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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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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. -
Asef Bayat
2011Asef Bayat studied “social non-movements” in the Arab world and their role in the Arab uprisings. -
Chris Soghoian
2011Digital privacy activist Chris Soghoian explores new ways to protect consumer privacy in an increasingly insecure telecommunications market. -
Gregg Gonsalves
2011Gregg Gonsalves seeks to apply lessons learned during the AIDS crisis to other urgent global health challenges. -
Ian Johnson
2011Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Ian Johnson looks at how faith-based groups create new space for rights activism. -
Janie Chuang
2011Janie Chuang, a law professor, is formulating a new agenda for preventing human trafficking. -
Andrew Feinstein
2010Andrew Feinstein is the author of ‘The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade,’ a major history of the international weapons trade after the Cold War. -
Arun Kundnani
2010Arun Kundnani is a British writer and human rights activist who examined the shortcomings of the “hearts-and-minds” approach to militancy among Muslims in the United States and the United Kingdom. -
Hisham Aidi
2010Hisham Aidi, a political scientist, will look at how governments in Europe and North America use culture to “integrate” their Muslim communities. -
Howard French
2010Former ‘New York Times’ correspondent Howard French wrote an in-depth, journalistic account of Chinese migration to Africa in the past decade. -
Ike Okonta
2010Ike Okonta, a political analyst and writer, will study the failure of democratic and civic institutions in Nigeria almost four decades after the end of the bloody civil war in Biafra. -
James Stewart
2010Open Society Fellow James Stewart is writing a manual setting out the legal basis for prosecuting arms vendors for complicity in international crimes, such as war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. -
Jian Yi
2010As an Open Society Fellow, Chinese filmmaker Jian Yi founded the IFChina Original Studio, an innovative community art center in Ji’an, Jiangxi, China. -
Ken Silverstein
2010Journalist Ken Silverstein will look at bribery and graft in international energy markets. -
Kung Li
2010As an Open Society Fellow, litigator and human rights activist Kung Li traveled across the American South to record stories of resiliency from embattled communities. -
Marcy Westerling
2010Open Society Fellow Marcy Westerling was a community organizer who mapped progressive infrastucture in rural areas. -
Noy Thrupkaew
2010An an Open Society Fellow, Noy Thrupkaew investigated the largest human trafficking cases in the United States, which involve hundreds of Thai farmers and Indian metalworkers. -
Rabab el-Mahdi
2010As an Open Society Fellow, political scientist Rabab el-Mahdi studied the prospects for democratization and social change in the Arab world.