Mehmet Turan Söylemez received the BSc degree in Control and Computer Engineering from Istanbul Technical University (ITU), Türkiye, in 1991, and the MSc and PhD degrees in Control Engineering from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), UK, in 1994 and 1999, respectively. He is currently a Full Professor and Chair of the Department of Control and Automation Engineering at ITU.

Prof. Söylemez has led and contributed to more than 100 industrial and research projects in control, automation, intelligent transportation systems, railway signaling, and autonomous systems. He played key roles in the Turkish National Railway Signaling Project and the National CBTC Signaling Project, leading the development of ATP and ATO algorithms. He is also the co-founder and General Manager of HI-SIM Technology.

He has authored over 150 scientific publications and one book, supervised 10 PhD and nearly 60 MSc theses, and has served in the organization of several major IFAC conferences and symposia on transportation systems.

Prof. Söylemez is a Senior Member of IEEE, a voting member of the IEEE CBTC and Signaling Standards Committee, and has been actively involved in several IFAC Technical Committees. He is expected to serve as the Chair of IFAC TC 7.4 Transportation Systems (2026–2029), General Secretary of the Turkish National Committee of Automatic Control (TOK), and previously served on the IFAC Administration and Finance Committee and the Scientific Committee of the European Union's Shift2Rail (now Europe's Rail) Joint Undertaking.