Özlem Katısöz graduated from the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at Middle East Technical University in 2003. In 2008, she received her master’s degree from the Department of Urban and Regional Studies at the University of Birmingham.

Since 2011, she has been working on environmental legislation, advocacy, climate, land and energy policy issues in non-profit organizations. She currently works as Türkiye Climate and Energy Policy Coordinator at CAN Europe (Climate Action Network Europe), a coalition of civil society organizations with more than 180 member organizations from around 40 countries.