PUBLIC VOICES FELLOWSHIP
with the University of California Santa Barbara
We are pleased to announce that we are now accepting applications for the 2026 OpEd Project Public Voices Fellowship in Partnership with the University of California Santa Barbara. This year-long Fellowship, part of a broader global initiative, will convene 20 thought leaders from across the campus with diverse expertise and backgrounds. Fellows will receive extraordinary support, build leadership skills and knowledge, and work alongside journalist coaches to ensure their ideas shape not only the field but the greater public conversations of our age.
APPLY here BY December 3, 2025, at 11:59 pm ET
overview
The Public Voices Fellowship is part of a global initiative, launched by The OpEd Project in partnership with a core group of leading mission-aligned organizations and institutions, to diversify public knowledge and discourse, make the world more intelligent, and better equip us to face the most urgent challenges and opportunities of our day. The Public Voices Fellowship initiative has a track record of stunning results over many years, dramatically increasing Fellows' visibility and driving real, measurable impact. After the success of the first two cohorts at UCSB, this will be the third cohort in this partnership.
The Fellowship explores knowledge, leadership, and voice in an urgent timeframe. Each Fellow joins a unique cohort of the highest-caliber thinkers, who are paired with dedicated journalist coaches and engage in a globally recognized leadership curriculum and training over the course of a year. Fellows come together four times during the Fellowship year for discovery-based convenings designed to catalyze knowledge into action (two on-campus convenings, and two virtual convenings over Zoom - details below). 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 intensive, results-oriented thinking and activities focused on their knowledge and impact, with the goal of contributing to public discourse (including publishing op-eds). It will provide the inside information, high-level support, and media connections to drive large-scale change. Upon completion, Fellows will join a global network of thousands of peer Fellows, allowing for knowledge sharing and innovation across institutions, cohorts, and years.
What’s it like? Watch a short video of a previous Fellowship cohort.
Expectations of fellows
Participation in all Fellowship convenings in full, without exception
Commitment to contribute to public discourse, with a minimum publication goal of 3 op-eds
Commitment to engage with and contribute to the cohort
Alignment with the spirit and mission of the Fellowship
Applicants must be able to join all convenings:
Knowledge: March 6-7, 2026 (Fri/Sat), 9:00 am-4:00 pm PT on Friday & 9:00 am-12:30 pm PT on Saturday (in person, UCSB)
Connection: May 15-16, 2026 (Fri/Sat), 12:00-3:30 pm PT (on Zoom)
Contagion: Aug 7-8, 2026 (Fri/Sat), 12:00-3:30 pm PT (on Zoom)
Legacy: Nov 6, 2026 (Fri), 9:00 am-5:00 pm PT (in person, UCSB)
SELECTION
We are looking for exceptional leaders and thinkers from UC Santa Barbara, with the desire and ability to contribute to public scholarship and the public good. This Fellowship is an opportunity to help shift our public narratives towards solutions by introducing new knowledge, essential ideas, and collaborative thinking across a diversity of expertise, backgrounds, and identities. 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.
apPLY HERE
Apply here by December 3, 2025, at 11:59 pm ET.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
These FAQs relate to all Public Voices Fellowships led by The OpEd Project.