Inan Özdemir Tastan received her Ph.D. from Ankara University Institute of Social Sciences, writing her thesis on the rhetoric of radical left movements in Turkey in the 1970s. She worked at Ankara University Communication Faculty between 2002 and 2017, where she offered courses on public relations, political communication, and research methods. In 2020-21 she was Barbro Klein Fellow at Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study. Currently, she is a 2021-2023 EUME Fellow at the Forum Transregionale Studien.

Her research interests include political communication, social movements, and media studies. She published several articles and book chapters in academic journals and edited books. Her recent publications focus mainly on the electoral speeches of political leaders and their perception of democracy, the increasing religionization of politics in Turkey, political debates on Syrian immigration, radical media, and resistance under AKP governments. She is also the co-author of the books Seçimlik Demokrasi (2018) (Voting Democracy) and Vaatten Duaya, Anayasadan Kur'an'a: Siyasette Dinselleşme (2019) (From Promise to Prayer, Constitution to Koran: Religionization of Politics).