regulation studies, blockchain standards studies (ISO), blockchain ethics, distributed ledger technologies based sustainability strategies for regenerative growth. In addition, he gave lectures on technology at undergraduate level at different universities as part of the Ministry's Sector on Campus Programme. As of 2022, he has taken administrative and technical responsibilities as an expert researcher, technical leader and project manager at TÜBİTAK BİLGEM UEKAE Blockchain Research Laboratory (BZLAB).
Hasan Er
Technical Leader, Solution Architect
He received his bachelor's degree in Electronic Engineering from Uludağ University. He has worked as a developer, analyst, system engineer and technical leader in various national R&D projects in Information Security, Cryptology, Distributed Systems, Security Management Systems, Embedded Software, Software Engineering at TÜBİTAK BİLGEM (Informatics and Information Security Research Center). He is currently working as a Senior Principal Researcher at TÜBİTAK BİLGEM Blockchain Research Laboratory. His current research interests include blockchain technology, digital currencies, smart contract and decentralized applications, and next generation decentralized identity management systems.
Burçin Bozkurt Günay
Technical Leader, Solution Architect
She received her B.S. and M.S. degrees from Middle East Technical University, Department of Computer Engineering in 2000 and 2003, respectively. Since 2021, she has been working on her PhD in Artificial Intelligence at Koç University, Department of Computer Engineering. Between 2000-2003, she worked as a software engineer at MilSOFT AŞ. Between 2003-2021, she worked as a developer, system engineer, work package and project manager in national R&D projects involving e-ID Technologies, MobiI-ID and Federated ID Technologies at TÜBİTAK BİLGEM. She worked as an institution manager in international projects carried out within the EU Horizon program. She served as the manager of the Technical Process Management Group established to obtain CMMI Level-3 certification. Between 2021-2022, she worked as Principal Cloud Storage Developer at Turkcell Technology. She is currently a Principal Researcher, providing technical leadership for projects at TÜBİTAK BİLGEM Blockchain Research Laboratory. Her current research interests include blockchain technologies and decentralized applications.
Dr. Alpaslan Burak Eliaçık
Senior Chief Researcher, Technical Leader
Dr. Alpaslan Burak Eliaçık received his Bachelor's degree from Ege University, Department of Computer Engineering in 2007. Afterwards, he completed his master's degree in Computer Engineering at Ege University in 2009. In 2017, he obtained his PhD degree from the Department of Computer Engineering at Istanbul Technical University with a thesis that utilized machine learning techniques in the field of finance research. Dr. Alpaslan Burak Eliaçık has been involved in various R&D projects at TÜBİTAK BİLGEM UEKAE since 2010, taking on various roles such as Researcher, Software Engineer, Technical Leader, and Product Manager. Since 2022, he has been serving as a Senior Chief Researcher at TÜBİTAK BİLGEM UEKAE, taking on the role of Technical Leader in R&D projects. His current research interests include digital assets, artificial intelligence, and decentralized finance. Dr. Alpaslan Burak Eliaçık is married and a father of one child, and he is proficient in English.
Ayşe İNANÇ
Senior Expert Researcher, Software Specialist
She received her bachelor's and master's degrees in Computer Engineering from Freie Universität Berlin. Since 2016, she has undertaken various roles in R&D projects carried out on a national scale at TÜBİTAK BİLGEM. In this process, she has taken responsibilities in roles such as Software Engineer, Technical Leader and Institute Manager. As of 2024, she continues to work at TÜBİTAK BİLGEM Blockchain Research Laboratory, and blockchain technologies and decentralised applications are among her current research topics.
Fatih Birinci
Senior Chief Researcher, Technical Leader
He is a 1995 graduate of METU Mathematics. He received his master's degree in Mathematics from METU (1998) and his master's degree in Computer Engineering from GTU (2002). In 1997, he started working at TUBITAK BILGEM and took part in the technical and management levels of many projects. In addition to his laboratory coordination position at TÜBİTAK BİLGEM Test and Evaluation Directorate, he is working as project technical manager and assistant project manager within the scope of regulation of crypto asset service providers. His areas of expertise include cryptography, zero-knowledge protocols, blockchain security, decentralised identity management systems and digital asset storage mechanisms.
