ONURCAN BÜYÜKKALKANA life in chapters
BERLIN, DEIndex 22
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Onurcan BüyükkalkanOnurcan BüyükkalkanA life in chapters
01Research02Data and Software03TV Interviews04Academic References05Academic Résumé06Honors, Awards and Fellowships07Student Organizations
01Private Sector02Public Sector03International Organizations04Professional References05Professional Résumé
01Aficionado Ratings02Architectural Ideas
01World Travel02Collections
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Onurcan Büyükkalkan
Onurcan.

Engineer. Researcher. Collector.

Choose a thread
Planet Status Code: 404 projectAcademic
01Research02Data and Software03TV Interviews04Academic References05Academic Résumé06Honors, Awards and Fellowships07Student Organizations
Berlin skylineCareer
01Private Sector02Public Sector03International Organizations04Professional References05Professional Résumé
$22,000Continuous Education ProjectCommunity Service
01Community projects
Anatolian interiorArts & Culture
01Aficionado Ratings02Architectural Ideas
Map of the Ottoman Empire, 1878Travel & Collections
01World Travel02Collections
Thinking / 01 of 05
İzmir · Ankara · Washington · Chicago · BerlinSomething in common? ↗
A life in chapters
Onurcan BüyükkalkanBased in Berlin, Germany

Engineering · Public policy · A curious life

Connecting
the dots.

I’m Onurcan. A software engineer at Deutsche Bank, with a background in computational public policy and a habit of following my curiosity.

Explore my world
Portrait of Onurcan Büyükkalkan
Engineer. Researcher. Collector.Always a student.

Rooted in İzmir.
Shaped by everywhere else.

İzmir/Ankara/Washington/Chicago/Berlin
Personal fieldnotes
Vol. 2026
01 / 05Academic

Between people
& possibilities.

Political science taught me to ask how institutions work. Computation gave me another way to find out.

Explore academic work
Chicago, USA · 2023–2025

University
of Chicago.

MS, Computational Analysis & Public Policy

Fulbright ScholarRead my story
Ankara, Türkiye · 2019–2023

Bilkent
University.

BA, Political Science · Software Development Certificate

Third-ranked graduate in my departmentGraduation

Ideas, put to work.

Selected data & software
01

CommonThread

An open-source collaborative tool that turns community stories into shared insights for organizers, journalists, and researchers.

02

Planet Status Code: 404

A climate-vulnerability explorer connecting floods, heat, hurricanes, redlining, and community risk across six U.S. cities.

03

ErdoWatch

Natural-language analysis of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s speeches from 2014–2020, co-authored with Erim Üçlüok.

04

Transparency Network

An interactive network visualization of Turkish municipalities and the transparency agreements they co-signed.

Research & publicationsHonors & fellowshipsRésuméInterviews
02 / 05Career

Theory, meet
the real world.

Technology, finance, government, and international research. Different settings; a continuing interest in making complex systems useful.

The current chapter · Berlin

Deutsche Bank

Software Engineer

Building AI-driven engineering solutions for internal Investment Bank teams, with research in progress on agentic root-cause analysis. Previously worked on Kafka as a Service in the Corporate Bank.

More about my work
02

AccessBridge International

Economic Data Consultant

Integrated large datasets for investment site selection in Mexico and built a Python and Plotly Dash decision tool for real-time analysis.

Washington, D.C. · Private sector
03

Sertifier Inc.

Sales Specialist

Applied analytics to sales operations, improving decision-making and increasing sales efficiency while building regression-based forecasts in R and Python.

İstanbul / Delaware · Private sector
04

Presidency of Türkiye Finance Office

Data Intern

Examined national financial data and contributed to the development of Türkiye’s National Fintech Strategy.

Ankara, Türkiye · Public sector
05

Ministry of Treasury and Finance

Intern

Compared international financial-technology regulation and reported national and global financial insights to public and business leaders.

Ankara, Türkiye · Public sector
06

International Labour Organization

Research Extern

Co-authored research on the socioeconomic effects of COVID-19 on Syrian refugees in Türkiye, with policy recommendations for governments and international organizations.

New York City · International
Full career archiveReferences
03 / 05Community service

Knowledge
should travel.

Through education, communities, and conversations that bring people together.

Community projects
Continuous Education Project$22,000

A U.S. Mission in Türkiye grant supporting free educational content for disadvantaged groups.

Visit the project
01 / Community

Social Sciences Society

An interdisciplinary Bilkent community around quantitative social science, political economy, and public life.

02 / Convening

Data, Ethics & Policy

A forum connecting academia, government, industry, and civil society around the ethical use of data and AI.

03 / Fellowship

Türkiye Europe Future Forum

2026 Fellow. Continuing the conversation across borders.

Fellow profile
04 / 05Arts & culture

Room for
the unexpected.

Architecture, music, writing, and the pleasure of paying attention.

An Anatolian interior with timber windows and built-in seating
An architectural conversation

Midwestern Prairie.
Anatolian Bozkır.

Frank Lloyd Wright, traditional Anatolian houses, and a shared concern for land, privacy, craft, and human scale.

Read the essay
01 / Music

Turquerie — Cyberbach

A violin composition, begun after taking up the instrument in college.

Listen & explore
02 / Aficionado

Small rituals. Strong opinions.

Occasional cigar ratings and notes on places and impressions.

Browse the notes
05 / 05Travel & collections

A world
worth keeping.

Old maps, paper histories, and objects that make a distant place feel close. A collection of things; a collection of ways to see.

Inside the collection
1878 map of the Ottoman Empire
Cartography / 1878

The Ottoman Empire

Missouri Publishing Company

Brockhaus map of Chicago, circa 1897
Cartography / c. 1897

Another Chicago

A German map of an American city

Mashi by Rabindranath Tagore, 1921 edition
Books / 1921

Mashi

Rabindranath Tagore

Travel journals

Marrakech. Cairo.
New York. Milan.

Open the travel journals
Berlin skyline above the Brandenburg GateBerlin, Germany
The current chapter.
The conversation continues

Something
in common?

Engineering, policy, architecture, or a particularly interesting old map.

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