Ipek has over 10 years of experience in climate and energy policy, with a focus on sustainable finance. She leads ODI’s programme of work on fossil fuel and energy subsidies, bringing together the latest evidence of government support to production and consumption of fossil fuels, and exploring opportunities for reform. Ipek also leads ODI’s work on migration as an opportunity to support low-carbon and climate-compatible development, as part of ODI’s Human Mobility Initiative.

Previously, when she first joined ODI in 2014, Ipek managed and conducted research for the New Climate Economy project, which brought together evidence on the economic benefits of climate-compatible development in energy, cities and land use. She had a leading role in major annual reports and provided direct research support to several high-level members of the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate.

Ipek has conducted research, and managed partnerships of work, on a range of topics including: sustainable infrastructure and finance, energy and fossil fuel subsidies, aviation and maritime transport, and land use (forests and agriculture). She has worked on projects on a number of low- and middle-income developing countries, including Colombia, Ethiopia, Indonesia and Turkey, as well as the G20 and the EU. 

Her past experience includes climate change, migration and gender justice research and advocacy at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) in London, the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI) in Paris, and at Oxfam International in New York. She has also campaigned for Oxfam in the US and UK on climate and food justice. 

Ipek has an MSc in Political Theory and a BSc in Philosophy and Economics, both from the London School of Economics, and a Certificate in Global Philanthropy from New York University.