Özden Zeynep Oktav graduated from Boğaziçi University İstanbul, worked as Associate Professor and Professor at Yıldız Technical University İstanbul for 17 years and currently is a Professor at Istanbul Medeniyet University. She is the author of the books Turkey in the 21st Century Quest for a New Foreign Policy, Limits of Relations with the West: Turkey Syria and Iran, and The Changing Dynamics of the Arab Gulf and Saudi Arabia-US-Iran Relations, co-editor of the book Violent Non-State Actors and Syrian Civil War The ISIS and YPG Cases, GCC-Turkey Relations: Dawn of a New Era, 2000’Lİ YILLARDA TÜRK DIŞ POLİTİKASI: Fırsatlar, Riskler ve Krizler, She published many articles on Turkey-Middle East relations. She was awarded the Council of Higher Education scholarship in 2011 by the Government of Turkey, and the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey scholarship in 2013. She was a visiting Researcher at Cambridge University, UK and St. Andrews University, Scotland, UK in 2011 and 2013 respectively. She was awarded the Rectorship Special Academic Award in 2011.