ALKIM
EROL
About
Me.
I am a postdoctoral researcher working on how 'visual' thinking and thinking through the 'visual' can be created, communicated, analyzed and disseminated through the active use of novel audio-visual techniques. I hold a Ph.D. in Humanities and Communication. I was a visiting graduate researcher in the Political Science Department at UCLA.
I am the author of various articles, essays and book chapter. I participated in numerous conferences, workshops, academic events and film festivals.
Currently, I am directing my research towards focusing on how the 'visual' thinking and thinking through the 'visual' can be created, communicated, analyzed and disseminated through the active use of novel audio-visual techniques within the context of ERC-Consolidator Grant: Visual Trust. Reliability, accountability and forgery in scientific, religious and social images (2021-2026). I am working on the images of the outer space and the scientific aesthetics.
Education.
2017-2022
P.hD.
Univeristat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain.
Ph.D. in Humanities and Communication (grant holder). Supervisors: Dr. Jordi Sánchez Navarro, Dr. Ivan Serrano Balaguer. “Reformulation of the Relationship Between Individual Freedom and Technology Theorized through/by the Channel of Cinematic Philosophy”. Awards: Special Prize for the Best Record on the Doctoral Programme in Humanities and Communication and Cum Laude Mention.
2016-2017
M.A.
Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain.
M.A. in Political Philosophy. Supervisor: Dr. Ivan Serrano Balaguer. “Technology and Its Effects on Individual Freedom through Two Visual Fiction Pieces: Alphaville and ‘Nosedive’ Episode of Black Mirror TV Series”.
2010-2015
B.A.
Istanbul Bilgi University,
Istanbul, Turkey.
Double majors in International Relations and in Television Reporting and Programming (grant holder).
Research
Affiliations.
Postdoctoral Researcher ERC-Consolidator Grant: Visual Trust. Reliability, accountability and forgery in scientific, religious and social images (2021-2026), Universitat de Barcelona, April 2023 - Current.
Postdoctoral Researcher in TURBA-Lab Research Group, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, April 2022-April 2023.
Visiting Graduate Researcher, UCLA, Political Science Department, California, U.S. January 4, 2021-April 15, 2021.
Predoctoral Researcher in GAME Research Group, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, September 2018-February 2022.
Predoctoral Researcher in TURBA-Lab Research Group, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, September 2018-February 2022.
Publications.
Publications under-review:
Erol, A., & Canals, R. 'Eating the Stars: The Iconic Path of Eta Carinae and its Homunculus Nebula'.
Erol, A., & Erol, M. ‘Quantum Multiverse and Quantum Consciousness Relation through the Cinematic Language: ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’.
Erol, A., Erol, M., & Canals, R. Cinematic Philosophizing: Operationalization of the Cinematic
Language and Its Influence on Consciousness.
Published works:
Roger, C., Erol, A., & Cuyas, J. F. (2025). Speculative Analogy. American Antropologist, Multimodal Antropologies, Online. Retrieved from https://www.americananthropologist.org/online-content
Erol, A., & Erol, M. (2022). Resolution Of Interconnections Between Will, Free Will and Consciousness. International Journal of Progressive Sciences and Technologies, 31, (2), 121-129.
Erol, A. (2020). COVID-19: A Shortcut to Surveillance Capitalism? Comein, 101.
Erol, A. (2019). Freedom and Control in the Digital Age. Human Affairs, 30(4), 570- 576.
Erol, A; Mohammadi, L & Aranda, D. (2020). There Is an App for That: A Study of Social Egg Freezing Mobile Applications Efficiency from Women’s Perspective. IAMCR conference, Tampere University, Finland, 12-17 July.
Erol, A. (2019). Freedom and Control in the Digital Age. Human Affairs, 30(4), 570- 576.
Erol, A., & Erol, M. (2019). A Contemporary Approach to Philosophy of Consciousness: NanoPhysicalism. Dialogues in philosophy, mental and neurosciences, 12 (2), 53-64.
