Selim Keceli

Selim Keçeli graduated from Ankara University with a degree in Special Education Teaching and Classroom Teaching. Selim is a community volunteer and impact entrepreneur who has dedicated his life to social projects that improve the lives of disadvantaged youth, especially those who lack educational opportunities.

Wanting to be the global voice of individuals with special needs (15 percent of the world's population) and help improve their lives, Selim founded the social initiative OGB Project, a community organization that aims to create equal opportunities for individuals with special needs, as well as educate wider society about special needs. As a result of the exemplary work carried out by the OGB Project, it has now partnered with We Make Change, a global movement of more than 450 Social Enterprises in over 100 countries across the world.

OGB Project’s educational content consists of podcasts, presentations, scientific articles and educational video series – thousands of people from Turkey have participated in OGB Project events and webinar recordings have received over 25,000 views on social media. It also organises aid campaigns for individuals with special needs who need special education and provides free consultation to the families of individuals with low socio-economic status through its psychosocial support team and academics. OGB project is a social project based on the awareness-themed volunteering principle, which supports the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. As a result of the OGB Project’s work and his support of public or non-governmental organizations that work for individuals with special needs, Selim was selected as one of the most distinctive young people in the world in 2021 by We Make Change. The Dyslexia and Hyperactivity Association in Turkey appointed Selim as the provincial representative of the Ankara Dyslexia Association for his support, the first ever time this role was given to a university student.

In 2022, Selim also founded the Selim Keceli Academy for disadvantaged students which carries out research on special education, family education and specialist training. If he wins the Global Student Prize, Selim will use a portion of the funds to enlarge the Academy, and provide education and training at low prices to students like him who are unable to benefit from education opportunities because of their financial situation. Selim’s dream is to transform the OGB Project community and Selim Keçeli Academy into a global organization operating in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Selim presented his oral statement on the problems experienced in the education of gifted children in early childhood in Turkey at the UDEMKO2022 summit with international participation within the scope of his academic studies. In addition, his paper prepared with his friends at the Ankara University Faculty of Educational Sciences Student Congress on the problems experienced in integration in pre-school education in Turkey was selected as the second best paper in the student congress in the faculty by the congress committee.

In his past studies, Selim provided education mentorship to university students in Hacettepe University Economics Community, the strongest and largest university in Turkey according to URAP data, on creating an effective CV, catching working opportunities in the country / abroad, being an academician.

Selim is currently an educational mentor for university students at the Turkish Education Foundation, Turkey's largest education foundation.

SETA Foundation, one of Turkey's largest think tanks, chose Selim as an intern among many undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students, and did an internship at the Political, Economic and Social Research Foundation think tank on autism research.