Derya Ulubatlı completed her undergraduate studies in Art History at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University in Istanbul between 2009 and 2013. Following her bachelor’s degree, she pursued a Master’s degree in Art History and Criticism at the University of Milan, graduating in 2017 with a thesis on bicommunal art projects in Cyprus and their contributions to the peace and reconciliation process on the island.

In the same year, Ulubatlı received the Pasquale Rotondi Art Rescuers Award in Italy for this thesis. In 2019, her master’s thesis was published as a book under the title “Cyprus: Building Peace Through Art” by the European Mediterranean Art Association (EMAA).

Since 2017, Ulubatlı has served as a board member of various art associations. She has taught courses at Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) and Arkin University of Creative Arts and Design (ARUCAD) and has continued her research on Cypriot artists at the Cyprus Research Centre within EMU.

Ulubatlı has authored artist monographs and books for various projects and has worked as a curator. In 2024, she completed her PhD at the Department of Western Art and Contemporary Art, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. Her doctoral dissertation focused on the concepts of the Other, borders, and trauma in Turkish Cypriot art.