Bozkurt Guvenc

Bozkurt Güvenc holds Bachelors from Istanbul Technical University and M.I.T., Masters degrees from Colombia University Teachers College and a PhD in Anthropology from Hacettepe University. He has been Professor of Anthropology at Yeditepe University in Istanbul.

He was the senior adviser to the President of Turkish Republic between 1993-2000. In 1980-1981, he lectured at Tokyo University  as guest scholar.

He was also the founder of TUSES, Turco-Japanese Foundations which was awarded with "Golden Rays of The Rising Sun" by Japanese Government. 

He has held numerous positions on Boards and Committees, including Turkish Social Science Association (1974-75), secretary of State for Cultural Affairs (1974-86), UNESCO National Commission of Turkey (1985-86), Wilson Center, Smithsonian, USA, as well as in many government organizations and universities such as Higher Education Council, Turkish Academy of Sciences and Board of Trustees of Atilim University.

Prof. Guvenc is the author of 18 books and 250 articles.

Pulat Tacar

Former Vice Chairperson of the Turkish National Commission for UNESCO.
Borned in 1931. Graduated from the Political Science School, Ankara University in 1954. After post graduate studies at the Sorbonne University in Paris, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was the Ambassador of Turkey in Jakarta (1981-1984), Permanent Representative, Ambassador of Turkey to the European Communities (1984-1987) in Bruxelles and to UNESCO (1989-1995) in Paris; and he was Director General for Cultural Affairs of the MFA (1987-1989).

He published several books : “Cultural Rights in the World and the Proposal of a Model for Turkey”; “Terror and Democracy”, which was awarded the Yunus Nadi Social Sciences Research Prize in 1999; “The Control of Nuclear Weapons”; “Financing of the Politics” “UNESCO, is She Useless Like Mozart?”; and many essays in several periodicals on the topics of cultural rights; the good governance of multiculturalism; relations between Turkey and the European Union; and genocide.

David Throsby

Professor of Economics at Macquarie University since 1974. Internationally known for his work in the economics of the arts and culture.

His book 'The Economics of the Performing Arts', co-authored with Glenn Withers, first published in 1979 and reissued in 1993, has become a standard reference work in the field, and has been translated into five languages. In addition to the performing arts, Professor Throsby’s research and writing has covered the economic role of artists, the economics of public intervention in arts markets, cultural development, cultural policy, heritage issues, and sustainability of cultural processes. He has also written extensively on the theory of public goods and the economics of higher education. His most recent book, Economics and Culture, was published in 2001 by Cambridge University Press.

David Throsby holds Bachelors and Masters Degrees from the University of Sydney, and a PhD in Economics from the London School of Economics. He has been Professor of Economics at Macquarie University in Sydney since 1974. He has been a consultant to the World Bank, the OECD, FAO and UNESCO as well as many government organizations and private firms. In 1990-1992 he chaired three of the Prime Minister’s Working Groups on Ecologically Sustainable Development. He was a member of the Experts' Committee drafting the UN Convention on Cultural Diversity in 2003 -2004.

Professor Throsby has held numerous positions on Boards and Committees, including President of the NSW Branches of the Australian Agricultural Economics Society and the Economic Society of Australia, President of the Association for Cultural Economics International, and Foundation Chair of the National Association for the Visual Arts. He has served on the Boards of the Australian Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Copyright Agency Limited and VISCOPY. He is also currently a member of the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Cultural Economics, the International Journal of Cultural Policy, Poetics, and the Pacific Economic Bulletin.