Ayten Aydın

Ayten Aydın, (born 1930, Konya, Turkey), civil engineer, anthropologist

Biography

In 1951 Aydin graduated as a civil engineer and then worked for about a decade in Turkey as a hydraulic engineer, specializing in river basin development planning. During this period she did several post-graduate studies and on the job training abroad, mostly in the United States. In 1966 she joined the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, where she worked for about 25 years in various positions, mostly involving her in land and water, and rural development activities in developing countries around the world. This work involved her seeking solutions to many physical, economic and social development issues of these countries and put her in direct contact with both administrators and the general population.

Since 1966 Aydin has been a member of the International Society for General Systems Theories, which later became the International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS).

In the FAO/HQ she was the chairperson or a member of several inter-departmental working groups such as Environmental Issues; Sustainable Development and Land-use Planning, Tropical Forestry.

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. She has also obtained a degree in Anthropology. 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.^[1][2]

The papers presented by her to ISSS and IIAS conferences deal with human and socio-political issues.^[3] At present, she carries out research and studies mainly on these issues, which are also heavily supported by her worldwide travels and practical experiences.^[4]

She lives in Rome, Italy.

References