Dr. Erdem Uçar
Curriculum Vitae

Dr. Erdem Uçar

Turkologist and philologist. Research Fellow at Friedrich Schiller University Jena; Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Old Turkic Studies.

Send an Email ORCID: 0000-0002-0039-9619

Academic Positions

2020–present
Research Fellow — Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany
2011–2016
Associate Professor — Department of Turkish Language and Literature, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Gediz University, İzmir, Türkiye
2001–2011
Research Assistant — Institute of Turkic World Studies, Ege University, İzmir, Türkiye

Education

2003–2009
Ph.D. in Turcology (Dr. phil.) — Ege University, İzmir, Türkiye
2001–2003
Master of Education in Turcology — Ege University, İzmir, Türkiye
1996–2000
Bachelor of Education in Turcology — Ege University, İzmir, Türkiye

Editorial Experience

2017–present
Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Old Turkic Studies (JOTS)
Published on DergiPark from 2017 to 2025; published by Franz Steiner Verlag from 2027 onward.

Peer Review and Academic Evaluation

Peer Reviewer

The Central Asiatic Journal (CAJ)
Archiv Orientální
Journal of Turkic & Uyghur Studies (National University of Mongolia)

External Expert / Remote Evaluator

European Research Council (ERC), Peer Review of Grant Proposals, 2025 Calls

Research Interests

Languages, literatures, and cultures of the Silk Road; pre-Islamic and Islamic Turkestan (culture, society, and religion); history of the Uyghurs and the peoples of the Eurasian steppe; Old and Middle Turkic linguistics and philology; pre-Islamic Turkic literature; Old Turkic Buddhism and Uyghur Buddhist literature; Uyghur Manichaeism and its textual traditions; Turkic lexicography and historical Turkic lexicography; the history and development of Turkic writing systems; problems of transcription and transliteration in historical Turkic languages; digital humanities and computational approaches to Old Turkic studies; TEI-based digitisation and modelling of historical dictionaries and text corpora; OCR, text normalisation, and corpus workflows; OpenSearch-based dictionary and research data infrastructures; language education and social participation; intercultural education and diversity.