A new Fellowship will bring a journalist in or from Wales to the Reuters Institute in early 2026

The Reuters Institute is delighted to announce the Cynefin Fellowship, which will bring one journalist in or from Wales to Oxford in partnership with Inclusive Journalism Cymru. The journalist selected will spend one academic term at the Institute from January to March 2026 and will work alongside industry peers from all over the world.

Applications for the Fellowship closed on 29 September 2025. 

In line with the aims of the Fellowship, the journalist selected will work on a project on the themes of inclusion and/or innovation which will be designed to help inspire systemic change in the interests of marginalised people and communities. After their time in Oxford, the Fellow will then spend time working alongside the Inclusive Journalism Cymru team as one of its Network Weavers, building on their research and sharing the insights from their time at the Institute. 

Both the Fellowship and the Network Weaver programme will be fully funded by Inclusive Journalism Cymru.

This new Fellowship builds on Inclusive Journalism Cymru’s mission to drive systemic change in Wales and beyond. Cynefin is a Welsh word with no direct English translation, and it can be read in a number of ways - as “habitat”, “familiar” or “place”. Its real essence though lies in a deeper and more visceral sense of belonging and rootedness – physical, spiritual and cultural – all of which align with the kind of experience and feelings that Inclusive Journalism Cymru wants to help create.

Watch this briefing about the Cynefin Fellowship

Inclusive Journalism Cymru joins more than a dozen of partners that make possible our Journalist Fellowship. The programme, which brings together reporters and editors from all over the world, is one of the world’s leading schemes for practising, mid-career journalists to take some time out from their day jobs to explore journalism in depth. 

The programme includes seminars, networking events and discussions with peers. While in Oxford, our Journalist Fellows work on a project that can be of direct impact to them, their career, their newsroom and the wider media industry.

In response to the announcement, Mitali Mukherjee, Director of the Institute, said: “When I reached out to Inclusive Journalism Cymru, I was struck by how our mission and goals were complementary and aligned. The focus of our programme has always been that our journalist fellows’ projects must speak to real-world issues within journalism. Our own research is also motivated by journalism’s understanding of how people, places and cultures can intertwine to help build communities and societies. What audiences bring to their relationship with journalism is in large part a function of what journalism brings to them. I am so delighted to share this incredible opportunity for outstanding journalists from Wales who want to work on systemic change.” 

The team at Inclusive Journalism Cymru said: “This is a proud moment for us. We all know from personal experience what it’s like to be marginalised or excluded. That’s what motivates us in our work towards a fairer, safer and more representative journalism industry. The Cynefin Fellowship sends an important message about how we, and the Reuters Institute, see genuine inclusion and systemic change as critical to the future of journalism. We look forward to our Fellows’ work challenging the status quo, sparking change and delivering innovation rooted in Wales but resonating far beyond.”

Membership of Inclusive Journalism Cymru is completely free, and open to anyone who feels they or their community has been systemically under-represented or marginalised. The network is inclusive, so there's no test. If you'd like to be part of it and think you could benefit or have something to offer, then you're very welcome.