The Open Society Fellowship supports public intellectuals from seven global cities that are home to a dynamic circle of thinkers and cultural producers engaged in high-level critical debate.
The Open Society Fellowship supports public intellectuals from seven cities across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.
The fellows are drawn from cities that are home to a dynamic circle of thinkers and cultural producers engaged in high-level critical debate. The cities are Beirut, Buenos Aires, Colombo, Dar es Salaam, Jakarta, Lagos, and Taipei.
Selected by a distinguished panel of external reviewers, the fellows’ projects exemplify heterodox thinking and openness to new approaches and vigorous debate. The fellows are helping to shape global conversations on the most pressing issues of our time—from human rights and social justice to climate change and inequality.
The Fellowship reflects the Open Society Foundations’ dedication to a vision of restless critical thought and alternative viewpoints that advance open society.
Read about the 2025-2026 fellows here.
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Richard Cizik
2009As an Open Society Fellow, Cizik worked to bring evangelicals, policymakers, and activists together to address climate change, immigration, and criminal justice challenges. -
Richard Horsey
2009As an Open Society Fellow, Richard Horsey, a Burma analyst and labor rights advocate, wrote the first comprehensive account of International Labor Organization efforts to address forced labor abuses in Burma. -
Tony Camerino
2009Tony Camerino is a former U.S. Air Force interrogator who, as an Open Society Fellow, worked on a new field manual based on humane, effective interrogation techniques. -
Zack Exley
2009Open Society Fellow Zack Exley worked to identify, in Missouri, “leaderless” organizing models that would enable local leaders, activists, and social service providers to mobilize diverse constituencies that do not normally work together. -
Zackie Achmat
2009As an Open Society Fellow, Zackie Achmat researched and began writing a memoir about his remarkable life as an activist in South Africa. -
Evgeny Morozov
2008As an Open Society Fellow, Evgeny Morozov worked on his critically acclaimed book The Net Delusion, which punctures popular myths about the power of the internet to undermine authoritarian regimes. -
Juanita Leon
2008As an Open Society Fellow, Juanita Leon launched an investigative news blog in Colombia. -
Mark Schoofs
2008As an Open Society Fellow, Mark Schoofs worked on a book that explores the historical, economic, political, and cultural forces that have shaped the Russian and South African AIDS epidemics.