Nevzat Özcandan
Expert Researcher, Blockchain Developer
Nevzat Özcandan received his bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering from Yeditepe University in 2016 and his master's degree in Computer Engineering from Marmara University in 2022. Following his graduation, he worked as a software engineer at NETAŞ in the 4.5G LTE Macrocell Base Station Project. Then he started working at BİLGEM in 2018. He is an expert in Java, C/C++, Javascript programming languages; Blockchain Technologies, Cryptology, Backend-Frontend, Docker. His research interests are blockchain (Ethereum, Hyperledger Fabric/Indy, Quorum), cryptocurrencies, smart contracts and decentralized applications (Dapp) and identity management systems (DIDs).
Abdulhamit Kumru
Researcher, Blockchain Developer
Abdulhamit Kumru graduated from Kocaeli University, Department of Computer Engineering in 2021. In 2020, he started working as a candidate researcher at TÜBİTAK BİLGEM. In 2021, he started working as a researcher. His research interests are Software Development, Linux & Unix, Distributed Systems, Cryptology, Cloud Technologies, Blockchain and Open Source Software.
Caner Emeç
Researcher, Blockchain Developer
Caner Emeç graduated from Yıldız Technical University Mechatronics Department in 2019 and Computer Engineering Department in 2021 as part of the double major program. Since 2020, he started working as a candidate researcher at TÜBİTAK BİLGEM, and in 2021, he worked as a researcher. His research interests include blockchain technologies (Hyperledger Fabric, Ethereum, Avalanche, Cosmos), inter-blockchain communication and consensus algorithms.
Selin Demir
Researcher, Blockchain Developer
After graduating from Karadeniz Technical University, Department of Computer Engineering in 2020, she started her master's degree at Yıldız Technical University, Department of Computer Engineering. As of 2021, she started working as a researcher at TÜBİTAK BİLGEM Blockchain Research Laboratory. She is engaged in research and development of blockchain technologies. His active research interests include smart contracts and Hyperledger Fabric-based systems.
Sibel Kurt Toplu
Researcher, Cryptology Expert
She received her Bachelor's degree in Mathematics from Hacettepe OFMA Department in 2015. Then, she started her master's degree at Hacettepe University, Department of Mathematics and wrote her thesis titled "γ-Butson-Hadamard Matrices and Their Cryptographic Applications" in 2017, where algebraic number fields, almost perfect sequences, hadamard matrices and cryptographic functions were used. She started his PhD education in the same department at the same university in 2017 and continues her thesis studies on error correction codes in zero-knowledge proof protocols and the properties of these code families. In 2022, she started working at TÜBİTAK BİLGEM Blockchain Research Laboratory. She continues her research and development studies on blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies, zero-knowledge proofs.
Selçuk Aytan
Chief Technician, Network Infrastructure Manager
As the Chief Technician at BİLGEM Blockchain Laboratory, he is responsible for the installation and maintenance of cloud infrastructures, network design and project working environment responsibilities.
Fehime Bıyıklıoğlu
Systems Engineer
She received her B.S. degree from Istanbul Technical University, Department of Computer Engineering in 2003. She received her MSc degree from Istanbul Technical University, Department of Computer Engineering in 2005 with the thesis title "Motion Aware, Reliable Ad Hoc Network Routing Protocols". Since 2004, she has worked at TÜBİTAK BİLGEM (Informatics and Information Security Advanced Technologies Research Center) as a software engineer, analyst and system engineer in R&D projects on Smart Card Operating System, e-ID Technologies, Distributed Systems, Information Security. She is currently working as a Principal Researcher and System Engineer in Blockchain and National Public Key Infrastructure Projects in Digital Asset Technologies, Systems Engineering and Project Management Unit.
