Joan Shorenstein Fellowship Program in the US

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 primary deliverable for a fellow is a research-based project that contributes to broad understanding of an issue within the information ecosystem, or addresses a problem related to journalism, media, public interest technology, or decision science (with ideal candidates focusing on the intersection of at least two of these areas and with an eye towards politics and/or public policy solutions).
• 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.

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.
• Applicants should not have participated in another fellowship within the two years prior to their preferred semester.
• Applicants must be fluent in English – listening, reading, writing and speaking. Non-native English speakers must provide TOEFL or IELTS score.

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