Hulya Sonmez Schaap was born in Turkey, completed her masters at the Middle East Technical University and then worked in that country for 15 years as an engineer. She then migrated to Australia to work there for eight years and then moved to Qatar for work. She has always worked as a bridge engineer, designing, reviewing and strengthening bridges. She is a fellow member of Engineering Australia for which she has been active as secretary of the Qatar Chapter of Engineers Australia through volunteering. Since 1998, she has taken an interest in heritage bridges in Turkey and has visited, photographed and investigated more than 150 of them in Turkey. Her interest has since extended globally, and she has visited more than 50 significant bridges worldwide. She publishes her work and findings about bridges in the following blogs: kantaratlas.blogspot.com and kopriyet.blogspot.com for bridges in Turkey and soon kuranyakuna.blogspot.com for Australia.