The Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship provides academic and professional opportunities to advance the reporting skills of women and nonbinary journalists who focus on human rights and social justice. The Fellowship was created in memory of The Boston Globe correspondent and International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) Courage in Journalism Award (1998) winner Elizabeth Neuffer, who died while reporting in Iraq on May 9, 2003.

In collaboration with Neuffer’s family and friends, the IWMF started this program to honor Neuffer’s legacy while advancing her work in the fields of human rights and social justice. The Neuffer Fellowship is designed for women and nonbinary journalists with at least three years of professional experience in journalism working in print, broadcast, or digital media, either as a staff journalist or as a freelancer. All nationalities are welcome to apply but non-native English speakers must have excellent written and verbal English skills in order to fully participate in and benefit from the program. The Fellow will complete research and coursework at MIT’s Center for International Studies and journalism internships at The Boston Globe and The New York Times. The flexible structure of the program provides the fellow with opportunities to pursue academic research and hone their reporting skills. Past fellows have taken advantage of opportunities to publish work under their byline through various media outlets.

Starting in 2023, the seven-month Fellowship will begin in January and conclude in July. Depending on public health guidelines and restrictions, the program includes an orientation in Washington, D.C. Previously, the seven-month Fellowship began in the fall and concluded in the spring every year.

Neuffer Fellows are based at the Center for International Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts from January to May. Working with the IWMF, they design a program that will enable them to pursue academic research while improving their ability to cover human rights and social justice issues. Following the spring semester, Neuffer Fellows are based in New York City where they complete a full-time internship at The New York Times from June to July. Fellows must complete the entire seven-month program.