CFP: 2026 Philosophy in Media Fellowships

Apply Here: https://marcsandersfoundation.org/philosophy-in-media-2026/application/

Cover letter must contain specific information to be competitive. Special consideration will be given to applicants whose professional or public-facing work focuses on race and racism, social justice, applied ethics of biology, technology, or other special sciences, and to applicants who are affiliated with HBCUs, Hispanic-serving institutions, Tribal colleges/universities, or underserved/under-resourced smaller regional or state schools. Please let us know in your cover letter if any of these research categories apply to you and if your research area will be informing the work you plan to do if chosen. The aim of this program is to find future public philosophers and for them to learn from the best. In your cover letter, we want to see evidence that you are committed to becoming a public philosopher and will execute a plan. To that end, in the cover letter, please include the following information:

1.  For our final year, we are looking for very specific things from our applicants:
   • If you are applying for the essay writing workshop, pitch three ideas you want to write about, and the approximate word length for each of these ideas. An op-ed is 800-1200 words, a featured essay is about 3000 words. Make sure these pitches are in your voice and are in areas you want to write about. They can vary widely in range, you don’t have to be constrained by your research areas. Try to impress us with how interesting a writer you are.
   • If you are applying for the trade book workshop, tell us your idea for a trade book, and why you think it is a good trade book idea rather than a good academic book idea.
   • For the podcasting workshop, we are still looking for people who have or want to start their own shows so tell us about that if that is your plan. But we are also looking for people who have really good ideas for limited-run series, think mini-series or documentary series about a topic, about an issue, about a figure, something like a 6 episode or 8-episode or 10 episode series that will feature you are a host or guide or researcher. Tell us about that idea.
2. People or works that inspire or serve as models for you: Please include names of role models, pieces of writing, or podcasts that you want to learn from, emulate, or admire that inspire you to want to engage with public-facing work. It can be specific articles, figures, magazines, or podcasts, etc. This gives us an idea of what you’re reading, who you’re listening to, and what kind of voice you want to develop.
3. Aspirational plans/goals: Do you have a 1-year, 3-year, 5-year plan? If not a plan, what are your goals and how would you like your public scholarship to unfold? These don’t have to be ambitious, but they should be honest. There’s value in doing both a lot and a little of public philosophy, as there is value in doing both national/international and local/regional/niche work.

Applications close Saturday, January 31, 2026. Successful applicants will be notified by mid-March.