Lejla Odobasic obtained her Bachelor and Masters degrees as the University of Waterloo in Canada, where she has worked as an adjunct professor at the Rome Campus upon her graduation.
She has completed her PhD studies at the International Burch University in Sarajevo, where she is currently holding a teaching position.
She is a Bosnian–Canadian architect licenced by the Ontario Association of Architects and is a member of the Bosnian Association of Architects.
Her research focuses on the role of culture in the context of conflicted and contentious places. Within this field, she has carried out projects, exhibitions, publications and other cultural initiatives. This includes her work with Liana Bresler on Jerusalem-Sarajevo: In–between Cities in 2006/7 (Cambridge–Canada, Sarajevo–BH, LondonUK, Opatija–Croatia).
She has also participated in the DAAR Decolonizing Architecture residency that took place in the West Bank in 2007 out of which a number of publication and exhibitions have been produced.
More recently she started researching the role of culture in the regeneration of the post-conflict Sarajevo.
In addition, Lejla has also worked in a number of architectural practices both in Canada and internationally including Toronto, London, Madrid, Rome and Istanbul.