Born and raised in London, Saleema Adu Smith holds a BA (Hons) in European Studies and French from the University of Durham, where she focused on history and politics. She wrote her bachelor’s dissertation, for which she was awarded a first, on the effectiveness of Bolshevik film propaganda during the revolutionary period. During her undergraduate studies, Saleema attended the Institut d'études politiques d'Aix-en-Provence, University of Aix-Marseille I for one year.

Having lived and worked in Tokyo, Vienna, London and then Berlin, Saleema joined the MA Global History program in order to expand her love of political history. Her research interests include post-colonial West Africa, in particular the intersections between Pan-Africanism, the US Civil Rights movement and the Soviet regime during the Cold War era. Saleema speaks English, Akan (Twi), French and German.