Applications are now open for the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity (AFSEE) programme for social-change leaders who are working to tackle inequality.
Policymakers, researchers, activists, practitioners, artists, and movement-builders from around the world are invited to apply to the innovative, fully-funded, and inequalities-focused fellowship programme based at the International Inequalities Institute at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Currently recruiting for its eleventh cohort, the AFSEE Fellowship is aimed at mid-career social-change leaders who have at least seven years of experience in challenging inequalities. Applications are accepted from individuals working on any field of social and economic equity, including, but not limited to economic and social rights; sustainability and environmental justice; tax justice and economic alternatives; women’s, minority, and disability rights; rights to education; public policy; housing and urban inequalities; labour rights; community organising; arts and culture; and peacebuilding and transitional justice.
Launched in 2016, the AFSEE Programme celebrates its tenth anniversary in 2026-2027; working towards its aim to build a 400-strong inspiring community of Fellows over two decades. In its first ten cohorts, the programme has brought together over 160 change-makers from 60 countries across the globe.
The AFSEE Fellowship offers a unique opportunity for change-makers who are working to address social and/or economic inequalities to have time and space to reflect on their work and to refocus. The fellowship gives them a chance to engage in learning, develop and build skills, community and networks, and to be supported in strengthening their ability to make a significant impact in the future.Professor Armine Ishkanian, AFSEE Executive Director
The AFSEE Fellowship, which offers both Residential and Non-Residential tracks, begins with an active fellowship year that offers an intensive period of learning and skills-building carried out in LSE’s research-rich environment informed by dialogic pedagogy and co-creation.
Fellows on the Residential track spend one year in London undertaking the MSc in Inequalities and Social Science degree at LSE, as well as participating in the programme’s four bespoke fellowship modules over the course of the year. The modules feature contributions from academics, practitioners, campaigners, and civil society professionals, and focus on the foundations of social and economic inequalities, policy for equity, challenging and transforming inequality, and debates around inequality.
Fellows on the Non-residential track meanwhile, remain in their home countries and work contexts during the active fellowship year, develop a practice-based project and join their Residential counterparts online and in person for the fellowship modules. Non-Residential Fellows will be awarded a Postgraduate Certificate in Social and Economic Equity upon successful completion of the active fellowship year.
If you’ve been working on the ground for change and are seeking time, tools, and a trusted community to reflect, strategise, and dream – AFSEE is that rare space. It helped me connect the dots between my local work and the global structures we’re all trying to shift.Madhuresh Kumar, AFSEE Senior Fellow (2021-22 Cohort)
One of the great things about the AFSEE programme is its dynamic nature. There are general ideas about the major themes of social and economic justice, yet every discussion, every session, and every conversation that takes place at AFSEE challenges some of these general assumptions, highlights complexities, sheds light on less seen angles, echoes the voices less heard, and brings in the diverse ways and efforts many people around the world are making to combat injustice and inequality.Hamidreza Vasheghanifarahani, AFSEE Senior Fellow (2024-2025 Cohort)
AFSEE is a lifelong fellowship programme, so, after the active fellowship year, Fellows start their Senior Fellowship journeys, where they have access to a variety of funding, initiatives, and collaborative projects to support their professional development, learning, and knowledge exchange, and to expand their networks. They also join the wider Atlantic Fellows community made up of members of all seven Atlantic Fellows programmes worldwide. Senior Fellows are also supported by the Atlantic Institute, which is based at the Rhodes Trust in Oxford.
Applications for the 2027-28 Cohort will close at 5.00pm GMT on 11 January 2027. Late applications will not be accepted.
Banner Image: Illustration by Hansel Obando