Dr. Burcu Balçık received her PhD degree from the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Washington in 2008. Previously, she received her M.S. and B.S. degrees from Middle East Technical University, Department of Industrial Engineering in 2003 and 2001, respectively. Dr. Balçık continued her academic career as a postdoctoral researcher at Northwestern University from 2008 to 2009 and then as a visiting researcher at prestigious institutions such as HumLog Institute (2009), HEC Montreal (2017-2018) and Tilburg University (2024).

Dr. Balçık is a globally recognized scholar and researcher in the fields of humanitarian logistics and disaster management. Using operations research methods, she aims to improve the performance of organizations and systems focused on social good. Her research focuses on improving the operations of organizations operating in crisis situations such as pandemics, climate change, conflict environments and natural disasters. She also conducts projects to improve health systems and food security in crisis settings and advises several master’s and PhD students in these diverse research areas.

Dr. Balçık’s work has been published in reputable journals such as Operations Research, Transportation Science and Production and Operations Management and has won international awards. In 2014, she received the Turkish Academy of Sciences Young Scientist Award (BAGEP) and in 2023 she received the Luk Van Wassenhove Career Award. She has been a keynote speaker at leading conferences in her field, serves as an Associate Editor for Transportation Science and IISE Transactions, and is on the Editorial Board of several academic journals.

Professionally, Dr. Balçık is active in societies such as INFORMS Public Sector Operations Research (PSOR) and EURO Humanitarian Aid Operations Working Group (EURO-HOpe). She is also a member of Istanbul Municipality Earthquake Science Committee and works in collaboration with various public and non-governmental organizations.

In 2011, Dr. Balçık joined the Department of Industrial Engineering at Özyeğin University and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2015 and Professor in 2022. Since July 2022, she has been the Academic Director of Özyeğin University Sustainability Platform.