FAQ

Change is accelerating. Artificial intelligence is reshaping how knowledge is produced and governed. Scientific institutions are navigating political pressure and declining trust. The gap between what science knows and what reaches society continues to widen, even as discovery and innovation reach every part of our lives. Communities are seeking greater authority in decisions that affect their health, livelihoods, and environments. Together, these developments underline the civic science imperative: the need for new coalitions and trusting relationships that allow people across sectors to engage with science, shape its direction, and expand its benefits amid rapid change.

Through the Civic Science Fellows program, the partner funders of the Civic Science Funders Collaborative are building a network spanning fields and institutions to strengthen systemic capacity in science, civil society, and the many diverse communities who shape them.

What began as a small pilot of 13 host partners and 15 fellows now includes, with this new cohort, over 200 host partners, Fellows, and funding partners. Though demand to host and participate is far greater, our intention is to provide a curated R&D space to test research, pilot prototypes, and share learning and models to seed and accelerate institutional and systems change.

Fellows are emerging leaders from diverse demographic, cultural, and professional backgrounds with expertise relevant to civic science. They may come from any number of fields—biological, physical, or social sciences; math, technology, or engineering; media, journalism, or communication; science education or museums; science funding; community organizing; or public policy.

Embedded within host partner organizations, Fellows participate in cohort-strengthening activities and engage with clusters of Fellows, hosts, and funders who can accelerate learning from one another’s work on a set of related projects and collaboratively build greater impact. In addition, Fellows have opportunities to contribute to the field, which may include participation in webinars or workshops; attending conferences; producing media content; developing frameworks and tools; and writing and publishing academic and non-academic articles. Fellows are also connected to a community of civic science partners, who are thought leaders including academics, communications professionals, consultants, funders, and nonprofit leaders, to support ongoing mentorship and knowledge exchange.

Profiles of the 2020, 2021, and 2024 Civic Science Fellows can be found here.

We welcome your interest in learning more and will be sharing information about future opportunities at civicsciencefellows.org and in our monthly newsletter.

To learn about future opportunities to become a Civic Science Fellow host partner, we invite you to sign up for our newsletter at civicsciencefellows.org.

Due to the many requests for meetings and funding, we do ask that requests be submitted through our periodic LOI process.

For further information about the program, please reach out to [email protected].