Irem completed her BA in Economics at Koc University in Istanbul and her MSc in Economics at LSE. She then worked at the World Bank in the Europe and Central Asia region, Financial and Private Sector Development unit as an economist on policies related to R&D and technology adoption, corporate taxation, state aid, small and medium sized enterprises and exports. Having recently completed her MPhil, she is continuing her DPhil in Economics at the University of Oxford. Her thesis, which focuses on corporate taxation and fiscal incentives in R&D-intensive sectors, is supervised by Professor Steve Bond.