COMMUNITY FELLOWSHIP

Program Overview

The CIP Community Fellowship program fosters and grows a network of practitioners with the goal of building collaboration, sharing ideas, creating new initiatives, and nurturing a more interconnected community that is passionate about the CIP’s mission to resist strategic misinformation, promote an informed society, and strengthen democratic discourse. Through experiential learning and practical application, the program aims to provide practitioners in wide-ranging fields, such as journalism, education, technology, librarianship, government, community organizations and law, with opportunities to explore the intersection between research and professional experience. 

The CIP Community Fellowship is designed as an opportunity for participating Fellows to: 

  • Be part of a vibrant, multidisciplinary research community to explore new ideas.
  • Gain knowledge about the current landscape of mis/disinformation and various intervention practices and initiatives. 
  • Build connections and engage with CIP-affiliated researchers, staff, and students. 
  • Participate in center events and projects.
  • Benefit from a CIP mentor.
  • Showcase their projects through CIP events. 
  • Bring new perspectives, insights, and connections back into their organizations, networks and communities.

    By participating in the program, Fellows will be better equipped to advocate for and lead change that resists strategic misinformation, promotes an informed society and strengthens democratic discourse.

    Choose Your Track

    PROJECT TRACK

    Who are you?

    A professional from a field impacted by misinformation (such as journalism, education, technology, librarianship, government, community organizations and law) who feels the fellowship would uniquely inspire or energize your work and who would contribute new insights and experiences to the CIP Fellowship cohort and broader CIP community. 

    What will you do?

    You will lead a strategic and impactful project related to combating misinformation. This might include the development of new programs, curricula, technologies, or other activities designed to combat misinformation. 

    Expectations

    • Attend a 2-day Misinformation Workshop (in person) the week of September 22-23, 2025 at the University of Washington’s Seattle campus (travel & accommodation paid for and/or arranged by the CIP)
    • Connect with CIP mentor and Fellowship Program Manager once a month to share updates and get support (in-person or remote)  
    • Attend and participate in quarterly cohort meetings (remote)
    • Attend and participate in CIP’s weekly meetings when possible (hybrid format)
    • Present at least once at CIP’s weekly meeting (in-person or remote)
    • Complete or demonstrate substantial progress on your proposed project through documented milestones. 
    • Submit a summary report of your Fellowship experience.

    Financial Support 

    All selected candidates will receive a $5,000 stipend, distributed over the course of the Fellowship appointment, to support expenses related to their project work. The CIP will also cover travel expenses associated with the Fellowship experience.

    EDUCATOR COHORT TRACK

    Who are you?

    An educator working in a school, library, college, university, or other educational organization in Washington state who is passionate about helping others build their resilience to misinformation through formal or informal learning and would contribute new insights and experiences to the CIP Fellowship cohort and broader CIP community. 

    What will you do?

    You will host a MisinfoDay @ MyCommunity event in your classroom, school, library, or organization in December 2025 (see example events) and work toward a clearly defined goal for how you will sustain education efforts around misinformation in your institution.

    Expectations

    • Attend a 2-day Misinformation Workshop (in person) the week of September 22-23, 2025 at the University of Washington’s Seattle campus (travel & accommodation paid for and/or arranged by the CIP)
    • Connect with Fellowship Program Manager once a month to share updates and get support (remote)  
    • Attend and participate in monthly cohort meetings (evenings, remote)
    • Attend and participate in CIP’s weekly meetings when possible (hybrid format)
    • Submit a summary report of your Fellowship experience.

    Financial Support 

    All selected candidates will receive a $2,000 stipend, distributed over the course of the Fellowship appointment, to support expenses related to their project work. The CIP will also cover travel expenses associated with the Fellowship experience.

    Eligibility & Qualifications (Both Tracks)

    We welcome interest and applications from professionals working in the U.S. who feel that CIP’s Community Fellowship would uniquely inspire or energize their work. We encourage applications from those working in a broad range of fields that are impacted by misinformation, and who would contribute new insights and experiences to the Fellows cohort and broader CIP community. 