Dr. Metin Toyran
Systems Engineer
He received his BSc degree from Istanbul Technical University, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering in 2005. He received his MSc degree from Istanbul Technical University, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering in 2008 with the thesis title ‘Super Resolution Image Generation from Overlapped Low Resolution Images’. He received his PhD degree from Kocaeli University, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering in 2019 with the thesis title ‘Optimum Cascade Protocol for Efficient Information Reconciliation in Quantum Key Distribution Systems’. Between 2005-2019, he worked at TÜBİTAK BİLGEM UEKAE in the roles of Software Engineer, Work Package Supervisor and Assistant Project Manager, respectively, and worked in Tactical Field and Messaging Systems projects. Between 2019 and 2024, he worked at ASELSAN and Siemens in the roles of System Engineer, Project Manager and Product Owner, respectively, and worked in the fields of Electronic Warfare, Profinet and Industrial Communication. As of 2024, he has been working as a Blockchain System Engineer in the Blockchain Research Laboratory at TÜBİTAK BİLGEM UEKAE.
Dr. Öznur Mut Sağdıçoğlu
Chief Researcher, Cryptology Expert
She received her doctorate, master's and bachelor's degrees from METU Department of Mathematics.
D. in group theory. She completed her PhD thesis "On finite groups admitting a fixed point free Abelian operator groups whose order is a product of three primes" on group theory in 2009. She has about 20 years of experience in theoretical and applied cryptology. Between 2005-2021, she worked as a cryptology expert, information security expert and project manager in national R&D projects on the design, development and analysis of cryptographic algorithms and cryptographic protocols at TÜBİTAK BİLGEM UEKAE (National Electronics and Cryptology Research Institute). She currently gives lectures and trainings on Cryptology, Cryptographic Protocols and Information Security at National Defense University Alparslan Institute of Defense Sciences and National Security Cyber Security Unit and METU Institute of Applied Mathematics Cryptography Department. Her research interests include cryptography, cryptanalysis, information security and cybersecurity, and her current research interests include blockchain technologies, digital assets, key management, zero-knowledge proof protocols, homomorphic encryption, multi-party computation (MPC) and Distributed Wallet technologies (DLT).
Prof. Dr. Orhun Kara
Chief Researcher, Cryptology Expert
After receiving his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from Bilkent University, Department of Mathematical Engineering, he completed his postdoctoral studies in France. He has been involved in the cryptographic design of many systems at BİLGEM Cryptology Department.
Dr. Mehmet Emin Gönen
Chief Researcher, Cryptology Expert
Mehmet Emin Gönen received his bachelor's degree in Mathematics from Boğaziçi University. He received his master's degree from Bahçeşehir University, Department of Applied Mathematics. He completed his PhD at Gebze Technical University, Department of Mathematics in 2022. He completed his PhD on elliptic curve cryptology and isogeny-based post quantum cryptographic algorithms. He continues to work as a Senior Researcher and department head at TÜBİTAK BİLGEM. He has been involved in the design of cryptographic algorithms and protocols in many projects in the field of information security and cryptology within BİLGEM. His current research interests include zero-knowledge proofs, privacy-based cryptographic protocols, blockchain security and post-quantum cryptographic algorithms.
Fatih Demirbaş
Senior Expert Researcher, Cryptology Expert
He received his bachelor's degree in Mathematics from Boğaziçi University in 2011. Between 2011-2013, he continued his master's studies on Game Theory at Koç University, Department of Economics and graduated with his thesis titled "Information Accumulation and Speaking Order in Negotiations". After getting acquainted with cryptology and blockchain, he started his graduate studies and graduated from Marmara University, Department of Information Security Engineering in 2021. In his graduate studies, he focused on symmetric encryption algorithms and crypto analysis and graduated with a thesis titled "Development of Integral Analysis Applied to Block Cipher Algorithms". He works as a senior expert researcher at TÜBİTAK BİLGEM. Since 2018, he has been involved in the design of cryptographic algorithms and protocols in many projects within BİLGEM. His research interests include privacy-based cryptographic protocols, zero-knowledge proofs, blockchain security, design and analysis of symmetric cryptographic building blocks.
