Abdullah Simsek was born in Turkey and later moved to Denmark at the age of ten, where he has resided since. He studied history, philosophy, and Middle Eastern and Islamic studies at the University of Copenhagen, where he earned both his master’s degree and PhD. His doctoral research focused on Atatürk ’s revolution, inkilap, and its cultural and socio-political impact. Subsequently, his research has centred on topics such as elite formations, identity policies, and nation-building in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey. In his differing roles as a postdoctoral researcher and external lecturer, he taught courses in nationalism, theories of modernity, and the history of the Ottoman Empire and contemporary Turkey.