    Consider applying to the Community Fellowship program if you are: 

    • A professional or scholar-practitioner with at least 3 years of experience  addressing mis/disinformation; 
    • Passionate about resisting strategic misinformation, promoting an informed society, and strengthening democratic discourse; 
    • Comfortable with self-guided work and can independently develop and execute projects within program deadlines;
    • Able to attend the Misinformation Workshop on the week of September 22-23, 2025  in Seattle (CIP will pay for and/or arrange your travel, accommodation, and per diem)

    Fellowship selection is based on a number of factors, including: a commitment to the public interest, the potential to advance the field, the capacity to diversify and broaden the CIP’s community, and the degree to which the fellowship has the potential to accelerate the candidate’s impact and contribute to their ongoing development. We will also be striving to assemble a cohort that we believe offers the greatest potential for mutual learning. Unfortunately, we cannot accommodate international applicants for the 2025-26 cohort.

    Application Requirements 

    The following items are required in the application for consideration. 

    SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION HERE BY JUNE 30, 2025 11:59 PM PST.

    Project Track

    (1) A current resume or curriculum vitae (PDF) 

    (2) Statement of interest (PDF):

    Please submit a statement of interest that responds to the following questions. The statement should be between 500-800 words total.  

    • How does your work connect to the mission of the CIP? Share how the fellowship might inspire or energize your work, including connections to resisting strategic misinformation, promoting informed societies, and strengthening democratic discourse.
    • Why is the project track right for you? Describe what expertise, connections, and experiences you are uniquely suited to contribute to the center’s community, efforts, and activities and what experiences have prepared you to execute your proposed project. 
    • What types of opportunities are you most interested in and why? If you have a specific person or project affiliated with the CIP that you are interested in connecting with during your Fellowship, please indicate their names and what type of opportunities you are interested in. (Note: This is optional and does not impact the selection process).

    (3) Project proposal (PDF)  Please use this template to outline your project proposal and desired outcomes. The proposal should not exceed a total of 3 pages and should be submitted in PDF format.

    Educator Cohort Track

    (1) A current resume or curriculum vitae (PDF) 

    (2) Statement of interest (PDF):

    Please submit a statement of interest that responds to the following questions. The statement should be between 600-800 words total. 

    • How does your work connect to the mission of the CIP? Describe your past experience with media and information literacy work, including resisting strategic misinformation, promoting informed societies, and strengthening democratic discourse, and describe the communities you have served.
    • How would hosting a MisinfoDay @ MyCommunity event impact your community? Explain what this event might look like at your institution, including the audience, potential partners, and learning objectives you’re most interested in addressing. These events are flexible and could take place as a school- or organization-wide event, a library program or workshop, during the same class over multiple days, etc. (See example events).
    • What goal do you have for sustained information and media literacy education for your institution? Describe your vision for what education around this topic looks like in your classroom, library, school, district, university, or organization at the end of the fellowship. This should be specific and manageable – something you could reasonably expect to be prepared to implement during the next academic year.

    (3) Supervisor Approval Form (PDF)  Please have your supervisor (administrator, director, etc.) review and sign this form to confirm their approval of your participation.

    Key Dates and Timeline

    • May 22, 2025: Application opens
    • June 30, 2025: Application closes (11:59 p.m. PDT) 
    • July 2025: Announce decisions
    • September 22-23, 2025: 2025-26 Fellowship begins, 2-day in person workshop at UW Seattle
    • June 2026: 9-month term ends

    Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

    The Center for an Informed Public is strengthened in all ways by the diversity of our community. Catalyzing the power of diversity enriches all of us by exposing us to a range of ways to understand and engage with the world, identify challenges, and to discover, define and deliver solutions. The CIP’s leadership actively seeks and welcomes community members whose perspectives, values, beliefs, traditions, and world views have been shaped by experiences and backgrounds that may be different from their own, particularly those from historically marginalized and underrepresented groups. These differences may include, but are not limited to: race, ethnicity, culture, religion, language, socioeconomic status, citizenship, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, and physical abilities.

    Questions?

    Please send questions about the CIP Community Fellowship program to uwcip@uw.edu.