The International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) is now accepting applications for the 2027 Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship, which provides academic and professional opportunities to advance the reporting skills of women and nonbinary journalists who focus on human rights and social justice.
The Fellowship was created in memory of The Boston Globe correspondent and IWMF Courage in Journalism Award 1998 winner Elizabeth Neuffer, who died while reporting in Iraq on May 9, 2003.
In collaboration with Neuffer’s family and friends, the IWMF started the programme to honor Neuffer’s legacy while advancing her work in the fields of human rights and social justice.
The Neuffer Fellowship is designed for women and nonbinary journalists with at least three years of professional experience in journalism working in print, broadcast, or digital media, either as a staff journalist or as a freelancer.
All nationalities are welcome to apply, but non-native English speakers must have excellent written and verbal English skills in order to fully participate in and benefit from the programme.
Those selected for the Fellowship spend a semester at the Center for International Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and undertake journalism internships at The Boston Globe and The New York Times.
The flexible structure of the programme provides the fellow with opportunities to pursue academic research and hone their reporting skills.
The Fellowship begins in February and ends in July. Fellows are based at the Center for International Studies at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from February to May. Working with the IWMF, they design a programme that will enable them to pursue academic research while improving their ability to cover human rights and social justice issues.
Following the spring semester, Fellows are based in New York City, where they complete a full-time internship at The New York Times from June to July.
Fellows must complete the entire six-month programme.
The Fellowship is open to women, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming journalists whose work focuses on human rights and social justice issues. All applicants for the Fellowship must be working journalists with at least three years of full-time, professional journalism experience. Internships and journalism-related work completed as a university student do not count as professional experience. Applicants may be staff or freelance journalists.
Journalists from any country around the world are eligible to apply. However, applicants must speak, read and write English fluently in order to fully participate in and benefit from the Fellowship.
Fellows receive a fixed monthly stipend to cover their living costs. The IWMF also arranges and covers the cost of housing in Cambridge and New York City for the fellow. The IWMF purchases round-trip economy airfare from the fellow’s place of residence to the United States, as well as transportation between the Fellowship cities. The fellow receives health insurance during the programme. The Fellowship does not include a salary. For fellows residing outside of the United States, the Fellowship also covers the costs of applying for and obtaining a U.S. visa. The fellow is fully responsible for any additional incidental expenses and other costs.
Family members are welcome to accompany the fellow. However, the IWMF is not responsible for any arrangements or expenses related to the travel and residence of family members, including support of visa applications.
Applicants nominate themselves for the Fellowship by submitting an application and supplementary materials via Submittable at: https://iwmf.submittable.com/submit.
A complete application will include the following information:
- Biography
- Current résumé or CV
- Statement of interest
- Fellowship goals
- Two work samples covering human rights or social justice issues (links preferred)
- If work samples are not in English, applicants must upload their own translations along with a professional translator’s assessment of their accuracy. Alternatively, applicants may have their work samples translated professionally.
- Two letters of recommendation (in English)
Rather than lengthy statements of interest, IWMF asks applicants to answer a series of questions that will help the organization learn about them and their reasons for seeking the Neuffer Fellowship. The following questions are included in the “Statement of Interest” section:
- Why is this a good time in your career to participate in the Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship? (limit of 500 words)
- What is the single most important goal you hope to achieve with the Fellowship? Why? (limit of 500 words)
- How will achieving the Fellowship goal outlined above improve your journalism on human rights and social justice issues? (limit of 250 words)
- What are your long-term ambitions? What do you expect to be doing in five years after the Fellowship, and how do you expect the Fellowship experience to help you achieve those ambitions? (limit of 250 words).
The deadline for applications is April 19, 2026.
To apply, please go to: https://iwmf.submittable.com/submit.
