Applications open for Joan Shorenstein Fellowship Program (US)

The Joan Shorenstein Fellowship Program is designed to bring journalists, scholars, politicians and policymakers to the Shorenstein Center for a semester to work on a project with a tangible output, and engage with students, faculty, other fellows, and the broader Harvard Kennedy School community. They are expected to be fully-participating members of the Shorenstein Center community while in residence, attending and participating in Center events, social gatherings, and other activities.

Alumni fellows join the Shorenstein Center’s Alumni Fellows Network, to stay connected with the Center and the large and growing group of former fellows all around the world.

Benefits

• Fellows receive a stipend, paid in monthly installments at the end of each month of their term. Travel, housing, and living expenses are not covered by the Shorenstein Center.
• Fellows are provided with a desk in the Shorenstein Center offices, a Harvard email address, and a Harvard ID allowing access to libraries and other resources.
• Fellows are also able to select a paid Harvard Kennedy School student research assistant (eligible to work up to 10 hours per week) to help with their projects.

Eligible Projects

• The quality and originality of an applicant’s project proposal is a key deciding factor in the selection process. Project topics should fit into the existing work of the Center but provide a new angle or area of focus that is not covered specifically by one of the Center’s existing programs.
• Projects can take many forms, including white paper, policy paper, annotated bibliography, podcast, video, or interactive. Projects should have an anticipated impact in society, and applicants should be able to clearly articulate their project’s desired impact.
• Fellows often work independently, with the assistance of a faculty mentor and research assistant, but some have also conducted a series of workshops with students, with the final output taking the form of a report or project illustrating the conclusions of the workshops.
• Fellows’ projects are published on the Shorenstein Center website, and many have been cross published or excerpted in a variety of high-profile media outlets and academic journals, or have become the basis for a longer book.

What is expected of a fellow?

• Applicants must be available to be in residence, full-time, for the duration of their fellowship (Fall Semester: September through December, Spring Semester: February through May, or Full Year: September through May) in Cambridge, MA.
• The Fellowship is a full-time appointment, and applicants are expected to commit to the work of completing their primary research project and engaging in the life of the Center, its activities and events. It is understood that busy modern professionals will have occasional essential obligations, and the Center aims to be considerate and flexible in such circumstances. However, any applicant with professional, personal or travel commitments that would require significant time away should consider applying when their schedule allows for the full commitment of a fellowship.

Who should apply?

• Career professionals from a variety of related fields are welcome to apply. Past fellows include journalists from local, national and international TV, radio, print, and digital media; media and civic technology innovators; nonfiction authors; documentary filmmakers; political advisors and policymakers; leading academic scholars in fields such as media research and political science; and policy analysts.
• The Shorenstein Center is committed to diversity, and actively encourages applications from all demographic backgrounds, and across the political spectrum.
• Types of experience that lead to a successful application and fellowship experience are:
  • Journalist: Reporters, editors, columnists, producers, media business executives and related, with a minimum of ten years of full-time experience either at professional news organizations or as a full-time freelancer (not including work completed as a university student).
  • Politician: Someone who has been elected to a national or high-level state office, or high-level communications professionals within politics and policy, e.g. speechwriters, press secretaries. Minimum of ten years experience (can be cumulative between elected office and other roles).
  • Scholar: Tenured or tenure-track professor employed by a college, university or research institution in political science, political communication, journalism, technology studies, sociology, computer science, or a field relevant to the Shorenstein Center’s areas of inquiry.
  • Policymaker: High-level official in a cabinet office, or policy adviser to a candidate for national office or high-level elected official.
  • Documentary Filmmaker: Documentary filmmakers and/or academics and practitioners with expertise in documentary filmmaking as it relates to public interest media, and/or its intersections with journalism. Minimum of 10 years experience.

For more information, visit Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy.