His academic work specializes on the transformation of political Islam under Turkey's Justice and Development Party (AKP).
He previously chaired the International Relations Department at Sakarya University and served as the general director of the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA).
In 1991, he co-founded the Sakarya İmam-Hatip Lisesi Mezunları ve Mensupları Derneği (SIMDER) with alumni including Atilla Arkan and Kadir Ardıç.
He completed his MA in Bilkent University in 1994 with a thesis titled "Kenan Evren's and Turgut Özal's Conceptualizations of Secularism: A Comparative Perspective".
In this letter, he and his colleagues criticized Istanbul Sehir University administration on the ground that new-appointed rector, Ali Atif Bir, is close to the Gulen Movement and once defended headscarf-ban in Turkey.
[14] After the resignation of Duran and his two colleagues, a group of student from the university organized a rally during which they carried placards that read "we want our professors back" and "we do not want Ali Atif Bir".
[15] In order to appease student protests, Murat Ülker, the chairman of the Board of Trustees of Istanbul Sehir University posted to his social media account a report about the campaign for "freedom to headscarf" organized in 2007 and one of whose signatories was Ali Atif Bir.
The university administration stepped back and appointed Cengiz Kallek, a professor on the economic history of early Islamic period, as a new rector at 6 November 2015.