Institute's Turkey Correspondent Awarded Humanitarian Medal

The city of Linz has awarded the Humanitarian Medal to our Institute's Turkey correspondent, Prof. Dr. Alpay Hekimler. The award recognizes his academic work and his cross-border commitment to education and understanding. The labor and social law expert has initiated academic collaborations and exchange programs between universities in Turkey and Austria, thereby “creating a climate of mutual understanding,” as emphasized in the laudatory speech.

Born in Germany, Prof. Hekimler has specifically promoted academic exchange between Turkey and Austria throughout his career, first as a professor of social policy at Namik Kemal University in Tekirda and, since 2021, as chair of labor and social law at Osmangazi University in Eskişehir. Prof. Hekimler was already associated with the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy as a PhD student. In 2015, he finally became a correspondent of the Institute and has since reported regularly on current developments in social law in Turkey in the Social Law Reports series.

Already in 2015, Prof. Hekimler was awarded the Golden Medal of Honor of the Republic of Austria. Last year, he received the Silver Medal of Merit of the State of Upper Austria.