A graduate from ITU- Istanbul Technical University, Urban and Regional Planning Department in 2008, Dr. Burcu Özdemir completed her first master’s education at both the ITU Institute of Science and Technology and Hamburg Hafencity University, Urban Design Master Program. Within the Applied Informatics Department of ITUInformatics Institute, she received her second master's degree. While studying, she had contributed to manage feasibility studies for investment public projects at the Department of Survey and Projects, employed as an urban planner at IMM - Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality since 2012. She received her Ph.D. degree again from ITU Urban Planning Department in 2017. Between 2015-2017, she served as a visiting scholar at the Ohio State University, USA. Also in 2017, she completed a certificate program at MIT Metro Lab entitled“Bridging the Metropolitan Gaps & Shaping the Metropolitan Discipline” at MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Continuing her studies in the fields of perceptional/cognitive studies, urban informatics and environmental psychology and alongside her academic publications, she has been giving postgraduate lectures in these fields since 2017. In addition to being a part-time academician within the Informatics Institute, Applied InformaticsDepartment at ITU, she worked as a Deputy Manager of Geographic InformationSystem Directorate at IMM. Since 28.04.2020 she has been the appointed director of Smart City Department at IMM.