Prof. EKMEL GEÇER

Ekmel Geçer is a Professor of Social Psychology at Marmara University, Istanbul. He holds a PhD from Loughborough University (2014) and has an interdisciplinary academic background rooted in psychology, complemented by expertise in communication studies and the psychology of religion.

He began his academic career as a lecturer in the Department of Communication at Sakarya University (2015–2019), before joining the University of Health Sciences in Istanbul, where he taught social and media psychology between 2019 and 2023. He is currently based at Marmara University, where his teaching and research focus on social psychology and positive psychological approaches to individual and societal well-being.

Professor Geçer has substantial international teaching experience in Psychology and has delivered invited lectures and courses at several prestigious institutions, including the University of Dortmund and Würzburg University (Germany), Birmingham City University (UK), the University of Warsaw (Poland), Sigmund Freud University (Vienna), and the International Balkan University (North Macedonia). His international engagement reflects his strong commitment to cross-cultural psychology and global academic collaboration.

His academic formation began in theology in Türkiye, which later evolved into a master’s degree in the Psychology of Religion. This early engagement with meaning, values, and belief systems significantly shaped his later orientation towards positive psychology and existential perspectives. Seeking to further integrate psychological theory with contemporary social issues, he completed a second master’s degree in New Media, Governance, and Democracy at the University of Leicester in 2009. His master’s thesis examined political communication through a psychological lens, marking the beginning of his sustained interest in media and social influence. During this period, he also contributed regularly to national newspapers and cultural periodicals in Türkiye.

Professor Geçer’s research lies primarily within social psychology, with a particular emphasis on positive psychology, psychological well-being, meaning-making, and resilience in modern societies. His work also encompasses media psychology, cyberpsychology, political psychology, and the psychological dimensions of multiculturalism. He has published widely in peer-reviewed international journals and has presented his research at numerous national and international conferences.

Some of his most prominent books include:

1.       Family Psychology: Theory, Practice, and Contemporary Approaches

2.       Media, Popular Culture, and Psychology

3.       The Paradoxical Defeat of Authenticity: Essays on Communication, Culture, and Politics

4.       Social Media and Communication Psychology: Personality, Polarisation, and Algorithms

5.       Handbook of Social Psychology (co-edited with Meryem Serdar)

6.       The Psychopathology of Everyday Life (co-authored with Tolga Akkuş)

7.       Intercultural Communication: A Psychological Perspective

Prof Geçer is fluent in Arabic and English, is married, and is the father of two children.