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Our Journalist Fellowship
The programme
Our Journalist Fellowship Programme 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.
Journalists joining us in Oxford will further their understanding of journalism through seminars, networking events, discussions with peers and working on a personal project. This is a programme for working journalists and editors who will return to journalism after spending a few months with us. Applications are now closed for fellowships beginning in the 2026-27 academic year. They will reopen again in January 2027. | More on the programme
How to apply to the programme
Any journalist with more than five years of experience in newsrooms can apply for the programme. Here are the things you need to prepare for your application. | Learn more
What do our Fellows do in Oxford?
Our Journalist Fellows work on a project that addresses an issue that's important for their newsrooms or for the news industry as a whole. | Explore their projects
Who funds our Fellowships?
Our programme is funded by different organisations, including foundations, nonprofits, public broadcasters and private news companies. | More on our funders
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What you need to apply
A one-page project statement and a 150-word summary of your proposed project idea.
A one-page motivation statement. Why are you ready for a fellowship? Why do you want to do this project?
A two-page CV. Describe briefly your career and your education history. You can includes links to your work.
Two letters of reference. Ask two people who know you and your work. Each reference should be just one page.
Our Journalist Fellows in their own words
My time as a Journalist Fellow was among the most fulfilling of my career, offering rare time and exceptional support to pursue work that served my outlet and advanced broader conversations about journalism’s purpose
Jazmín Acuña
Co-founder and editorial director of El Surtidor, Paraguay
Our current Fellows
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Newsroom leadership library
Welcome to our Newsroom Leadership Library, where you’ll find a few key recommended readings and resources curated by our team. These resources, pulled from both within the RISJ community and beyond, can help inform journalists and managers looking for ideas and best practices to lead their teams through a changing industry. Got a suggestion to add to the list? Email us!
On defining your leadership style
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Media leaders must keep learning. Here are five principles to guide your learning and ensure it delivers
Lucy Kueng explains why ongoing learning is a necessity, how to prioritise it painlessly, and why it needs to take you out of your comfort zone.
The Authentic Leadership Project
A five-part series exploring authenticity in newsroom leadership
Assessment: What’s your leadership style?
A tool to better understand your personal approach to leadership. | Harvard Business Review
The worst year of your career begins when you become a boss
Valuable advice on navigating a new leadership role, including how to handle the change in dynamics with former colleagues you now manage. | Time
Trust and fear in the newsroom: How emotions drive the exchange of innovative ideas
Research on why fostering trust among staff is the most important factor in encouraging innovation in a newsroom. | Journalism Studies
Leadership is a service: how to help your team find purpose and navigate change
Some tips for journalists moving into a leadership role. | European Journalism Centre
Effective leadership in journalism: Field theory in how journalists evaluate newsroom leadership
An academic study from the University of South Florida on what makes a good newsroom boss, based on interview with 27 journalists in the US.
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Media leaders must keep learning. Here are five principles to guide your learning and ensure it delivers
Lucy Kueng explains why ongoing learning is a necessity, how to prioritise it painlessly, and why it needs to take you out of your comfort zone.
The Authentic Leadership Project
A five-part series exploring authenticity in newsroom leadership
Assessment: What’s your leadership style?
A tool to better understand your personal approach to leadership. | Harvard Business Review
The worst year of your career begins when you become a boss
Valuable advice on navigating a new leadership role, including how to handle the change in dynamics with former colleagues you now manage. | Time
Radical Candor
An industry standard for leaders looking to create more fair and collaborative workplaces.
Trust and fear in the newsroom: How emotions drive the exchange of innovative ideas
Research on why fostering trust among staff is the most important factor in encouraging innovation in a newsroom. | Journalism Studies
Leadership is a service: how to help your team find purpose and navigate change
Some tips for journalists moving into a leadership role. | European Journalism Centre
Effective leadership in journalism: Field theory in how journalists evaluate newsroom leadership
An academic study from the University of South Florida on what makes a good newsroom boss, based on interview with 27 journalists in the US.
Five tips on newsroom leadership from the International Journalism Festival 2023
Being an intentional leader is difficult. Here are a few useful quotes we heard in Perugia from speakers we admire and respect.
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[Infographic] 10 ways to become an excellent leader in news
Want to know how to lead your team or newsroom effectively? See our infographic on 10 ways you can make this happen.
