Staff Spotlight: Erika Manouselis

A common element in Erika Manouselis’s life is bridges. At the United Nations, she helped Brazil’s Mission strengthen its relationships across distance and difference. At a law firm afterward, she helped immigrants reconnect with loved ones. As the Project Coordinator for the Belfer Center’s Future of Diplomacy Project and Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship, she works to connect policymakers, practitioners, and scholars with students from around the world. And most every day (in the current remote work era) Erika walks across some of the most iconic bridges in Manhattan. It’s a fitting pastime for someone who’s passionate about foreign policy and bringing people together.

At Harvard Kennedy School, Erika savors the “embarrassment of riches” – the seemingly endless parade of world-class figures who visit and engage with the community. Recent events she helped coordinate featured International Rescue Committee CEO David Miliband, former UN Ambassador Susan Rice, and former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Tom Shannon. Spending quality time on campus with former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, she says, “was a dream come true.”

In 2020, Erika published her first major academic paper, “The Modern Roots of the Graveyard for Diplomats: The Tripartite Conference on Cyrpus in 1955.” The paper grew out of Erika’s graduate thesis work. “I’ve always been interested in the uses of history and their intersection with policy,” she says. ”At the University of Cambridge, I looked at how ancient history was used by British Victorian policymakers as justification for their empire in India in the 19th century.” A visit to Cyprus inspired Erika to look more closely at why it’s home to Europe’s last divided capital, Nicosia.

Erika’s pioneering data work, tracking and quantifying the diversity of speakers and events within the Future of Diplomacy Project, has established a critical model for other research projects to emulate.

At the Belfer Center, Erika has taken on a leading role in efforts to strengthen diversity, inclusion, and belonging. Together with colleagues Amritha Jayanti, and Karen Ejiofor, Erika has organized a series of professional development workshops, staff surveys, and action plans to help every part of the Center act with greater awareness and intentionality. Erika’s pioneering data work, tracking and quantifying the diversity of speakers and events within the Future of Diplomacy Project, has established a critical model for other research projects to emulate.

For Erika, this work is as personal as it is professional. Erika is a first-generation American: her parents are from Brazil and Greece. “I was a scholarship kid my whole life,” she says, noting how hard her mom worked to enroll Erika in private school. Years later, Erika earned a full ride to Brown University as a Sidney Frank Scholar. “Being in those very privileged environments made me very cognizant of how I’m different. I know how it feels to chronically not belong. At the same time, I was given so many opportunities. So I feel deeply that I should do my part to give back to the channels that helped me. Now that I’m an administrator in higher ed, I owe it to everyone who helped me, and to those who deserve help.”

Erika expects she’ll work for the UN system again in the future. For now, she is loving her interaction with students. “In the three years I’ve been here, I feel like I’ve gotten an MPP,” she says. “I feel like a student. The students here really enrich my personal experience. They are all super interesting and accomplished people. I love getting to know them.”

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