Deniz is a Turkish political scientist and Associate Professor in the International Relations Department at Özyeğin University in Istanbul. Her teaching and research focus on comparative politics and political sociology, examining authoritarian consolidation, transnationalism, and the mechanics of protest repression. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and International Relations from Boğaziçi University and completed her Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Before joining Özyeğin University, she lectured at Boise State University and served as an IPC-Mercator Fellow at the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) in Berlin.
Her empirical scholarship investigates how contemporary illiberal regimes restrict public dissent through bureaucratic and spatial technologies rather than overt violence alone. Collaborating extensively with fellow researcher Mert Arslanalp, her co-authored studies—such as research on the spatial dimensions of state control and localized protest bans—analyze how state entities weaponize legal technicalities and administrative exceptions to normalize state-of-emergency measures into everyday governance. Her broader peer-reviewed work appears in leading journals including Territory, Politics, Governance, Democratization, and Current Sociology, offering critical insights into the resilience and boundaries of civic action under modern authoritarian pressure.