Fellowship News

The Public Voices Fellowship of PD Soros, in partnership with the Oped Project: Year Three

February 12, 2025

The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans is accepting applications for the 2025 Public Voices Fellowship, in partnership with The OpEd Project.

The year-long Fellowship provides a cohort of twenty Paul & Daisy Soros Fellows, the majority of whom will be underrepresented (including women), with extraordinary support, leadership skills and knowledge to ensure their ideas shape not only their fields, but also the greater public conversations of our time.

This will be the second year of this exciting partnership between the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans and the OpEd Project. In the first year of the program the 20 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellows who participated published more than 74 opinion pieces.

“To have this designated timeframe in my life has been crucial. I would not be writing so much without this particular program .”
– Hsing-ay Hsu, 2024 PD Soros & OpEd Project Public Voices Fellow

A GIF of the 2024 Fellows on a gallery Zoom screen. There are about 23 people, including administrators, who are going between smiling and goofy faces.

The 2024 OpEd Project Fellows and coaches pose for the Zoom camera to make a GIF during one of their summer sessions.

The application deadline for the second cohort is March 20, 2025 at 11 am PT/2 pm ET and an application form may be found here. The Fellowship is only open to Paul & Daisy Soros Fellows,

About: The Public Voices Fellowship in partnership with The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans is part of The OpEd Project’s prestigious national initiative to change who writes history. The internationally acclaimed curriculum and method explore leadership, power, and action in an unfair world. Using time tested methods of transformational learning, fellows explore how credibility works, how ideas spread, when and why minds change, and how ideas play out over time and space. This program will engage selected fellows in intense, results-oriented thinking and activities around their own knowledge and impact. It will provide the inside information, high-level support and media connections to become influential on a large scale. Other participating institutions include Yale, Dartmouth, Northwestern, The Ford Foundation, and more. Fellows will join a national network of peers, allowing for knowledge-sharing and innovation across institutions.

Impact: The Public Voices Fellowship has a track record of stunning results, generating personal, professional, and public outcomes with far-reaching implications. Fellows have published opeds in high-impact venues and gone on to publish history-changing books. They have briefed Congress, advised the White House, launched new research studies and centers, and sparked national and international debate. They have written books, collaborated on research grants, and driven policy change. The resulting impact of their ideas entering public consciousness has been expansive and is hard to overstate.

Logistics: Fellows participate in four convenings (two to three half-days each), scheduled at two-three month intervals. Attendance at every convening is required. Fellows are also assigned to work with veteran journalist mentors for dedicated one-on-one coaching throughout the year. In addition, fellows will have periodic opportunities to join calls with public thinkers and influencers and will receive weekly customized email support and news alerts. Upon completion of the fellowship, they will have access to a powerful network of peers, as well as to The OpEd Project’s national network of high-level journalist mentors.

PROGRAM DETAILS:

20 PD Soros Fellows – open to all class years and disciplines
One-year fellowship (9 months coaching + 3 months resources)
Fellows commit to writing and submitting a minimum of two opinion pieces (op-eds) and are welcome to focus on developing their voice around the topic(s) of their choice
Fellows commit to including the Fellowship in their byline during the program and for at least a year after the program ends
Four themed virtual convenings around thought leadership & knowledge:
- First convening: May 14, 15, 16, 2025 – 12 pm to 3:30 pm ET each day
- Second convening: August 14 and 15, 2025 – 12 pm to 3:30 pm ET each day
- Third convening: November 6 and November 7, 2025 – 12 pm to 3:30 pm ET each day
- Fourth convening: January 22 and 23, 2026 – 12 pm to 3:30 pm ET each day
Attendance at all convenings is required
Dedicated coaching and editing from top journalist mentors (weekly/regular)
Access to weekly webinars and monthly expert talks with senior media insiders
Follow up access to the Op-Ed Project’s pool of journalist mentors, post-fellowship
The OpEd Project requires that at least 51% of cohort members in the program identify as women

The Public Voices Fellowship is an initiative launched by The OpEd Project in partnership with leading universities, foundations, and mission-aligned organizations across the globe. Additional information may be found at the following sites:

Application Link

More info about Public Voices Fellowship

More info about TheOpEdProject

What’s it like? Watch a short video – Public Voices Fellowship at Emory University