Manuel Manrique Gil worked as a researcher at FRIDE, focusing on the African continent. His research centered specifically on the topics of development cooperation, Africa-EU relations and Spanish foreign policy towards Africa. He holds an MSc in African Studies from the University of Oxford and a Politics Degree from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London.

He has written academically on African states, democracy and political discourses on the continent, and has published articles on different online media about African politics and current affairs.