Burcu Erol

Burcu Erol is a researcher and project coordinator on olive cultivation, climate change adaptation and traditional knowledge on the Gelibolu Peninsula in Çanakkale. As founder and project coordinator of İyi Bak Association, in partnership with ÇOMÜ, the organisation ran the “Kökten Gelen: Olive Workshop” in 2025 and 2026. The workshop brought together academics, local producers and institutions at Seddülbahir Castle to discuss the future of olive cultivation in the face of the climate crisis. Climate-adapted pruning training and an olive cultivation calendar, born from the workshops and field research, were shared with olive producers on the peninsula and have been put into practice.

In the EU-supported “Olive Memory” project, oral history interviews with women producers documented olive knowledge passed down from generation to generation. The master’s thesis “Protecting Traditional Olive Cultivation in the Context of Climate Change”, completed in the Interdisciplinary Cultural Heritage Management programme at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, used a “Plant Interview” method developed in the thesis to treat the olive tree not only as a source of production but as a witness to climate change. Academic work on plant blindness continues today.

A graduate of the Department of Arts and Culture Management at Istanbul Bilgi University, Erol previously worked at Istanbul Modern, Baksı Museum and Mahal Sanat. Within İyi Bak Association, the organisation also runs alternative education programmes for children and young people in rural areas, as well as international youth exchanges.