Prof. Dr. Şerife Yücesoy-Özkan was born in Eskişehir in 1977 and completed her primary education in Eskişehir. She graduated from Bursa Health Vocational High School with honours in 1995 and worked as a midwife and nurse in the Ministry of Health for four years. She received her bachelor's degree in 1999, master's degree in 2002 and doctorate degree in 2007, each with distinction, from Anadolu University, Department of Special Education, Mentally Handicapped Education Programme. She received the title of assistant professor in 2007, associate professor in 2014 and professor in 2020. Currently, she continues his undergraduate education in the Department of Sociology at Anadolu University.
Between 1999-2007, she worked as a research and lecturer in the Department of Special Education at Anadolu University, and between 2007-2011, he worked as the Deputy Head of the Department in the same department. Between 2014-2018, she worked as the Deputy Director and Acting Director of Anadolu University Disabled Students Unit. She worked at the University of Cologne within the scope of Erasmus lecturer exchange and worked as a visiting researcher at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina (UNC) between 2018-2019. Prof. Dr. Şerife Yücesoy-Özkan, who started working at Eskişehir Osmangazi University Faculty of Education, Department of Special Education in 2021, has been the Head of the Department of Autism Spectrum Disorder Education since 2021 and the dean of the Faculty of Education since January 2024. She has served as a member of the quality commission, education commission and research methods commission at Anadolu University. Prof. Dr. Şerife Yücesoy-Özkan, who is a member of the Board of Directors of the Joint Application and Research Centre for Human Computer Interaction in Applied Education, is a member of the Social and Human Sciences Human Research Ethics Board, the Editorial Board of the Journal of Science, Culture and Art and the Board of Directors of the Disabled Student Unit at Eskişehir Osmangazi University, as well as the faculty board, award commission and final investigation board.
Prof. Dr. Şerife Yücesoy-Özkan, who has supervised five doctoral and seven master's theses and five master's projects without thesis, has over 50 articles published in national and international journals, three books, one book editorship, one book translation editorship, two international book chapters, more than 40 national book chapters, nearly 100 papers presented at national and international conferences and research reports published on various topics. She is also a consultant in graduate programmes of universities abroad. She has been an executive and researcher in scientific research projects supported by public institutions and universities as well as TÜBİTAK 1000, 1001 and 3501 projects. Prof. Dr. Şerife Yücesoy-Özkan, who is editor and associate editor of three international journals, is a referee for many national and international journals, including Q1 class journals indexed in SSCI indices.
Prof. Dr. Şerife Yücesoy-Özkan has three project competition awards, including one second place and two honourable mentions in project competitions, five article performance awards, Women in R&D and Innovation Summit 2020 Award and Eskişehir Osmangazi University Science Award 2021. Prof. Dr. Şerife Yücesoy-Özkan was the first Turkish researcher to be awarded the 2021 International Development Grant by The Society for the Advancement of Behaviour Analysis (2020) for her podcast project ‘Say me, good job!’. She is the first Turkish researcher to be awarded the TUBITAK 1001 120K852 numbered ‘Evidence-Based Practices for Children and Youth with Intellectual Disabilities: Identification and Implementation’ was awarded “The 2024 B. F. Skinner Foundation Research Award for Students in Europe”.
She works in cooperation with a significant number of non-governmental organisations and local administrations related to her field of expertise, including Tohum Autism Foundation, Selçuklu Autism Individuals Education Foundation (SOBE), SMA Foundation of Turkey and Contemporary Drama Association, and continues to serve as a member of the scientific and/or advisory boards of these institutions and organisations.
She is married and has two daughters.