Dates of this year’s graduation ceremonies

VILNIUS TECH Library invites you to follow the published new dissertations. The dissertation „Change management decisions for aviation service organisations“ („Aviacijos paslaugas teikiančių organizacijų pokyčių valdymo sprendimai“) prepared at VILNIUS TECH by Virginija Leonavičiūtė. The dissertation was prepared in 2022–2026. Scientific consultant – Prof. Dr Ilona Skačkauskienė. The dissertation was at the public meeting of the Dissertation Defence Council of the Scientific Field of Management in the Aula Doctoralis Meeting Hall of Vilnius Gediminas Technical University at 10 a.m. on 1 June 2026. The dissertation investigates the relevance of selecting change management decisions for aviation service organisations under conditions of uncertainty, validating decisions through probabilistic causal interactions. The research object is change management decisions in aviation service organisations. The research aims to develop and empirically validate a change management model that integrates probabilistic identification of causal relationships among external environmental factors, scenario-based planning, and assessment of decision suitability, ensuring data-driven decision-making under different external environmental conditions. The dissertation consists of an introduction, three chapters, general conclusions, a list of references, a list of the author’s publications, appendices, and a summary in English. The First Chapter identifies the specific characteristics of service provision, the diversity of organisational change management models, the theoretical aspects of decision-making under uncertainty, the significance of external environmental dynamism, and the complexity of decision selection. The Second Chapter develops and theoretically validates the change management model based on external environmental factors, probabilistic causal relationships, alternative scenarios, and decision suitability. The model is confirmed through expert evaluation, identifying strengths and areas for improvement. The Third Chapter empirically validates the applicability of the proposed model, revealing the relationships between external environmental factors and aviation performance results, probabilistic causal relationships and their structure, alternative scenarios according to the direction of change in aviation results and the strength of external influence, and the suitability of the proposed solutions under different conditions of uncertainty, creating assumptions for prioritising solutions. The study determined that under conditions of negative impact, priority should be given to stabilisation of activities, risk management, increased resilience, support of critical processes and reallocation of resources, and under conditions of positive impact, priority should be given to organisational transformation and preparation for the growth phase, increased flexibility, technological progress, and strengthening of competencies. Five scientific articles on the dissertation topic were published (two in peer-reviewed scientific journals and three in peer-reviewed international conference proceedings). The research results were presented at four international scientific conferences. A scientific internship was completed at the Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain, and the final research results were presented at a scientific seminar at the Eskişehir Technical University in Turkey. Doctoral dissertation readers can search via VILNIUS TECH Virtual Library.

The VILNIUS TECH community and everyone who loves Space is invited to attend a meeting on June 3  (Wednesday), 10.30 AM with Tuva Cihangir Atasever, the second astronaut of the Turkish Space Agency and an avionics engineer. [caption id="attachment_118278" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Astronaut Tuva Cihangir Atasever[/caption] During the meeting, the guest will share his experience from space missions, talk about the scientific research he has carried out, and discuss the challenges of working in the space sector. The event will cover a variety of research fields, including: astroparticle physics, genetics, brain hemodynamics, biomedical devices, cellular and molecular biology. This is a unique opportunity to hear international insights from a professional working in the space sector, learn more about cutting-edge scientific research, and ask questions about the future of astronautics and space technologies. Event information: 📅 June 3 (Wednesday)🕥 10:30 a.m.📍 6th Floor Lobby, Central Building, Saulėtekio Ave. 11, Vilnius⏱ Duration: 1 hour Tuva Cihangir Atasever Bio Born in August 1992 in Ankara, Türkiye, Tuva Atasever attended the Bilkent University, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Electronics Engineering. After completing his undergraduate studies in 2014, Atasever moved to the United States and received a Master’s degree in photonics from the University of California, Irvine. In addition, in 2018 Atasever completed the Space Studies Program (SSP) organized by Delft University of Technology, European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESA ESTEC), and International Space University (ISU). After receiving his master’s degree in 2016, Atasever co-founded and acted as the CEO of Blue Dot VR where he worked on creating compelling experiences in virtual reality to induce pro-social, pro-environmental, and empathetic behaviors in users. In 2017, Atasever co-founded another startup called HyperSight, Inc., which focused on augmented reality. After working on those ventures and gaining life-changing experiences, Atasever started working for ROKETSAN, Inc as an avionics systems engineer responsible from the avionic subsystems in the Micro Satellite Launch Vehicle (MSLV) and Space Sounding Rocket (SSR) development projects. As the payload integration manager for SSR, Atasever’s latest responsibility at ROKETSAN included selecting scientific and commercial payloads that were going to be launched on the SSR, creating technical requirements for those payloads, and successfully integrating them on the launch vehicle following the design verification process. In May of 2022, Atasever enthusiastically applied for the first-ever astronaut selection campaign of the Turkish Space Agency (TUA). After passing all the phases successfully, he was selected as one of the first two astronauts of Türkiye. Atasever enjoys swimming, outdoor running, camping, and backpacking, previously journeying across several national parks in Northern and Southern California and along the Mediterranean coast. Atasever served as the backup mission specialist for Axiom Mission 3, the first all-European commercial astronaut mission to the International Space Station. In June 2024, he flew to space on Galactic 07 mission as a research astronaut and carried out seven different scientific investigations as part of the mission.