PUBLIC VOICES FELLOWSHIP
with the University of California Santa Barbara

The application window for the 2024-2025 fellowship has now closed

The Public Voices Fellowship is a global initiative to diversify public knowledge and discourse, and change who writes history. Launched by The OpEd Project in partnership with leading mission-aligned universities, organizations and funders, it is a collective investment in changing the demographics of voice at scale, in a world where we now face challenges and opportunities that can only be unlocked with a diversity of knowledge sets, expertise, and voices. Each fellow joins a unique cohort of highest-caliber thinkers, supported by extraordinary resources and training over the course of a year, including cutting-edge programming, high-level coaching, and access to a prestigious network of journalists and fellows at peer institutions nationwide. Emphasis is on thought leaders who are underrepresented in the public sphere, including women.

The curriculum explores leadership, knowledge exchange, and empowerment in an unjust world. Fellows will examine building consensus, how ideas spread, when and why minds change, and how ideas can shape the future. The fellowship includes workshops and one-on-one coaching by leading journalists and editors. All fellows will write a minimum of three opinion (“op-ed”) articles during their fellowship. Attendance at all convenings, continuously and in full, is required. Applicants must be available on the convening dates to apply and should hold the dates on their calendars until the application and selection process has been completed.

The application window for the 2024-2025 fellowship has now closed.

SELECTION

We are seeking thought leaders. Our goal is to encourage applicants who can demonstrate their desire and ability to contribute to public discourse. Fellows will be chosen through a competitive selection process. We are committed to building a diverse cohort. We will consider various factors, including but not limited to gender, race/ethnicity, age, area of expertise, work history, and experience as an agent of change.

WHAT IS SUCCESS?

We are not interested in providing a service as much as creating an outcome. Our goal is 100% success: we envision that every participant will produce at least three op-eds, which in turn lead to tangible pieces of thought leadership in influential places (which may include citations, speech invitations, radio/TV appearances, proposals for new initiatives or businesses, and more) and that these will significantly accelerate their impact as thought leaders. Longer-term, we aim to build a thriving and connected community of Public Voices Fellows across cohorts.

DETAILS

20 Fellows
Year-long fellowship
Applicants MUST commit to attending these Fellowship convenings in their entirety:
- Convening 1: March 7, 2025 @ 9am-4pm PT and March 8, 2025 @ 9am-12:30pm PT, in-person at UCSB campus
- Convening 2: May 29 and 30, 2025 @ 9am-12:30pm PT (virtual)
- Convening 3: August 28 and 29, 2025 @ 9am-12:30pm PT (virtual)
- Convening 4: November 6 and 7, 2025 @ 9am-12:30pm PT (virtual)
Dedicated Fellowship Coaches (top journalists) to provide regular, one-on-one support/editing/coaching for the first nine months of the Fellowship
Access to ongoing mentoring for the fellowship year
All the convenings will be provided free of charge

MORE ABOUT THE OPED PROJECT

The OpEd Project is a think tank and leadership organization that expands history by amplifying the ideas and public impact of new and necessary voices, including women of all backgrounds. We are a community of thought leaders, journalists, commentary writers, and activists who proactively share our skills, knowledge, and connections across color, creed, class, age, ability, gender, orientation, and beyond. Through our programs, we elevate the ideas and knowledge of underrepresented expert voices, including women, and accelerate solutions to the world’s biggest problems – problems that cannot be solved justly or sustainably without a diversity of voices, expertise, experience, and identity. We believe the best ideas, regardless of where they come from, should have a chance to be heard and to change the world.

APPLication