- 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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Angelo Izama
2012Angelo Izama chronicled the rise of the oil sector in Uganda to find ways to counteract the “resource curse.” -
Asim Rafiqui
2012Photojournalist Asim Rafiqui used a variety of media to present a more nuanced and personal perspective on the issue of access to justice in Pakistan. -
David Cole
2012As an Open Society Fellow, David Cole was writing a book that explores the effectiveness of civil society organizations in making human rights meaningful. -
Diarmid O’Sullivan
2012Diarmid O’Sullivan investigated whether transparency in extractive industries led to greater accountability in resource-rich countries. -
Jacob Dlamini
2012Jacob Dlamini’s work examines the lingering effects of the apartheid-era culture of secrecy on South Africa’s efforts to forge a democratic and open society. -
Jameel Jaffer
2012Jameel Jaffer worked on a book tracing the erosion of individual privacy and the expansion of official secrecy since September 11, 2001. -
James Forman, Jr.
2012As an Open Society Fellow, James Forman, Jr., was working on an account of crime and criminal justice policy in Washington, D.C., from the early 1970s to the present. -
John Feffer
2012John Feffer interviewed leading activists and writers in Eastern Europe to derive lessons about the Soviet collapse and its aftermath. -
Mark Gevisser
2012As an Open Society Fellow, Mark Gevisser examined the reach and effect of the growing global campaign for the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and intersexed people against the backdrop of globalization. -
Martina Vandenberg
2012Martina Vandenberg created a legal clearinghouse to assist trafficking victims in the United States. -
Petina Gappah
2012Petina Gappah surveyed the rising influence of Pentecostal churches in Africa and their effect on human rights, democracy, and social justice. -
Sarah Spencer
2012As an Open Society Fellow, Sarah Spencer investigated the provision of essential services to irregular migrants across Europe. -
Suki Kim
2012Suki Kim researched the political economy of migration from North Korea and recorded the stories of ordinary people caught in the division of the two Koreas. -
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.
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