İsmail Cihan graduated from the Department of Geological Engineering at Hacettepe University in 2000. Between 2009 and 2018, he pursued his M.Sc. studies in Ore Deposits and Geochemistry at the Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences of Eskişehir Osmangazi University.

He began his professional career in 2001 and has since been involved in a wide range of geological projects, including rock and soil mechanics, geothermal resources, coal exploration, industrial raw materials (glass and cement), as well as precious and base metal exploration. During his career, he worked as a geological engineer at Kaya-Zemin Engineering, Bengi Engineering, Şişecam (Camiş Mining), Kayen Energy, and Hitit Mining.

In 2011, he joined Demir Export Inc., where he held several positions including junior geologists, project geologists, senior geologists, and exploration superintendent, exploration manager, and served as exploration director between 2019 and 2025. Throughout this period, he participated in and led geological evaluation processes for numerous projects in Türkiye and internationally, focusing on gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, iron, industrial minerals, and coal exploration.

Since 2025, İsmail Cihan has been serving as Co-Founder and Exploration Director at Gaia Jeolog.

He is a member of several professional organizations, including Chamber of Geological Engineers of Türkiye (TMMOB JMO), Turkish Association of Economic Geologists (MJD), and Association of Earth Sciences, Mining and Metallurgy Professionals (YERMAM). Internationally, he is a member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (MAusIMM), the Society of Economic Geologists (FSEG), and the International Association for Mathematical Geosciences (IAMG). He is a JORC-compliant competent person.