Principal Investigator
Kaan Kerman, PhD
Kaan Kerman is an instructor at Bilkent University in the Psychology department. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Turin in Italy in the Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology. Also, he has an M.S. degree from the University of Hacettepe and the University of Florida in the Department of Biology and the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation. His main research interests are Animal Behavior, Behavioral Ecology, Comparative Psychology, and Animal and Comparative Cognition.
Undergraduate Students
Doğa Keçe
Doğa is a senior undergraduate student in the Department of Psychology at Bilkent University. Since May 2024, she has been working under the supervision of Dr. Kaan Kerman in the Animal Behaviour and Human-Animal Interactions Research Group. Her work in this research group focused on religiosity and its potential effect on our attribution of various mental capacities to non-human animals and the perceived cognitive humans might draw between different animal taxa. Currently, she is collaborating with Can Dora Akcan on two projects: one explores whether humans can truly be considered the most dependent species by examining key developmental milestones across a wide range of mammalian species; the other investigates how ecological factors may shape behavioral patterns in Eurasian magpies. Her broader research interests consist of animal cognition, human-animal interactions as well as mate selection in human and non-human animals. Besides her academic work, Doğa enjoys hiking, mushroom hunting, and listening to Grateful Dead.
Can Dora Akcan
Dora is a third-year undergraduate student in the psychology department. He is mainly interested in topics such as animal behavior, comparative psychology, and behavioral neuroscience. Currently, he is involved in two projects with Doğa Keçe, which investigate the comparison of the dependency period of humans with other mammalian species and behavioral patterns of magpies. Besides academics, he likes playing guitar, repairing musical instruments, and collecting vinyl.
Hakan İyimaya
Hakan is a fourth year undergraduate psychology student at Bilkent University. His research interests are application of attachment theory to human–companion animal relationships, behavioral patterns within pet-owner bondings, and behavioral problems in companion animals. He is particularly interested in how owners’ routines and environmental factors influence stress related behaviors in dogs. Currently, Hakan is developing a citizen science project investigating the effects of pre-departure cues on the onset and severity of separation related behaviors in dogs.
Alumni
Buketsu Başar
Since April 2022, Buketsu has been part of the Animal Behavior and Human-Animal Interactions Research Group led by Dr. Kaan Kerman. Her research interests lie at the intersection of social perception, decision-making, and human-animal interactions. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Bilkent University in 2024. For her undergraduate thesis, she collaborated with Dr. Kerman on a study examining how sensitivity to social status affects the perceived adoptability and cuteness of pedigree and non‑pedigree cats. The findings highlighted that social status concerns may play a mediating role in pet adoption preferences—suggesting that motivations behind human-animal bonding extend beyond attachment and include deeper socio-cognitive factors. This research was published in Anthrozoös (Kerman & Başar, 2025), available at https://doi.org/10.1080/08927936.2025.2463211. After completing her undergraduate studies, she began her Master’s degree in Social, Forensic and Organizational Psychology at LUMSA University (Libera Università Maria SS. Assunta) in Rome, Italy. In her free time, she enjoys making jewelry and spending time with cats.
Yağmur Esendemir
Since April 2022, Yağmur has been a member of the Animal Behavior and Human-Animal Interactions Research Group, working under the guidance of Dr. Kaan Kerman. For her senior project, she explored how humans perceive dog-human social interactions in both familiar (i.e., with owners) and unfamiliar (i.e., with experimenters) contexts. In her study, three experienced observers rated dogs’ cooperative tendencies and petting responses across these two contexts, finding that observer agreement was consistent only in the unfamiliar context, suggesting that dog-owner interactions may represent a unique kind of social-relationship. After graduating from the Bilkent University Psychology Department in 2023, Yağmur continued her graduate studies in the same department, where she began her master’s thesis research under the supervision of Dr. Jedediah Allen. Her thesis focuses on the functions of overimitation in preschoolers, and her side project examines how children evaluate the trustworthiness of others based on epistemic and interpersonal cues. Her broader research interests focus on the evolution of social cognition in both non-human animals and human children. Through her work with non-human animals and children, Yağmur aims to become a comparative psychologist, believing that we cannot truly understand any species without working directly with them. Outside of academics, she enjoys hiking, listening to reggae, and hanging out with friends.
Begüm Nur Gezer
Begüm graduated from the Department of Psychology at Bilkent University in 2024. During her undergraduate studies, whe developed a particular interest in human-animal interaction, social perception, and individuals’ behavioral tendencies. Her senior thesis project focused on how individuals’ preferences for cats or dogs influence their attitudes toward pet behavior. She is currently an intern at Fenomen Psychology while continuing her applications for graduate programs.