The Lantos Foundation is thrilled to present our newest class of Lantos Congressional Fellows. Named after Tom Lantos, who initially arrived in the United States on a scholarship and later became a professor, the Lantos Congressional Fellows Program honors his deep-seated belief in the power of education and the value of life-long learning. The program carries on his commitment to educating the next generation.
Lantos Fellows are carefully chosen from a select group of post-college and post-graduate level students from Europe and Israel. Through fellowships hosted by U.S. congressional offices, they have the opportunity to work in the United States and gain a better understanding of the role of human rights in American politics and the legislative process. The Fellows participate in weekly meetings with leading human rights activists, policy experts and other professionals.
More than 100 fellows have participated in the program from countries including Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, Turkey and the United Kingdom. Nearly 50 congressional offices have hosted Lantos Fellows, and the program is fully bipartisan – both Republican and Democratic offices host Lantos Fellows.
Learn more about the Lantos Congressional Fellows Program and apply for the class of 2024 here.
This year four outstanding Lantos Fellows have been selected to participate in the program. Over the coming weeks we will introduce you to our 2023 fellows.
Neofytos Sakellaridis Mangouras – “Neo” – Neo holds dual Greek and American citizenship and is currently pursuing his PhD in legal theory in Scotland. With extensive legal and academic teaching backgrounds, Neo brings a wealth of practical and theoretical experience in legal rights, international law, and human rights. His is also a champion cyclist having ridden with the Greek National team.
City/Country of Origin: Athens, Greece
Languages spoken: English, Greek, basic German, elementary Dutch and Danish
University Degrees: LLB from the University of Athens, LLM from the University of Copenhagen, PhD from the University of Glasgow (in progress).
Top Professional Experiences/Achievements: Lecturer-in-law, Maastricht University;, Research Assistant for the Just Transition Cluster, University of Glasgow.
What motivated you to apply for the Lantos Fellows Program? Seeing how ideas of what is right can be transformed into legislation was the most significant motivating force. The transfer from the world of human rights to tangible protections and all that entails really drew me in.
What are you most looking forward to during your fellowship? To get hands-on experience with human rights issues in the legislative arena. A little bit could go a long way.
What unique experiences and perspectives do you hope to bring to the congressional office where you will be working? There is a thought that John Dewey wrote that big theoretical ideas are necessary and useful to make practice more intelligent. With my background in legal theory, I will try my hardest to bring this view forward.
If you could have dinner with any human rights figure (living or deceased), who would it be? What would you talk about, or what would you ask them? This is a toss up between two pragmatic Nobel Peace Prize winners. One is President Barack Obama and the other is President Martti Ahtisaari. Discussions over dinner would cover concessions and – in question form – would be: “Where do you draw the line between doing what is right and getting something done?”
Tom Lantos always believed that human rights should transcend partisan politics. Do you believe this is still possible, even in a political climate with such deep partisan divisions? If so, how do you believe we can bring people together over vital human rights issues? As in all politics, true progress is made through cooperation, even if it seems to be in vain. While this isn’t exactly transcendence, human rights need constant progress, even if incremental. And jumping over party lines to complete what can be done is the first step.