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The Open Society Fellowship is designed to support individuals pursuing innovative and unconventional approaches to fundamental open society challenges.
Since 2008, the Open Society Fellowship has supported heterodox thinkers and practitioners from around the world. The fellowship helps elevate new voices to take part in global conversations on the most pressing issues of our time—from human rights and social justice to climate change and inequality—and provide established public intellectuals new audiences for their work. This year’s fellows will be chosen from selected areas, each home to a dynamic community of thinkers engaged in high-level critical debate.
We look forward to announcing the latest group of fellows in spring 2025.
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Year
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Amelia Evans
2019Amelia Evans, an international human rights lawyer, will draw on her experience with multi-stakeholder initiatives to debunk the myth of the “ethical corporation.” -
Bama Athreya
2019Bama Athreya will develop a long-term communications strategy to help workers in the “gig” economy overcome some of the main structural disadvantages which often go ignored by policymakers. -
Delilah Rothenberg
2019Delilah Rothenberg, a finance professional, will co-create private equity fund models to narrow compensation ratios between fund managers, executives, and workers and combat systemic risks like inequality and climate change. -
Fumba Chama
2019Fumba Chama, a musician and activist, will produce an album of 10 new and original songs about economic inequality in Zambia. -
Imani Countess
2019Imani Countess will build a robust new social movement to connect groups working against illicit financial flows with new constituencies in the United States, including African diaspora activists and people of color faith communities. -
Imani Jacqueline Brown
2019Imani Jacqueline Brown, an activist, writer, and organizer, will illuminate fossil fuel corporations’ responsibility for decades of economic and environmental injustice in Louisiana by using advanced mapping techniques. -
Luciana Zaffalon
2019Luciana Zaffalon will investigate how court and legal systems around the world exacerbate inequality and convert her findings into a toolkit for overcoming structural biases. -
Mark Blyth
2019Mark Blyth will write a book about policies to mitigate generational inequality and help those in the “bottom 80 percent” of the U.S. economy increase their assets. -
Nathan Schneider
2019Nathan Schneider, assistant professor of media studies at the University of Colorado Boulder, will work to promote specific entrepreneurial and policy strategies for increasing user co-ownership of online platforms. -
Paul Rissman
2019Paul Rissman will develop a variety of strategies for pressuring U.S.-based investment advisers into taking actions to mitigate economic inequality. -
Raphaële Chappe
2019Raphaële Chappe will produce a book and a series of videos to show how the unequal distribution of risk between corporations and individuals helps fuel economic inequality. -
Trebor Scholz
2019Trebor Scholz will use a multipronged strategy—which includes writing books, engaging with diverse communities, and building new institutions—to promote integrating the cooperative model into the digital economy. -
William Lazonick
2019William Lazonick will write a book and a series of articles about how a range of harmful corporate behaviors have been legitimized by a philosophy in which maximizing shareholder value is considered as an end in itself. -
Zachariah Mampilly
2019Zachariah Mampilly will write a book about the rise of social movements throughout Africa focused on democratic reform and combating economic inequality. -
Camilla Toulmin
2016Camilla Toulmin’s project documented shifting claims to land and natural resources in the Ségou region of central Mali over the last 35 years. -
Elisabeth Caesens
2016Elisabeth Caesens was examining hydroelectricity deals and revenue flows in the Democratic Republic of Congo to bring greater transparency and accountability to the country’s mining industry. -
Jennifer Daskal
2016Jennifer Daskal was investigating efforts by several nations—including the United States, the UK, and Brazil—to gain access to data stored outside their borders for use in criminal investigations. -
JingJing Zhang
2016JingJing Zhang used legal test cases to strengthen civil society’s ability to ensure Chinese overseas companies’ compliance with environmental laws and international human rights treaties. -
Katja Heinemann
2016Katja Heinemann, a photographer and longform journalist, was producing a multimedia documentary that investigates the interconnection of migration and social media use among young Afghan refugees in Berlin. -
Lican Liu
2016Lican Liu was writing a book that will apply an environmental justice approach to the pursuit of environmental protection in China. -
McKenzie Funk
2016McKenzie Funk, a journalist, wrote a book on how the push for open government in the United States has subjected ordinary citizens to undue scrutiny by federal agencies and private firms. -
Alexander Cooley
2009As an Open Society Fellow, Alexander Cooley wrote about the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, as well as military basing policies in Central Asia. -
Basharat Peer
2009As an Open Society Fellow, Basharat Peer began writing a book about India’s Muslim community. -
Elizabeth MacKenzie Biedell
2009Elizabeth MacKenzie Biedell, a former intelligence analyst, explores how American presidents use classified information as they lead the nation to war. -
Eric Stover
2009Open Society Fellow Eric Stover examined how well war crimes tribunals serve victims of mass violence.