- Deadline
- Passed
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.
Filter by
Year
-
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. -
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. -
Jonny Steinberg
2009Jonny Steinberg is the author of several books about everyday life in the wake of South Africa s transition to democracy. -
Mark Hertsgaard
2009Open Society Fellow Mark Hertsgaard is a journalist and author whose work focuses on new ways of understanding and combating climate change. -
Rebecca Hamilton
2009As an Open Society Fellow, Hamilton researched her book ‘Fighting for Darfur: Public Action and the Struggle to Stop Genocide,’ which investigates the impact of Darfur advocacy on foreign policy. -
Rebecca MacKinnon
2009As an Open Society Fellow, Rebecca MacKinnon conducted research for her first book, Consent of the Networked. -
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.