SAYZEK Academic Thesis Program (ATP) 2026-2027 Applications

The Defense Industry Artificial Intelligence Talent Cluster (SAYZEK) was established to strengthen cooperation between academia, users, and companies, support the domestic ecosystem, and bring qualified talent in artificial intelligence into the defense industry.

Within the scope of SAYZEK activities, the Academic Thesis Program (ATP) is carried out in cooperation with the Presidency of Defence Industries and the Council of Higher Education (YÖK). The program aims to train qualified human resources for the defense industry and bring academic research together with the needs of the sector.

Applications for the SAYZEK-ATP 2026-2027 period are now open. This year, the scope of the program has been expanded. In addition to final-year undergraduate students and thesis-based master's students, third-year undergraduate students are now also eligible to apply.

Applications and reporting procedures will be carried out through the SAYZEK-ATP portal:

https://atp.sayzek.org.tr

The application system will remain open between 18 September and 8 October 2026.

Program Schedule

• Applications: 18 September - 8 October 2026
• Announcement of Results: November 2026
• Report Submission Dates: 18 December 2026, 26 February 2027, and 7 May 2027
• Winter Camp: March 2027
• Final Submission and Thesis Sharing: 11 June 2027
• Final Meeting and Poster Day: July 2027
• Summer Camp: August - September 2027

Who Can Apply?

• Be a citizen of the Republic of Türkiye
• Be a 3rd or 4th-year undergraduate student or a thesis-based master's student
• Have a GPA of at least 2.00/4.00 or 53/100

Applications may be submitted individually or as a team of up to three students. An academic advisor is mandatory. The academic advisor must be registered in the SAYZEK system and matched with the student through the system. Students from the Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Statistics departments of Faculties of Science and Faculties of Science and Letters are also eligible.

Required Application Documents and Information

Applicants will be required to provide:

• Registration information, including name, surname, email address, telephone number, and KVKK consent
• Turkish ID number, place and date of birth, and nationality
• Passport-style photograph
• Criminal record certificate
• Education information, including YÖKSİS verification, GPA, and transcript
• Project, competition, and award information, if applicable
• Certificates and foreign language documents, if applicable
• CV in Europass format
• Letter of intent
• GitHub and LinkedIn profile URLs
• Academic advisor information verified through the SAYZEK Portal and a reference letter
• Thesis/Graduation Project topic selection
• Internship, thesis, and voluntary internship declarations

Quotas and Evaluation

A total of 50 project topics are planned for the SAYZEK-ATP 2026-2027 period. A maximum of three applications, either individual or team applications of up to three students, will be assigned to each mentor. A maximum of 150 applications is planned to be accepted for evaluation. Applications will be scored according to the established evaluation criteria, and applicants with the highest scores will be placed within the available quotas.

Evaluation criteria include:

• GPA, minimum 2.00
• Foreign language score
• Certificates
• Competitions
• TÜBİTAK project support
• National or international academic publications

Internationally recognized foreign language examination scores accepted as equivalent to YDS/e-YDS according to the ÖSYM Foreign Language Examination Equivalency Table will also be accepted.

Applicants' GitHub profiles will be reviewed, and exceptions may be applied based on the projects demonstrated through their GitHub accounts. Students who participated in or received a certificate of achievement from the SAYZEK-ATP 2024-2025 or 2025-2026 periods may upload these documents under the certificates section.

Opportunities for 3rd-Year Undergraduate Students

• Summer internship opportunities at foundation companies, subject to available quotas and program success ranking
• Participation in the Winter Camp
• Technical training from industry experts
• Technical visits to mentor companies

Internship quotas will be obtained from participating companies and allocated according to the program success ranking to students who have a mandatory internship requirement and whose insurance is covered by their university.

Opportunities for 4th-Year Undergraduate and Master's Students

• Poster presentation at the Final Meeting
• Academic publication support
• Technical training from industry experts
• Participation in the Summer Camp
• Internship opportunities, subject to available quotas

For undergraduate students participating in the poster presentation, sharing the relevant dataset is mandatory.

Training Opportunities

Undergraduate and master's students participating in the program may also benefit from:

• Summer/Winter Artificial Intelligence Camps
• Long-term technical artificial intelligence training delivered by industry experts
• Thesis and project writing training
• Incubation and entrepreneurship training
• Technical visits to mentor companies

Application Portal:
https://atp.sayzek.org.tr