Resume – Cemre Yılmaz

Vision Researcher – Data Scientist – UX Expert

Work experience

01/10/2014 – Present

Co-founder & UX Designer, Dusunbil Publishing [TR]

Developing and enhancing editorial workflows, improving content curation and distribution strategies for a humanities and science-focused publication
Organizing and coordinating over 50 conferences on interdisciplinary topics in the humanities and sciences, fostering public engagement with academic knowledge
Designing and implementing a digital platform, increasing accessibility to intellectual content, and broadening the reach of the organization
Optimizing digital infrastructure, reducing operational complexity, and ensuring sustainable resource allocation for long-term projects

01/09/2020 – 31/08/2025

Pre-doctoral researcher (FWF Project employee), UniGraz [AT]

Designed and conducted behavioral experiments with over 150 participants to study perceptual states
Developed and implemented automated data preprocessing pipelines using R and MATLAB
Collaborated with interdisciplinary teams for open science practices and data sharing initiatives

01/10/2019 – 31/03/2020

Internship fellow, EPFL [CH]

Conducted preprocessing and analysis of EEG data from 21 participants to investigate the effect of prior experience on current perception using MATLAB
Implemented a machine learning paradigm to demonstrate the relationship between behavioral and neural data

05/09/2016 – 25/07/2019

Graduate student assistant, Bilkent University [TR]

Conducted an fMRI experiment involving 6 participants to investigate the dynamics of visual perception
Designed and presented visual stimuli in MATLAB, followed by preprocessing (FreeSurfer, SPM) and analysis (MATLAB)

01/10/2014 – 15/07/2015

Undergraduate student assistant, METU [TR]

Controlled the neural stimulation and assisted fNIRS neuroimaging experiments with 30 participants, including fibromyalgia patients and healthy adults
Analyzed neuroimaging data using statistical methods on MS Excel

30/06/2014 – 08/08/2014

Intern, SenteGen [TR]

Produced DNA primers for customers within a certain time frame
Produced a novel terminal transferase enzyme for an R&D project
Checked the quality of a novel terminal transferase enzyme

Education

23/03/2021 – Present

PhD in Psychology, UniGraz [AT]

University of Graz, one of the largest universities in Austria.
CGPA: 1.00/1.00 (expected to graduate in 2026)
Thesis title: Phenomenology of transitions during binocular rivalry
supervised by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Natalia Zaretskaya

05/09/2016 – 25/07/2019

MSc in Neuroscience, Bilkent Uni [TR]

Bilkent University, one of the top 3 research universities in Turkey.
CGPA: 3.86/4.00
Thesis title: Effect of visual stimuli with fearful emotional cues on population receptive field estimates
supervised by Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Boyacı

03/09/2009- 13/06/2015

BSc in Molecular biology and genetics, METU [TR]

Middle East Technical University (METU), one of the top 5 universities in Turkey.
CGPA: 2.80/4.00
Thesis title: Determination of motor cortex in the human brain by using fNIRS data
supervised by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Didem Gökçay and Assist. Prof. Dr. Aykut Eken

Certificates & Further Education

Microsoft Learn for Educators (MSLE) AI Technical Foundations Bootcamp, ETC (2026)

Google Prompting Essentials Specialization, Google (2025)

German Level B1.1, treffpunkt sprachen, University of Graz (2025)

Databases and SQL for Data Science with Python, IBM (2024)

Doctoral Academy Transferable Skills Certificate, University of Graz (2023)

Teaching in English: English Medium Instruction Course, University of Graz (2023)

Python Data Structures, University of Michigan (2022)

Programming for Everybody (Getting Started with Python), University of Michigan (2021)

Mastering Software Development in R Specialization, Johns Hopkins University (2021)

Introduction to Psychology, University of Toronto (2021)

Visual Perception and Visual Illusions, Saint Petersburg State University (2021)

Academic achievements

Talks

2024 | 53^rd DGPs Congress/15^th ÖGP Conference

Transitions during binocular rivalry vary in appearance across stimulus types
Yilmaz, Cemre; Pabel, Laura; Kerschenbauer, Elias; Ischebeck, Anja; Sipatchin, Alexandra; Bartels, Andreas; and Zaretskaya, Natalia.
16.09.2024, Vienna, Austria. https://dgps2024.univie.ac.at/home-news/

2023 | Trieste Symposium on Perception and Cognition

Variety of transition appearance during binocular rivalry
Yılmaz, Cemre; Pabel, Laura; Kerschenbauer, Elias; Ischebeck, Anja; Sipatchin, Alexandra; Bartels, Andreas; and Zaretskaya, Natalia.
27.10.2023, Trieste, Italy. https://sites.units.it//bernardis/symposium2023.html

2023 | Complexity of Life in Basic Research and Innovation (COLIBRI)

The potential of NLP methods in categorizing verbal descriptions of subjective experience during binocular rivalry task
Yılmaz, Cemre; Pabel, Laura; Kerschenbauer, Elias; Ischebeck, Anja; Sipatchin, Alexandra; Bartels, Andreas; and Zaretskaya, Natalia.
27 & 28.02.2023, University of Graz, Graz, Austria. https://colibri.uni-graz.at/en/

2017 | Algı, Hareket ve Kontrolü Çalıştayı (Workshop on Perception, Motion and Its Control)

Fibromyaljide Motor Kayıp (Motor loss in fibromyalgia)
Yılmaz, Cemre; Eken, Aykut; Gökçay, Didem; Baskak, B.; Baltacı, A.; and Kara, Murat.
15.12.2017. at the Neuropsychiatry of Education Research and Application Center, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey.

