What gives me hope? The idea that we can build new narratives through collective leadership based on empathy and social justice, and the certainty that this will change our world.Daniel Salazar Murillo, 2021-22 Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity
Even in the face of seemingly insurmountable injustice and inequality, we all have the power to push back the darkness.Kevin Liverpool, 2021-22 Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity
Courage and commitment, collaborative action and collective power: these are the forces that drive the 17 activists, researchers, movement-builders, policy-makers and practitioners who will join LSE International Inequalities Institute this autumn as Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity.
Our new Fellows are mid-career social-change leaders from 14 countries who focus on challenging inequalities, and work in fields ranging from communication for development to education equity and public policy. They include a Filipina women’s rights and climate activist, an Ecuadorian researcher working on platform economies and labour rights, a Sierra Leonean transitional justice leader, a Costa Rican investigative journalist focusing on tax evasion, a Scottish community organiser and housing rights campaigner, a human rights specialist from Colombia working in drug policy reform and economic justice, an Indigenous cultural entrepreneur and publisher from India, and a masculinities and gender equity champion from Trinidad and Tobago.
In September 2021, the fifth cohort of Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity will take their place in a catalytic community that now numbers 85 current and lifelong Fellows from 39 countries across Africa, Asia, Oceania, Europe, North and South and the Caribbean. This year’s intake spans the globe, with new Fellows from Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, India, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Northern Ireland, the Philippines, Peru, Scotland, Sierra Leone and Trinidad & Tobago.
Dr Armine Ishkanian, executive director of the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity programme and associate professor in LSE’s Department of Social Policy, said: “We are living through historic times around the world. The pandemic has exposed, and is exacerbating, social and economic inequalities. Concurrently, social movements and activists around the globe are mobilising to challenge inequalities and to demand systemic change. At this critical juncture, it is important not only to understand and respond to the challenges, but also to rethink everything and to imagine alternative, more sustainable and equitable, futures.”
Dr Ishkanian added: “Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity is committed, as a programme, to drawing on and bringing together the insights of academic research, innovative social change strategies, and our Fellows’ own broad and rich expertise. We look forward to welcoming our new cohort of Fellows to the London School of Economics, and supporting their professional and personal development as they continue to work towards creating more equitable and just societies and futures.”
Our 2021-22 Atlantic Fellows have been chosen from a worldwide pool of applicants that has grown annually since the funded fellowship for thinkers, doers and change-makers was established in 2017 via a record £64 million grant to LSE from Atlantic Philanthropies.
Eight of the 17 will be residential Fellows, and will take LSE’s MSc in Inequalities and Social Science in the 2021-22 academic year. They and their nine non-residential peers will also undertake the Fellowship’s innovative one-year programme, which is built on a rigorous, interdisciplinary academic course led by Dr Ishkanian and Programme Lead Dr Sara Camacho Felix and informed by III’s research-rich environment. It also includes engagement with researchers and campaigners, leadership training, community-building, and narrative and communications skills work.
When they complete their active fellowship year, the 2021-22 Fellows will join a lifelong catalytic community of members of all seven Atlantic Fellows programmes, who collectively focus on work to advance fairer, healthier and more inclusive societies.
The 2021-22 cohort of Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity are:
Aisha Abdulaziz (Kenya)
Rafael Barrio de Mendoza (Peru)
Sergio Chaparro Hernandez (Colombia)
Ruby Hembrom (India)
Myriam Hernandez (Mexico)
Kruskaya Hidalgo Cordero (Ecuador)
Makmid Kamara (Sierra Leone)
Caroline Kioko (Kenya)
Madhuresh Kumar (India)
Ishrat Jahan (India)
Kevin Liverpool (Trinidad & Tobago)
Jenny McEneaney (Northern Ireland)
Clare MacGillivray (Scotland)
Jite Phido (Nigeria)
Zephanie Repollo (Philippines)
Daniel Salazar Murillo (Costa Rica)
Amanda Segnini (Brazil)