Dr. Muhammet Yıldız
Chief Researcher, Software Specialist
He received his bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering from Bilkent University. He completed his master's degree in the same field at Gebze University of Technology. He completed his PhD at Sabancı University, Department of Computer Engineering in 2016. He focused his doctoral studies on artificial intelligence, machine learning and biometrics. He continues his technical leadership and software development activities in TÜBİTAK E-ID Group. He carried out System Engineering, Software Development and Testing activities in Republic of Turkey ID Card, New Generation Passport, TRNC ID Card and many H2020 European Union Projects. Within the scope of TÜBİTAK E-Identity Digital ID studies, he carries out the development and maintenance activities of TÜBİTAK DID SDK. He is an expert in Java, Rust, C/C++, Javascript programming languages; Linux/MacOS, Devops, Cryptology, Backend-Frontend, Docker, Cloud, Terraform.
Sedat Ciftci
Chief Researcher, Software Specialist
He received his bachelor's and master's degrees in Computer Engineering from Boğaziçi University. He continues his technical leadership and software development activities in TÜBİTAK E-ID Group. He carried out System Engineering, Software Development and Testing activities in Republic of Turkey ID Card, TRNC ID card and many H2020 European Union Projects. Within the scope of TUBITAK E-Identity Digital ID studies, he carries out Digital Wallet development activities.
Enes Yücer
Senior Expert Researcher, Software Specialist
He is a senior expert researcher at BİLGEM. Within the scope of Digital ID studies, he is an expert in next generation decentralized identity SDK and Agent development.
Mustafa Ümit ÇEŞMECİ
Senior Chief Researcher, Blockchain Security
He received his BSc degree from Yıldız Technical University, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering in 1993 and MSc degree from the same university, Department of Communication in 1995. He prepared his master's thesis on ‘Spread Spectrum Communication’. Since 1995, he has worked continuously at TUBITAK, where he took part in many projects. He worked as a manager in the HSM Development Project and COMSEC Test Department for a long time.
In 2024, he moved to BİLGEM Cyber Security Institute and started working on Blockchain Technology.
İsmet Abacı
Expert Researcher, Senior Software Developer
İsmet Abacı received his BS degree from Adana Science and Technology University, Department of Computer Engineering and completed his master's degree in blockchain at Marmara University. Since 2020, he has been working as a software developer at TÜBİTAK BİLGEM UEKAE. Professionally, he focuses on back-end software development, clustered systems, blockchain technologies, and performance analysis. İsmet Abacı, proficient in English, continues to actively work in the software industry.
Yılmaz Burak Baş
Researcher
Yılmaz Burak Baş received his bachelor's degree in 2023 from Bahçeşehir University in the Department of Computer Engineering. In 2022, he completed an internship at TÜBİTAK BİLGEM, where he worked on accelerating Image Processing steps through the SIMD concept. In 2023, he joined the Blockchain Research Laboratory as a researcher. His research focuses on smart contracts, decentralized applications, and identity management systems.
Nasuh Dinçer
Researcher
Nasuh Dinçer received his bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering from Bilkent University in 2023. In 2024, he started working as a researcher at TÜBİTAK BİLGEM Blockchain Laboratory. His research interests are blockchain architecture, decentralised applications (DApp) and smart contracts.
Yasin Şimşek
Researcher
Yasin Şimşek completed his undergraduate education at Hacettepe University, Department of Computer Engineering in 2024. In 2024, he started working as a researcher in the Blockchain Research Laboratory. During his education, he worked on Rust, Solana and Blockchain Technology. His research interests are Linux, Rust, Blockchain Architecture and Cryptography.