Public talk

2024 | 3 Minute Thesis Competition

How do we form mental images?
Yılmaz, Cemre.
15.03.2024, Graz, Austria. Video

Posters

12/2024 | 2^nd INGE St. Day (Styria Brain Research Initiative)

What influences our perception? Study of perceptual transition during binocular rivalry
Yılmaz, Cemre; Pabel, Laura; Kerschenbauer, Elias; Ischebeck, Anja; Sipatchin, Alexandra; Bartels, Andreas; and Zaretskaya, Natalia.
02.12.2024, Graz, Austria. https://gehirnforschung.at/2024/12/09/2-inge-st-tag-2024/

08/2023 | 45^th European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP)

Transitions during binocular rivalry vary in appearance across stimulus types
Yılmaz, Cemre; Pabel, Laura; Kerschenbauer, Elias; Ischebeck, Anja; Sipatchin, Alexandra; Bartels, Andreas; and Zaretskaya, Natalia.
30.08.2023, Paphos, Cyprus. Perception

06/2023 | 1^st INGE St. Day (Styria Brain Research Initiative)

04/2019 | Turkish Congress of Neuroscience (USK)

The Effect of Negative Emotions on Functional Activity of Human Visual Cortex
Yılmaz, Cemre; Erkat, O. Batuhan; and Boyacı, Hüseyin.
4-7.04.2019, Trabzon, Turkey: Anatomy. see poster

Contributed posters

05/2022 | Vision Sciences Society (VSS)

Estimating receptive field profiles of specific visual fields
Erkat, O.Batuhan; Erişen, Dilara; Yılmaz, Cemre; Yıldırım, Funda; and Boyacı, Hüseyin.
13-18.05.2022, St. Pete Beach, Florida, USA. Journal of Vision.

06/2017 | Organization of Human Brain Mapping (OHBM) Annual Meeting

Analyzing Hand Preference in Self-Guided Non-Painful Tactile Stimulation for FM patients: an fNIRS Study
Eken, Aykut; Gökçay, Didem; Topçu, Cemre; Baltacı, A.; Baskak, B.; Baltacı, M.; and Kara, Murat.
25-29 June 2017, Vancouver Convention Centre, Vancouver, Canada.

10/2015 | Medical Technologies National Conference (TIPTEKNO)

Classification of fibromyalgia syndrome by using NIRS signals
Eken, Aykut; Gökçay, Didem; Topçu, Cemre; Baltacı, A.; Baskak, B.; and Baltacı, Murat.
15-18.10.2015, Bodrum, Muğla, Turkey: IEEE. see poster

Open-Science Activities

Yilmaz C, and Zaretskaya N. Top-down and bottom-up effects on the subjective experience during binocular rivalry [Dataset]. OSF, 2024. DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/FQYXB

Yilmaz C, and Zaretskaya N. The Complexity of Subjective Experience during Binocular Rivalry [Dataset]. OSF, 2024. DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/N6DQF

Behavioral Data Analysis Toolkit for Transitions in Binocular Rivalry. GitHub, 2024. R Package: transrivalry

R-based Preprocessing Tool for Binocular Rivalry Data. GitHub, 2024. R Package: preprivalry

Awards

06/2022 Research Prize: COVID-19, Austrian Society for Psychology

10/2019 – Mar 2020 Monthly Stipend for Research Internship, EPFL Brain Mind Institute

04/2019 Best Poster Award (3rd Place, covering the registration fee for FENS Regional Meeting), 17th Turkish Congress of Neuroscience (USK)

09/2016 – 07/2019 Full Tuition Scholarship with Monthly Stipend, Bilkent University

Publications

Peer-reviewed

2026

Yilmaz, C., Maitz, K., Gerschütz, M., Grassegger, W., Ischebeck, A., Bartels, A., and Zaretskaya, N. (2026). Differential effects of attention and contrast on transition appearance during binocular rivalry. Journal of Vision 26(14). DOI: 10.1167/jov.26.1.14

2025

Yilmaz, C., Pabel, L., Kerschenbauer, E., Ischebeck, A. Sipatchin, A., Bartels, A., and Zaretskaya, N. (2025). The complexity of human subjective experience during binocular rivalry. Neuroscience of Consciousness. DOI: 10.1093/nc/niaf004

2017

Eken, A., Gökçay, D., Yılmaz, C., Baskak, B., Baltacı, A., and Kara, M. (2017). Association of Fine Motor Loss and Allodynia in Fibromyalgia: An fNIRS Study. Journal of Motor Behavior, 50(6), 664–676. DOI: 10.1080/00222895.2017.1400947

Preprint

Yilmaz, C., Jellen, T. S., Gerschütz, M., Bartels, A., & Zaretskaya, N. (2026). Qualitative changes in binocular rivalry experience with age. PsyArXiV. DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/5dkzn_v1

Pennington, C. R.; Norris, E.; … Yilmaz, C.; Yoshimura, N.; Zloteanu, M.; Žuljević, M. F.; Munafo, M.; Clark, K. (2026). Awareness and Use of Open Research Practices: An International Survey of Researchers Across Disciplines. PsyArXiv. DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/edzxf_v1

Skills

Language: Turkish (Native), English (Fluent), German (Basic communication)

Data analysis & Programming: R (advanced; experimental analysis and reproducible workflows), MATLAB (advanced; experimental design and data analysis), Python (code reading and modification)

User research & Systems thinking: Data management in large-scale anonymized data, Behavioral experiment design, Analysis of qualitative and quantitative data, Documentation and knowledge structuring, Working under technical and methodological constraints

Graphic & Layout: Adobe InDesign, Canva, Inkscape, WordPress

MS Office: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook