Specialized Fellowships
Nieman Fellowships are offered to journalists working in all media in all countries around the globe. In 2012, specialized fellowships were granted in global health reporting, community journalism, business journalism and arts and culture reporting. Additionally, the foundation added two new fellowships to the mix for the 2012-2013 academic year: the Nieman-Berkman Fellowship in journalism innovation, offered in conjunction with Harvard’s Berkman Center For Internet and Society, and the Nieman Visiting Fellowship, short-term research and study opportunity offered to all interested in working on a project designed to enhance journalism in some unique way.
Nieman specialized fellowships allow journalists working in certain beats or with specific goals to deepen their understanding of the subjects they cover, connect with leading scholars and researchers at Harvard and increase their knowledge, skills and leadership capabilities.
Two fellowships, the Nieman Global Health Reporting Fellowships and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Latin American Nieman Fellowships, offered the opportunity for fieldwork at the end of the spring 2012 semester. The 2012 Knight Fellows,
Claudia Méndez Arriaza and
Carlos Eduardo Huertas, have since completed their fieldwork projects.
Claudia focused on homicides in her native Guatemala and created a website “
Una vida es una vida” (A Life is a Life) to record every murder in Guatemala City. She also collected demographic data for each murder to enable analysis of crime trends. During his fellowship year, Carlos developed plans for another website,
Connectas, which publishes stories on key issues related to Latin American development, such as infrastructure, energy, telecommunications and technology. The first project, published in July 2012, was a multiple part series on the Transoceanic Highway. Connectas also spreads knowledge about freedom of information laws and how to access, analyze and interpret data.
While studying at Harvard, Nieman Global Health Reporting Fellow Sam Loewenberg prepared for a reporting trip to Kenya in the fall of 2012 to better understand why societies respond to emergencies, but don’t develop infrastructure and other long-term solutions to prevent such problems. Rema Nagarajan, another Nieman Global Health Reporting Fellow, traveled to Brazil to see if the country could offer lessons to her native India regarding public health and development issues. Learn more about Sam and Rema’s work in our section on
Nieman Global Health Reporting Fellowships.
Beginning in the 2012-2013 academic year, the Nieman Foundation is no longer offering named fellowships in arts and culture and global health reporting. Journalists who cover these topics are are strongly encouraged to apply in the general application pool.
Learn about Nieman’s specialized fellowships:
Although not officially considered a specialized fellowship, learn more about the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Latin American Nieman Fellowships.