Engman was born in Helsinki. Engman, who from 1968–1973 was an official at the Finnish national archives in Helsinki, published in 1983 a much-noticed dissertation about St. Petersburg and Finland. In 1985, he was appointed professor in general history at Åbo Akademi.[3]
Engman's research foremost studied the Finnish–Russian relations and the European empires. He also studied constitutional issues and the administration. His contributions as a subeditor for Historisk Tidskrift för Finland from 1971–1982 and the journal's editor in chief from 1982–2000 are considered as great.