BZLAB
Program Management
Dr. İsmail Güneş
Deputy Director of Digital Assets
Dr. İsmail GÜNEŞ has been serving as the Director of TÜBİTAK BİLGEM Cyber Security Institute (SGE) since 2022. After graduating from Istanbul Atatürk Science High School, Dr. İsmail GÜNEŞ completed his undergraduate education at Istanbul Technical University, Department of Computer Engineering in 2003. Afterwards, he successfully completed his master's degree in Computer Engineering at Boğaziçi University in 2006. In 2013, he completed his thesis in the field of machine learning at Istanbul Technical University and received his Ph. Dr. İsmail GÜNEŞ has been working at TÜBİTAK BİLGEM UEKAE since 2003 in the field of information security. He has served in various roles such as Software Engineer, Technical Leader, Project Manager and Department Head. He has also been successfully serving as the Deputy Director of TÜBİTAK BİLGEM UEKAE Digital Asset Technologies Institute since 2020. Dr. İsmail GÜNEŞ is married, has two children and speaks fluent English.
Onur Koyuncu
Project Management Office Manager
Onur Koyuncu completed his high school education at Kadıköy Anatolian High School and graduated from Istanbul Bilgi University Computer Science Department in 2009. He completed his master's degree in English MBA at Bahçeşehir University. He started his professional career as a Software Development Engineer at Nortel Networks Netaş in 2009, and since 2011, he has worked as Technical Project Manager, System Engineer and Project Manager in different projects at ARGELA, a Türk Telekom group company, respectively. In 2017, he joined the founding personnel team of ULAK Haberleşme AŞ, a subsidiary of the Presidency of Defense Industries, and worked as Program Manager and Project Department Manager in many civilian and military projects, especially in 5G and Software Defined Networks technologies. Since 2022, he has been working as Project Management and System Engineering Unit Manager at TÜBİTAK BİLGEM. He is currently working on Military and Civil Messaging Systems, E-ID, Digital Identity, Blockchain Technologies, Public Key Infrastructures and Security Systems.
Özcan AYTAÇ
Project Manager
He graduated from Kırıkkale University, Department of Industrial Engineering in 2006. Afterwards, he received TUBITAK TEYDEB R&D grant support with his initiative, Three Dimensional Loading Algorithms Development Project, which he established to develop logistics optimisation software. Between 2011-2014, he worked as a research assistant at Dokuz Eylül University, Department of Industrial Engineering and completed his master's degree in Industrial Engineering at the same department. Between 2014-2017, he worked on the development of simulation-based hyper heuristic solution algorithms for solving NP-Hard problems at Ghent University, Belgium. In 2017, he joined TÜBİTAK BILGEM and worked in the Project Monitoring and Evaluation Unit. Between 2019-2024, he worked as a manager in software and hardware design projects in the National Fighter Aircraft Programme. He has worked on tokenisation of real world assets in the field of blockchain. He works as a manager in TÜBİTAK Blockchain Laboratory Projects and Programmes.
BZLAB
Candidate Researchers
Mert Cengiz
Candidate Researcher
BZLAB
Former Employees
Dr. Mehmet Sabir Kiraz
Blockchain Coordinator, Lab. Manager
Dr. İsa Sertkaya
Chief Expert Researcher, Lab. Assistant Director
Dr. Muhammed Ali Bingöl
Chief Researcher, Cryptology Expert
Öznur Kalkar
Expert Researcher, Cryptology Expert
Dr. Neyyire Deniz Sarıer
Expert Researcher, Cryptology Expert
Özer Koray Akdemir
Expert Researcher
Ahmet Çakmak
Researcher, Blockchain Developer
Etkin Pınar
Researcher, Blockchain Developer
Mert Şamil Gül
Researcher, Blockchain Developer
Ali Doğan
Researcher, Blockchain Developer
Dr. Mehmet Sabir Kiraz
Blockchain Coordinator, Lab. Manager
Fatih Birinci
Blockchain Coordinator
Dr. İsa Sertkaya
Chief Expert Researcher, Lab. Assistant Director
Dr. Muhammed Ali Bingöl
Chief Researcher, Cryptology Expert
Öznur Kalkar
Expert Researcher, Cryptology Expert
Dr. Neyyire Deniz Sarıer
Expert Researcher, Cryptology Expert
Özer Koray Akdemir
Expert Researcher
Ahmet Çakmak
Researcher, Blockchain Developer
Etkin Pınar
Researcher, Blockchain Developer
Mert Şamil Gül
Researcher, Blockchain Developer
