Ayten Aydın

Ayten Aydın, (b. 1930, Konya, Turkey), civil engineer, anthropologist

Biography

After the graduation as a civil engineer (1951) worked about a decade in her own country (Turkey), as a hydraulic engineer, basically as a river basin development planner. During this period she did several post-graduate studies and on the job training abroad, mostly in the USA.

Thereafter (1966), she joined the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, where she worked about quarter of a century in various positions, mostly involving her in land & water and rural development activities in developing countries all over the world. This work had involved her in seeking solutions to many physical, economic and social development issues of these countries and put her in direct contact with the administrators and the real grass-root people. Such first hand experiences gave her un-measurable opportunities to and human related issues.

She is since 1966 a member of the International Society for General Systems Theories then it developed into the present International Society for Systems Sciences (ISSS). Her involvement in its activities greatly helped her during her formational years.

In the FAO/HQ she was the chairperson or a member of several inter-departmental working groups such as Environmental Issues; Sustainable Development; Land-use Planning, Tropical Forestry. All these activities have contributed to her appreciating the need for and gaining the ability for dealing with complexity and the process approach to pave the way towards achieving development objectives.

After retirement from FAO/UN, more than a decade ago, she has indulged herself in formal and informal studies on humanities, including biological and cultural anthropology, sociology, history, history of art, history of ideas as well as music and culture of medicine, and obtained a degree in Anthropology. All had the common objective of deeper understanding of human issues and their underlying causes. Such insights helped her to think deeply on issues such as how peoples’ consciousness could be raised to a level whereby they can act responsibly and respectfully to the rights of others, leading eventually to an harmonious living on earth and to a durable peace. Since 1999, as a member of the international Institute for Advanced Studies (IIAS), she organizes symposia and present papers to a number of symposia organized by others. .

The papers presented by her to ISSS and IIAS conferences all these years deal basically with human and socio-political issues. Presently, she carries out research and studies mainly on these issues, which are also heavily supported by her worldwide travels and practical experiences.

She lives in Rome, Italy.

References

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