Dr Ece Okay Dissard
Dr Okay Dissard is a researcher and lecturer in History and Theory of Architecture. She has received her Master of Arts in Architecture from university of Leeds in 2005 and subsequently a Master of Arts in ‘Anatolian Civilisations and Heritage Management’ in 2008 from Koc University. She has completed her PhD from the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2016. She has worked as a lecturer and researcher at UCLA, Koç and Sabanci Universities in Istanbul, the University of Pennsylvania, and most recently at University College London (UCL). Throughout her career she has received several research grants for various projects such as NEH (National Endowment of Humanities). Currently she is an associate researcher at IRAA. Over 20 years of experience in diverse cultural and academic environments she has first hand knowledge of academia on all its forms. She is fluent in English, French and Turkish.
Who we are
Dr Laurent Dissard
Dr Laurent Dissard is a social and cultural anthropologist, research developer, and project manager. He holds a PhD in Near Eastern Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and has held research and teaching positions in France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Turkey, including at the University of Pennsylvania, University College London, the University of Toulouse, and Koç University. He is currently an Associate Researcher at CETOBaC (EHESS–CNRS) in Paris.
His academic work spans anthropology, heritage and museum studies, archaeology, environmental humanities, and Middle East studies. Alongside his research and teaching, he has extensive experience developing and coordinating individual and collaborative research projects. He has worked on European and national funding applications, including Marie Skłodowska-Curie proposals, as well as consortium building, work planning, impact, dissemination, risk management, and project coordination.
At Education Pathways, Laurent helps researchers transform complex ideas into clear, persuasive, and feasible proposals while preserving their intellectual voice. He works in French and English and is also fluent in Turkish and Spanish.