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On leading healthy teams
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Mar Cabra from The Self-Investigation on how media leaders can protect their teams (and themselves) from burnout
Cabra’s exhaustion after winning a Pulitzer Prize encouraged her to help others. In this interview she offers valuable tips for newsroom managers.
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Five tips for building a culture of care in your newsroom: Strategies for newsroom leaders
“You need to demonstrate the highest values yourself,” says media consultant Jeremy Clifford.
Leaders learn tough lessons about resilience
Why “soft” skills are now increasingly seen as essential leadership qualities. | Financial Times
Escaping toxic newsroom spaces and online hate
Dhanya Rajendran, Editor-in-Chief, The News Minute joins us for our Global Journalism Seminar series
Editors’ checklist: Protecting staff and freelancers against online abuse
A guide for editors to help prepare and protect their journalists against online abuse. | Committee to Protect Journalists
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Mar Cabra from The Self-Investigation on how media leaders can protect their teams (and themselves) from burnout
Cabra’s exhaustion after winning a Pulitzer Prize encouraged her to help others. In this interview she offers valuable tips for newsroom managers.
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Five tips for building a culture of care in your newsroom: Strategies for newsroom leaders
“You need to demonstrate the highest values yourself,” says media consultant Jeremy Clifford.
Leaders learn tough lessons about resilience
Why “soft” skills are now increasingly seen as essential leadership qualities. | Financial Times
Escaping toxic newsroom spaces and online hate
Dhanya Rajendran, Editor-in-Chief, The News Minute joins us for our Global Journalism Seminar series
Editors’ checklist: Protecting staff and freelancers against online abuse
A guide for editors to help prepare and protect their journalists against online abuse. | Committee to Protect Journalists
Protecting journalists from online abuse: a guide for newsrooms
A project by our Journalist Fellow Gideon Sarpong proposes five steps newsrooms should take to protect their staff.
Breaks, grief and community: how to protect yourself when sifting through graphic visuals from Gaza and beyond
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On middle management
Managers are trapped in a performance-compassion dilemma
Tips for how middle managers can they cope with competing pressures from above and below. | Harvard Business Review
The real value of middle managers
The 4 roles of middle managers. | Harvard Business Review
Managers are trapped in a performance-compassion dilemma
Tips for how middle managers can they cope with competing pressures from above and below. | Harvard Business Review
The real value of middle managers
The 4 roles of middle managers. | Harvard Business Review
The squeezed middle — how do managers cope?
Why training and clear expectations are key for the success of mid-level supervisors. | Financial Times
Have organisations squeezed the ‘squeezed middle’ too much?
A guide on why and how to take line manager wellbeing seriously. | Institute for Employment Studies
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On change management
The focus turns to newsroom leaders for lasting change
A blueprint for why newsrooms leaders have the responsibility to make changes to the wider media system, including aligning incentives with stated goals. | Nieman Lab
The focus turns to newsroom leaders for lasting change
A blueprint for why newsrooms leaders have the responsibility to make changes to the wider media system, including aligning incentives with stated goals. | Nieman Lab
Lessons in confronting old newsroom values and structures
Frida Sandgren reflects on organisational lessons for improved collaborative culture.
Hearts and minds: Harnessing leadership, culture and talent to really go digital
This book draws on over a hundred interviews to lay out how internal organisations need to be reshaped.
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On managing across generations
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How these three Zillennial media leaders approach management in multigenerational newsrooms
Mayu Kato, Jasper Wilkins and Anna Lagos are part of this micro-generation that sits in between Millennials and Gen Z. Here's how they see their job.
What Gen Z can teach their bosses about the meaning of work
3 tips from Gen Z to improve your relationship to your work. | Quartz
What newsroom leaders should know about working with Gen Z employees
What matters to Gen Z employees in a newsroom? | The Fix
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How these three Zillennial media leaders approach management in multigenerational newsrooms
Mayu Kato, Jasper Wilkins and Anna Lagos are part of this micro-generation that sits in between Millennials and Gen Z. Here's how they see their job.
What Gen Z can teach their bosses about the meaning of work
3 tips from Gen Z to improve your relationship to your work. | Quartz
What newsroom leaders should know about working with Gen Z employees
What matters to Gen Z employees in a newsroom? | The Fix
Seven ways to create a newsroom Gen Zs will stay in
Our Journalist Fellow Mpho Raborife offers seven recommendations for how to make our newsroom a more attractive place for young journalists to work and thrive.
