Arda Özkan graduated from the Department of International Relations at Karadeniz Technical University in 2007. He completed his master's degree at the Department of International Relations at Karadeniz Technical University in 2009 with a thesis titled “The Aegean Sea Continental Shelf Dispute in Terms of International Law of the Sea”. In 2018, He completed his doctorate at the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Istanbul University with a thesis titled "A Transboundary Threat Perception in Environmental Security: Nuclear Damage." Between 2014 and 2015, he stayed one year at American University Washington College of Law in the United States conducting doctoral thesis research with a TÜBİTAK scholarship. In 2022, he stayed six months at American University Washington College of Law in the United States conducting postdoctoral research with a TÜBİTAK scholarship. Between 2009 and 2019, he worked as a Research Assistant in the Department of International Relations at Giresun University. Between 2020 and 2025, he worked as an Assistant Professor in the Department of International Trade and Logistics at Ankara University. Since September 2025, he has been working as an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Maritime at Istanbul Technical University. He works on maritime security and law of the sea, environmental security, Turkish foreign policy. In addition, he teaches courses on sustainable development policies, maritime energy security, law of the sea.