Dr. Esma Dilek was born in Denizli, Türkiye, in 1981. She received her B.S. degree in Computer Engineering from Yıldız Technical University in 2003. After working as a Software Engineer in the private sector for approximately one and a half years, she joined the Traffic Directorate of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) as a Computer Engineer in 2006.
In 2008, through an overseas graduate education initiative funded by IMM, she was awarded the opportunity to pursue graduate studies in the United States. She earned her M.S. degree in Computer Science from Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, in 2010, receiving the Certificate in Academic Excellence. Following her graduation, she returned to IMM and continued her career as a Software Development Specialist within the Traffic Directorate.
Until her appointment as Deputy Traffic Director in April 2015, she played a leading role in the development of numerous Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) applications for desktop, web, and mobile platforms at the Traffic Control Center (TCC). As Deputy Traffic Director, she was responsible for the technical and administrative management of the ITS infrastructure, software systems, and operational technologies managed through the TCC. During her tenure at IMM, she also served as Project Manager for several international transportation projects.
Among her notable achievements, she led IMM's participation in the VITAL and Roadmaps for Energy (R4E) projects, through which the municipality secured competitive research funding under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) and Horizon 2020 programmes.
Between August 2018 and April 2020, Dr. Dilek served as IMM's Information Technologies Manager and Smart City Manager. Since April 2020, she has been serving as the Deputy Director General of Communications at the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Türkiye. Since April 2021, she has also been a member of the Board of Directors of ITS Türkiye.
In 2026, she received her Ph.D. degree in Information Security Engineering from Gazi University, Ankara, Türkiye.
Dr. Dilek has authored numerous scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals and international conferences on ITS, cybersecurity, computer vision, deep learning, and artificial intelligence. Her research has particularly focused on intelligent transportation technologies, the impacts of large-scale infrastructure projects on urban mobility, transportation cybersecurity, video anomaly detection, and trustworthy artificial intelligence.
