Dr Zozan Balci is an award-winning academic, sociolinguist and social justice advocate at the University of Technology Sydney.

Born in Germany to immigrant parents, her lived experience of being caught among many cultural and linguistic worlds informs much of her scholarly work and research. She has lived and was educated in Germany, Italy, the UK and Australia. In her work, she talks candidly about the experience of being ‘ethnically ambiguous’ in a world of rigid ideas about nationality, ethnicity and identity. 

Her academic practice is underpinned by the understanding that what universities do—and choose not to do—has a profound impact on society. She connects researchers and students with real-world issues for social change, earning multiple awards for her work with not-for-profits and community organisations through the Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion, and for her role on the Executive Committee of the Multicultural Women's Network. 

An expert in life history interviewing, Zozan excels at transforming her research into powerful storytelling that resonates with a broad range of audiences. She specialises in identity studies and critically examines the relationship between identity and language. Her new book, Erased Voices and Unspoken Heritage can be pre-ordered through Routledge.

Since 2024, she has been Chief Investigator for Say Our Names, a project uniting researchers from four faculties to challenge and decolonise how we understand 'tricky' or 'foreign' names in Anglo-Australian contexts. She created and directed a mini-documentary that showcases the lived experiences behind these names, which premiered in collaboration with the City of Sydney at Customs House. 

As an education-focused academic, Zozan plays a central role in developing and coordinating courses within the Social and Political Sciences discipline, with cohort sizes of 500 to 1000 students. She received the Vice-Chancellor's Learning and Teaching Award in 2022 for her dedication to promoting inclusivity and fostering student belonging.

She co-convened the FASS Diversities and Social Inclusion Research Group for several years, and actively pursues collaborative research opportunities, with a particular emphasis on international partnerships.

Zozan currently supervises Honours and PhD students in the areas of sociolinguistics, critical race theory and nationalism.

Her other research interests include multilingualism, heritage identities, multiculturalism, intersectionality, diversity politics and cosmopolitanism; migration policy and migrant experiences; cultural and national identity formation among migrants and second-generation migrants; cultural citizenship, civic duty, global citizenship and community.

Prior to her work in academia, Zozan was an ESL teacher, writer, journalist and Public Relations practitioner.