Mesut Özcan graduated from Marmara University, Department of Political Science and International Relations. He completed his master's degree in the same department. During his doctoral studies, he was a guest student at the Department of Oriental Studies at St Antony's College, Oxford University with a Jean Monnet Scholarship. Özcan completed his PhD in 2007 at Boğaziçi University. He worked as a research assistant at Beykent University and as a lecturer and faculty member at Istanbul Commerce University. He held administrative positions at the Center for Strategic Research and the Diplomacy Academy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mesut Özcan is currently the President of the Diplomacy Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.