Beautiful minds meet up at BİLGİ

ISTANBUL

Nobel prize winners Eric Maskin (2nd L), John Nash (C), Reinhard Selten (2nd R) and Roger Myerson (R) delivered a joint session to Istanbul Bilgi University (BİLGİ) students within the scope of the four-day World Congress of the Game Theory Society. DAILY NEWS photo, Emrah GÜREL

The fourth World Congress of the Game Theory Society, hosted by Istanbul Bilgi University, brought together nearly 800 researchers, including four Nobel laureates, in a bid to promote research, teaching and application of the landmark theory.

John Nash, one of the founders and key figures of the theory, was among the participants in the event at the university’s santralistanbul campus by the Golden Horn in Istanbul.

Nash (Princeton University, 1994 Nobel Prize in Economics) and Eric Maskin (Princeton University, 2007 Nobel Prize in Economics), Roger Myerson (University of Chicago, 2007 Nobel Prize in Economics) and Reinhard Selten (University of Bonn, 1994 Nobel Prize in Economics) addressed BİLGİ’s student body and conducted Q&A sessions with students on game theory and its strategic application in modern social, political and business life.

Campus becomes venue
During the five-day event, some 200 main and parallel sessions were held. A total of 58 BİLGİ staff took part in the event that hosted academics from 44 nations from all over the world.

The Bilgi campus was transformed into a large convention venue for five days with the participating academics and students sharing enjoyable moments in between the sessions.

“We are honored to host the World Congress of the Game Theory Society and welcome this esteemed group of academics and scientists who are sharing their knowledge and experiences with our university community,” said Remzi Sanver, the Rector of Istanbul Bilgi University. “Hosting global events like the World Congress is one of many ways BİLGİ seeks to educate free-thinking, creative, intellectually curious and enterprising individuals who will contribute to a world in which knowledge is accessible to all members of our society.”

Turkey’s European Union Minister Egemen Bağış also delivered a speech at the opening of the event.
Game theory studies strategic interaction in competitive and cooperative environments. It is a central tool for economics and the social sciences, poses challenging research questions in mathematics, and is applied across a wide variety of fields, including computer science, neuroscience, philosophy and biology.

The Game Theory Society, the global governing body of theoreticians studying in the field, also met at BİLGİ. The society holds its congresses in every four years.