Erol, A. (2018). Philosophizing through ‘Nosedive’: Imprisonment by Consent. In Dogan, E., & Dogan, E., (Eds.) Current debates in media studies (Vol. 25., pp.195 - 204). London, UK: IJOPEC.
Erol, A. (2018). Future Foresight through Speculative Visual Fiction: Technology and Individual Freedom via 'Nosedive'. In Tudor, M-A., & Bratosin, S., (Eds.), Believe in technology: Mediatization of the future and the future of mediatization. Paper presented at 4th International ComSymbol Conference, Aurel Vlaicu University of Arad, Romania, 8-9 November (pp. 51-62). France: IARSIC.
Erol, A. (2017, August 29). Will the Internet be the Death of Metaphysics? Thinking Gianni Vattimo through Black Mirror, the ‘Nosedive’ Episode,Public Seminar. Retrieved from https://publicseminar.org/2017/08/will- the-internet-be-the-death-of-metaphysics/
Research
Projects.
ERC-Consolidator Grant: Visual Trust. Reliability, accountability and forgery in scientific, religious and social images (2021-2026).
Entity: University of Barcelona.
Funded by: European Research Council.
Period: April 2023 - Current.
Role: Postdoctoral Researcher.
Technology, Environment and Freedom (TEF).
Brief Description: The project is grounded on exploring the political ideology in contemporary discourses on technology, freedom, and sustainability.
Entity: TURBA-Lab Research Group, UOC.
Funded by: IN3, UOC.
Period: March 2022.
Role: Postdoctoral researcher.
ESDigital: Digital Social Education.
Brief Description: The project explores how certain uses of Internet and social media can promote active citizenship and the political participation in young people.
Entity: GAME Research Group, UOC.
Funded by: Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities.
Period: January 2019- September 2022.
Role: Supported the project as a predoctoral researcher.
D-STORIES: “Narrative Cultures”: Digital Storytelling, Social Action and Creation of Publics.
Brief Description: The project addresses the essential role that stories have acquired in contemporary society through focusing on the stories that are formed from the involvement of citizens in the practice of creating, producing, and disseminating stories. Entity: GAME Research Group, UOC.
Funded by: Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. Period: January 2019-December 2021.
Role: Supported the project as a predoctoral researcher.
School Break.
Brief Description: The project aims to explore the possibilities of school students learning through playing and designing escape room game type educational experiences. Entity: GAME Research Group, UOC in collaboration with Pädagogische Hochschule Freiburg, Durham University, Archivio della Memoria, Limerick Institute of Technology, The University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland.
Funded by: Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.
Period: December 2018-December 2020.
Role: Supported the project as a predoctoral researcher.
"It is really crucial to scrutinize how to initiate critical and experimental thinking on and through the 'visual' with the motivation of combining theory and practice."
Audio-Visual Works
NASA CHAPEA Mission: Ground Control through Speculative Fiction
This 360 visual multi-modal experience is created through the synthesis of 2D footage and AI generated panorama to showcase the CHAPEA (Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog) mission of NASA.
In this precise piece, the multimodal inquiry is initiated through contrasting and combining the documentary footage as a reflection of the image and the speculative design as a reflection of the imagination.
Up in the Clouds
This film is about how the life on and around Montsec Observatory takes shape when the weather is cloudy. It proposes an experimental narrative unfolding as a conversation, interaction and co-habitation between nature, technology and the scientists/technicians working in the observatory.
How Do Saint's See?
This film is a collaborative multimodal experiment about the ritual of San Juan among the Venezuelan community in Barcelona.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_72A_BVfUMA&t=32s https://www.americananthropologist.org/online-content
Visual
Works.
'visual' thinking.
thinking
through
the 'visual'.
Holistic synthesis of philosophy, science, and art, in the forms of a division of labour, enables philosophy, science and arts to simultaneously stimulate each other and assigns each and all forms as autonomous faculties of thinking that are capable of bringing forth innovative modes of aesthetic and knowledge creation.