Navigating intergenerational dynamics at work: a study of Singaporean newsrooms
Sheo Be Ho surveyed journalists and supervisors at five newspapers, and found striking differences between what journalist say they want and what supervisors think they need.
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On wider industry trends
Project management in newsrooms
A practical guide for those who work in newsrooms and want to become better at project management. | Association for Project Management
Buddy system for new hires strengthens onboarding experience, research shows
Research on the benefits of pairing new hires with a “buddy” during the onboarding experience. | HR Dive
Women and leadership in the news media 2023: evidence from 12 markets
In this factsheet we analyse the gender breakdown of top editors in a sample of 240 major news outlets in 12 different markets.
Changing Newsrooms 2023
Media leaders struggle to embrace diversity in full and remain cautious on AI disruption.
Race and leadership in the news media 2023: evidence from five markets
We analyse the racial breakdown of top editors at a sample of 100 major news outlets in five markets.
How to implement a feedback culture in your newsroom
Lessons from Sunnyvale and Sweden in the transformative power of good feedback.
Project management in newsrooms
A practical guide for those who work in newsrooms and want to become better at project management. | Association for Project Management
Buddy system for new hires strengthens onboarding experience, research shows
Research on the benefits of pairing new hires with a “buddy” during the onboarding experience. | HR Dive
Women and leadership in the news media 2023: evidence from 12 markets
In this factsheet we analyse the gender breakdown of top editors in a sample of 240 major news outlets in 12 different markets.
Changing Newsrooms 2023
Media leaders struggle to embrace diversity in full and remain cautious on AI disruption.
Race and leadership in the news media 2023: evidence from five markets
We analyse the racial breakdown of top editors at a sample of 100 major news outlets in five markets.
How to implement a feedback culture in your newsroom
Lessons from Sunnyvale and Sweden in the transformative power of good feedback.
How to fix climate journalism
Essays from our climate network
How do we write about climate change in a way that sidesteps polarisation? How do we connect climate change to our heritage, or explain important context to audiences, or attempt to get information from our own governments? How do we create great climate journalism when resources are strained, and journalists are under mental pressure?
The following essays set out to address all these questions, and more. Over the summer and into the autumn of 2023, we'll be publishing one essay a week from an alumni of the Oxford Climate Journalism Network (OCJN) around the world on how to make climate journalism better. The OCJN is a program at the Reuters Institute that works with reporters and editors around the globe to improve climate literacy in newsrooms and help build engaging and impactful climate journalism.
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Newsrooms should develop a mental health strategy to help climate journalists cope
It’s time to recognise that climate reporting can have a serious mental impact, says Seigonie Mohammed at CCN TV6 in Trinidad and Tobago
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To cover climate change well, journalists must be prepared to identify what misinformation looks like
Climate denial is much less common. But climate “delay” can take many forms, argues Gerhard Maier
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When it comes to “green” finance, journalists must be willing to dig behind the jargon
To beat greenwashing, go back to journalistic basics, argues Alexandre Karghoo
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Climate journalists need to connect the dots between climate change and the invasion of Ukraine
Countries are already feeling the links between fossil fuels and economic dependence, says Baktygul Chynybaeva
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To cover the aftermath of extreme disasters, journalists must start covering what we cannot rebuild
Journalists need to help communities truly adapt to change, says Rob Chaney, managing editor of the Missoulian in the US.
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To help journalists cover rising temperatures, newsrooms need to start with climate literacy
Journalists need training to get the science right—and avoid spreading misinformation.
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To cover climate change in resource-strapped newsrooms, journalists need to embrace collaboration
In Ghanaian newsrooms, collaborative projects offer a chance to pool resources and produce more ambitious climate stories.
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To report fully on climate change, journalists need to integrate Indigenous knowledge into their coverage
This week's essay argues that “Two-Eyed Seeing” is crucial to showing audiences what’s really happening in a warming climate.
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To cover climate change, journalists need to find creative ways to fund long-term reporting
The latest essay from our Climate essay series argues that grants and fellowships offer chances to make the case for climate reporting
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Climate journalists need persistence to get good data, including from governments
Climate coverage needs good information—and journalists often need to use persistence to get it.
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To make climate change resonate with audiences, connect it to their heritage and culture
Stories that touch on our identities can convey the risks of a warming climate to audiences in new ways.
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Journalists should help audiences understand extreme weather – even when they lack climate data
We can still help our audiences understand extreme weather patterns even when we lack an attribution study.
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