Julia Martin is the Associate Director of the Belfer Center's Middle East Initiative at the Harvard Kennedy School, where she manages the program staff and financial resources and supports the faculty chair with strategic planning, fundraising, and program development. Having initially joined MEI in 2014 as its Research Program Coordinator, she has also held the positions of Research and Financial Coordinator (2016-2018), Assistant Director for Research and Finance (2018-2019), and Assistant Director (2019-2021). Julia was the Assistant Dean of Administration at the Boston Islamic Seminary (2021-2022), where she coordinated the launch of its inaugural graduate degree program, served on committees for admissions and financial aid (chair), and served as the seminary's liaison to the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education and the Attorney General’s Office. From 2010 to 2014, she was the Secretariat Manager for Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO, a global network focused on empowering the working poor in the informal economy) at the Harvard Kennedy School. She has also held several positions at the Kennedy School’s former Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations, where she helped coordinate the Consultative Conference on International Criminal Justice (September 2009, United Nations Headquarters, New York) and a closed workshop for leaders of International NGOs (June 2010, International Committee of the Red Cross, Geneva). 

Julia holds a Master of Theological Studies (MTS) from the Harvard Divinity School, where she was a recipient of the full merit Harry Austryn Wolfson Fellowship, and a BA (summa cum laude) in religious studies from the Florida State University, where she received the Betty Phifer award for academic excellence and exceptional community service.