Political Science, Boston University, 2015

International Relations & Political Science and History (Double Major), Boğaziçi University, 2003

Notre Dame de Sion High School

Erzen Öncel is an Assistant Professor in the Department of International Relations at Özyeğin University (2018–present), and Charles Hamilton Houston Institute Fellow at Harvard Law School (2026–2027). She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Boston University and dual B.A. degrees from Boğaziçi University in Istanbul. She has also held visiting appointments, including at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC (2011–2012).

Her research focuses on political elites, with particular attention to social background, descriptive representation, and elite circulation across political institutions and over time. She served as co-PI and project manager of the World Bank–funded Global Leadership Project, coordinating more than 250 country experts and overseeing the expert-coded collection of data on 75,000 leaders across more than 150 countries. Her work has been published in journals including the American Political Science Review and Perspectives on Politics.

Comparative Government, Research Methods

Research Methods

Comparative Political Institutions: Political Parties and Election Systems