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Best Paper Award at IPCMC 2026

· 9th International Project and Construction Management Conference

The paper “The Evolution of Social Acceptance in Megaprojects: An LLM-Driven Stance Analysis of the Istanbul Airport”, written by Kutbeddin Ağca with Prof. Dr. Almula Köksal, received the Best Paper Award at the 9th International Project and Construction Management Conference (IPCMC 2026).

The conference was held in Gaziantep on 16-18 October 2026, hosted by Hasan Kalyoncu University.

The paper examines how social acceptance of a megaproject shifts over its life, taking Istanbul Airport as its case: 141,336 Turkish-language posts are classified with the help of a large language model across the announcement, tender, construction and operation phases.

The full paper appears on pages 211–222 of the conference proceedings book. We announced the paper ahead of the conference.

Conference website

Proceedings book (pp. 211–222)

The IPCMC 2026 Best Paper Award certificate made out to Kutbeddin Ağca and Almula Köksal, bearing the paper's title and the signatures of the conference co-chairs, in a black folder
  • The IPCMC 2026 Best Paper Award certificate made out to Kutbeddin Ağca and Almula Köksal, bearing the paper's title and the signatures of the conference co-chairs
  • Kutbeddin Ağca in the conference hall at Hasan Kalyoncu University, with IPCMC 2026 on the screen above the stage behind him
  • Kutbeddin Ağca and Selen Baş Ağca in front of the IPCMC 2026 backdrop, showing the conference name, dates and the logos of the organising universities