About the Fellowship
The Open Society Fellowship supports individuals seeking innovative and unconventional approaches to fundamental open society challenges.  more

Fellowship Guidelines
Complete information and application instructions for the Open Society Fellowship. Proposals are accepted year round.  more

Frequently Asked Questions
FAQs on applying for an Open Society Fellowship.  more

OSI Forum: After Mandela and Mbeki—The Future of South Africa
OSI-NY
April 29, 2009
The Open Society Institute, together with The Nation magazine, hosts a conversation on the politics of South Africa, one week after that country’s presidential elections.  more

OSI Forum: The Political Impact of New Media in the Middle East—A Conversation with "Abu Aardvark"
OSI-New York
April 21, 2009
Influential blogger Marc Lynch discusses how new media technologies have reshaped political communications throughout the Middle East.  more

OSI Forum: The Unwritten Rules of Policing in South Africa and the United States
OSI-New York
April 13, 2009
 AUDIO
Open Society Fellow Jonny Steinberg and Herb Sturz spoke about the controversial police practice of "stop-and-search" and broader lessons for criminal justice reforms in emerging democracies.  more

Richard Horsey
Richard Horsey is writing the first comprehensive account of the International Labor Organization’s efforts to address forced labor abuses in Burma.  more

Rebecca Hamilton
Rebecca Hamilton is an Australian human rights activist, writer, and lawyer.  more

Rebecca MacKinnon
Rebecca MacKinnon is cofounder of Global Voices, a global citizen media network, and an assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong's Journalism and Media Studies Centre.  more

Jonny Steinberg
Jonny Steinberg is the author of several books about everyday life in the wake of South Africa’s transition to democracy.  more

Op-Ed: Firewalls to Freedom
Rebecca MacKinnon & Evgeny Morozov
February 25, 2009
As authoritarian regimes learn how to manage and engineer information flows, we must understand that promoting and protecting free speech in places like China and Russia is not a simple matter of “tearing down the wall,” write Open Society Fellows Rebecca MacKinnon & Evgeny Morozov.  more