I have solid expertise in user research, experimental methodology, statistical analysis, and data modeling. Thanks to my interdisciplinary working style, I can effectively act as a bridge between research, design, and technical teams, translating complex content into a shared operational language that facilitates collaboration. A basic to advanced knowledge of programming, data analysis, and software development processes enables me to collaborate closely with technical stakeholders and supports the transfer of research into implementation. I analyze user behavior, needs, and decision-making processes using mixed-methods approaches and translate empirical findings into actionable recommendations for product strategy, design decisions, and system design. In doing so, I combine scientific methodology with practical requirements and real-world constraints of product development.
Professional experience
01/10/2014 – Present
Coordinator & Project manager, 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 educational 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, UniGraz [AT]
- Designed and conducted behavioral experiments with over 150 participants to study perceptual transitions
- 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
Intern, 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 the Inverted Encoding Model 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 effect of fearful emotional stimuli on visual perception using population receptive field (pRF) estimation
- Designed and presented visual stimuli in MATLAB, followed by preprocessing (FreeSurfer, SPM) and analysis using the SamSrf toolbox (MATLAB)
- Prepared and delivered laboratory sessions for undergraduate biology students, including experiment setup, theoretical instruction, and student supervision during practical work
- Proctored and graded exams and quizzes for psychology and biology courses, ensuring fair evaluation and timely feedback
01/10/2014 – 15/07/2015
Undergraduate student assistant, METU [TR]
- Conducted fNIRS neuroimaging experiments with 30 participants by collaborating on a Ph.D. project exploring the relationship between motor dysfunction and sensory perception in fibromyalgia
- Analyzed neuroimaging data using statistical methods, identifying motor cortex activation during finger-tapping
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: 1.07/1.00
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
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
Certificates & Further Education
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 | 53rd DGPs Congress/15th 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
2024 | 2nd 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/
2023 | 45th 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
2023 | 1st INGE St. Day (Styria Brain Research Initiative)
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.
19.06.2023, Graz, Austria. https://gehirnforschung.at/2023/06/21/1-inge-st-tag-2023/
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.
Trabzon, Turkey: Anatomy. see poster
Contributed posters
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.
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.
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
Awards
Jun 2022 Research Prize: COVID-19 stipend, Austrian Psychological Society
Oct 2019 – Mar 2020 Federation Grant Recipient for Research Internship, EPFL Brain Mind Institute
Apr 2019 Best Poster Award (3rd Place), 17th Turkish Congress of Neuroscience (USK)
Sep 2016 – Jul 2019 Full Tuition Scholarship with Monthly Stipend, Bilkent University
Publications
Peer-reviewed
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
Preprints
Yilmaz, C., Maitz, K., Gerschütz, M., Grassegger, W., Ischebeck, A., Bartels, A., and Zaretskaya, N. (2025). Differential effects of attention and contrast on transition appearance during binocular rivalry. PsyArXiv preprint. DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/64ja9_v2
Skills
Language: Turkish (Native), English (Fluent), German (Basic communication)
Technical skills: R (advanced; experimental analysis and reproducible workflows), MATLAB (advanced; experimental design and data analysis), Git (research-driven workflows via RStudio; CLI for troubleshooting), Python (code reading and modification), Linux / Ubuntu (daily user), WordPress (website design and maintenance)
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