Özlem Zıngıl Kök is a lawyer and human rights researcher from Turkey with experience in human rights law, business and human rights, and environmental justice. She holds an LL.M. in Economic Law from Galatasaray University, an MA in Cultural Studies from Istanbul Bilgi University, and an LL.B. from Marmara University. She is currently pursuing her PhD, focusing on the state duty to protect in competitive authoritarian regimes, using Turkey as a case study. She will explore how state–business alliances in these contexts affect human rights and the environment and where the limits of existing business and human rights instruments become visible.

Özlem has over two decades of professional experience spanning legal practice, corporate counsel roles, and human rights advocacy. As a Programme Advisor at the Center for Spatial Justice (Mekanda Adalet Derneği), she led work on business and human rights and contributed to environmental and climate justice initiatives. In parallel, she served as Programme Director of the Legal Studies Programme at the Truth Justice Memory Center (Hafıza Merkezi), overseeing strategic litigation, documentation, and international advocacy related to enforced disappearances, police violence, impunity, and the shrinking civic space in Turkey.

She is a member of the Istanbul Bar Association and has represented cases before the Turkish Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights. Her research and advocacy engage closely with international human rights mechanisms, including the UN and the Council of Europe, and her scholarly interests include corporate accountability, environmental justice, access to remedy, and protecting human rights in authoritarian contexts.