- Deadline
- Passed
The Open Society Fellowship is designed to support individuals pursuing innovative and unconventional approaches to fundamental open society challenges.
The Open Society Fellowship is no longer accepting applications. This page will be updated with any new information on upcoming grant cycles. Inquiries can be directed to osfellows@opensocietyfoundations.org.
Purpose and Priorities
The Open Society Fellowship was founded in 2008 to support individuals pursuing innovative and unconventional approaches to fundamental open society challenges. The fellowship funds work that will enrich public understanding of those challenges and stimulate far-reaching and probing conversations within the Open Society Foundations and in the world.
Open Society fellows produce work outputs of their own choosing, such as a book, journalistic or academic articles, art projects, a series of convenings, etc. In addition, fellowship cohorts may develop a joint work product of some sort. Fellowship staff will assist cohorts in brainstorming possible outputs if needed.
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Noah Zatz
2017Noah Zatz examined how government threats of incarceration force people in the United States into precarious and underpaid work situations, a phenomenon he calls “get to work or go to jail.” -
Ben Rawlence
2013Ben Rawlence was conducting interviews with young Somali refugees in Kenya and recording their stories of survival and their aspirations for the future. -
Helen Epstein
2013Helen Epstein was writing a book on charity and the politics of epidemics. -
Jennifer Gordon
2013Jennifer Gordon was looking at the harms posed to workers worldwide by increasingly common labor recruitment and subcontracting practices. -
Madawi al-Rasheed
2013Madawi al-Rasheed wrote about young Saudi Islamists and their attitudes toward democratization and the Arab uprisings. -
Timothy A. Wise
2013Timothy A. Wise studied the hidden links between food security and commodities markets. -
Vanda Felbab-Brown
2013Vanda Felbab-Brown was researching seven illicit economies to determine how best to understand and manage them in ways that enhance human security and human rights. -
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.
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