Özlem Gürses is Professor of Commercial Law. Prior to joining King’s College London, Professor Gürses taught at the Norwich and Southampton Law Schools.

Following her undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in law from the University of Istanbul, Professor Gürses studied an LLM in Maritime Law (graduated with distinction) and PhD in Law at the University of Southampton.

Professor Gürses is the sole author of The Law of Compulsory Motor Vehicle Insurance (Informa, 2019), Marine Insurance Law (Routledge, 2023, 3rd ed) and Reinsuring Clauses (Informa, 2010). She edited Edward Elgar Research Handbook on Marine Insurance Law (2024) and co-edited Insurability of Emerging Risks: Law, Theory and Practice (Hart, 2025), and is currently editing Vol 4, Marine Insurance Law, Edward Elgar Encyclopedia of Maritime and Oceans Law.

Professor Gürses regularly presents her research at home and abroad. She sits in the Presidential Council of International Insurance Law Association/Association Internationale de Droit des Assurances (AIDA), chairs the Reinsurance Working Party of AIDA, and Vice-Chair of the British Insurance Law Association Committee.

Professor Gürses teaches insurance and marine insurance law at higher education institutions in Germany, Singapore and China.

Research interests

Professor Gürses's research is focused on insurance, marine insurance and reinsurance law.

The insurance law courses she teaches at undergraduate and postgraduate levels at King’s cover a broad range of insurance and reinsurance law topics. Professor Gürses welcomes applications for PhD in any areas of insurance and reinsurance law.

Teaching 

Undergraduate: Insurance Law

Postgraduate: Insurance Law 

Selected Publications 

• ‘Co-Insured’s Subrogation Immunity – How to Express and What to Express in the Underlying Contract’ Collection of Papers of Swansea University 19th International Colloquium- Commercial Insurance Law, Informa, 2025.
• ‘Public Private Partnerships: Providing Capital for Un-affordable Insurance Risks’, Insurability of Emerging Risks – Law, Theory and Practice, 2024, Chapter 1, pp 9-31.
• ‘Demystifying Insurtech’ Cambridge Handbook of Private Law and AI, ed by Phillip Morgan and Ernest Lim, CUP, 2024, Chapter 24, pp 534-557.
• ‘Scuttling, fortuity, and marine perils – from the mortgagee’s and the cargo owner’s points of view’. Edward Elgar Research Handbook on Marine Insurance Law, ed by Ozlem Gurses, 2024, Chapter 5, pp 87-108.
• ‘Insurance of Commodities Fraud’, Fraud and Risk in Commercial Law, ed by Davies/Tjio, Bloomsbury, 2024, Chapter 12, 239-258.