M. Akif Kireçci has obtained his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania, department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. He taught at the same university and later at Stevens Institute of Technology between 2004–2008. After his return to Turkey, he taught at Bilkent University, Ankara, between 2009 and 2019. Prof. Kireçci is currently the Dean of Faculty of Political Sciences at Social Sciences University of Ankara and serving in the executive board of FULBRIGHT Turkey Commission, and UNESCO National Commission for Turkey. Since 2017, he serves as the President of the Economic Cooperation Organization Educational Institute. Prof. Kireçci has published works on modernization and internationalization of education, history of science and technology, history and politics of the Middle East and Central Asia, migration, intellectual movements, Islam and modernity, Orientalism and cultural transformations. He is the recipient of the Janet Lee Stevens Award from the University of Pennsylvania and Marie Curie 2009 IRG from the REA–Research Agency of European Union.