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We welcome applications
for Fellowships. In selecting Press Fellows we apply two main criteria:
- The intellectual
and personal qualities of the candidate, including his or her
potential for leadership in the profession of journalism; and
- The Project
proposal.
Although we
are always open to original ideas for Press Fellowship projects,
we tend to focus on a number of broad themes. These are:
- The changing
role of media in a networked world
- Improving
the reporting of business, the environment, sustainable development,
medicine, bio-science and technology
- The role
of free media in democratic governance
As far as the
third theme is concerned, we are keen that the Programme should
contribute to ‘capacity building’ in countries which
are emerging from authoritarian regimes and moving (at varying speeds)
towards liberal democracy. Journalistic cultures which were shaped
under authoritarian conditions do not necessarily adapt well to
more open conditions. Yet functioning democracies need free and
vibrant media – staffed by journalists who understand their
responsibilities and roles under these new conditions.
The
selection process
For some countries
-- e.g. Malaysia -- the application and selection process is handled
through the British High Commission (to whom Malaysian candidates
should apply in the first instance). For other countries, we operate
a two-stage selection process.
- Applicants
submit an Application Form. This is obtainable for download
as a pdf file (requires free Acrobat
Reader) from here; as
a Microsoft Word file from here and
as an rtf file from here. The
form should then be submitted directly to us in Cambridge.
(For addresses and fax details see here.)
In addition to the usual personal details, candidates are
asked to nominate two referees who are
familiar with their work and to provide a one-page summary
of their Project Proposal.
- Each application
is scrutinised by a Selection Panel comprised of Programme staff,
representatives of the College and external advisers. If the application
is approved, then the candidate is offered a place on the Press
Fellowship Programme, subject to the necessary sponsorship
being found to support the Fellowship.
Project
proposals
In drawing up
a proposal, we ask candidates to consider the following four
questions:
1. What exactly
do you propose to investigate?
2. Why
is this worth doing?
3. How exactly
do you propose to go about your investigation?
4. How will
you know when you have (a) finished, and (b) succeeded?
The process
of answering these questions can be useful in focussing a proposal.
It's also important that the proposed project should be on a topic
that can usefully be investigated in Cambridge or, failing that,
the UK.
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