Res. Asst. PhD GÖZDE ÖZENÇ İRA

Dr. Gözde Özenç İra is a research assistant in the Department of Primary Education at Hacettepe University. Her work focuses on culturally responsive and intercultural music education, the intersections of migration and music, and teacher competencies.

In 2025, she conducted postdoctoral research at the Institute for European Music Ethnology at the University of Cologne (https://www.hf.uni-koeln.de/41465) with the support of the TÜBİTAK 2219 fellowship. Her research examined culturally responsive music education practices in primary schools in Cologne, employing a reconstructive research approach (Dokumentarische Methode).

In this context, her work in Germany is also supported by the University of Cologne’s Innovative Tandem Collaborations program through the international project “Inclusive Pedagogy in Music Education: A Comparison of the Perspectives of Teachers Across Primary and Special Education Schools in Germany and Türkiye.”
Project page:
https://cif.uni-koeln.de/projects/innovative-tandem-collaboration-2025-inclusive-pedagogy-in-music-education-a-comparison-of-the-perspectives-of-teachers-across-primary-and-special-education-schools-in-germany-and-tuerkiye

The project was also featured in the official Hacettepe University newspaper:
https://gazete.hacettepe.edu.tr/tr/haber/ars_gor_dr_gozde_ozenc_iraya_koln_universitesinden_arastirma_destegi-714

In 2025, she delivered the invited lecture “Kultur-sensibler Musikunterricht: Perspektiven und Praktiken in Deutschland und der Türkei” within the Ringvorlesung series “Musikpädagogische Diskurse im Wandel” at the University of Cologne.
Event link:

https://kunst.uni-koeln.de/event/rolle-oezenc-ira161025/?fbclid=IwY2xjawNht2ZleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHjW0CGoZRiDhJt6ETsAUeciGGrQX3SqBISxnA1s5E-Fp74SYEKrCnZzcbn5z_aem_du3FW3h79c_2bDUATqKOxA

In January 2026, she will also take part in the workshop “Inclusive Music Pedagogy in Primary Schools: Comparative Perspectives from Germany and Türkiye,” organized within the Cologne International Forum in collaboration with Dr. Theresa Stommel and Dr. Lukas Bugiel, as part of the ongoing Tandem project.

Her research has appeared in international peer-reviewed journals and adopts an interdisciplinary perspective that brings together music pedagogy, intercultural interaction, and social justice. She maintains active collaborations with academic communities in both Türkiye and Germany and conducts research on cultural diversity and inclusive pedagogies at national and international levels.