Call: Geneva Health Files Fellowship 2024
Special Announcement
Hi,
We are very pleased to announce that applications are now open for our annual fellowships where students, and/or global health experts, get to work with us during the summer of 2024.
Ever since we launched our first fellowship program in 2021, this community of fellows has expanded beautifully, drawing us closer to the readership we serve.
In the course of the last few years, a number of fellows have worked with us, enriching us and sharing their expertise with us. We have had doctors, epidemiologists, researchers, journalists and podcasters, join us in this fascinating journey. Some of them have stayed on, continue to work with us.
Please find details of the announcement below. Application details can also be downloaded here:
Thank you for spreading the word around among interested folks.
If you find our work valuable, become a paying subscriber. Tracking global health policy-making in Geneva is tough and expensive. Help us in raising important questions, and in keeping an ear to the ground. Readers paying for our work helps us meet our costs.
Our gratitude to our subscribers who help us keep the lights on!
Also, later this week we are offering a workshop on ongoing global health negotiations. Spots can be reserved here.
Until later.
Best,
Priti
Feel free to write to us: patnaik.reporting@gmail.com. Follow us on X: @filesgeneva
I. Volunteer Opportunity in Global Health Journalism: Geneva Health Files
Geneva Health Files is an inter-disciplinary journalistic initiative that reports on power and politics from the capital of global health. This small, but influential news operation is looking for students, and/or interested experts and writers, who can report on global health, and also help build this initiative.
This is an opportunity to work with a trusted and contemporary newsroom, and gain hands-on experience in learning how global health journalism is crafted in Geneva. It is a great opportunity to not only write about global health more critically, but to also be a part of an exciting initiative in media entrepreneurship.
We are looking to work with people who are interested in helping us achieve two key and distinct objectives:
· Reporting and research activities:
These could include working on specific reporting projects, attending webinars, briefings, conducting research and analyses, and helping with certain aspects of the production process.
· Supporting our business development activities:
These tasks include helping us with business strategy, audience analysis and engagement, marketing and communications, fundraising, designing new editorial products, promoting online presence and building on our brand.
The role requires consistent and regular commitment of 5-10 hours per week. This is being offered only as a volunteer position in light of existing budget constraints. Students can also apply for internship grants from other sources in order to make this opportunity viable. (In the event we are able to raise additional resources, we will be happy to offer a small stipend on a per story or a per-task basis.)
About our work:
Geneva Health Files reports on global health governance in Geneva by looking at the field through the lens of politics, science, law, and trade. We are read by more than 6,000 readers in 140 countries. Our in-depth stories seek to go beyond the headlines and capture the important nuances at a time when global health policy-making in Geneva continuously changing. This initiative writes for its readers who are professionals in the global health field including diplomats, policymakers, academics, activists and lobbyists. We follow the discussions and negotiations that become headlines.
Fellowship Application
If interested, please send a formal cover letter (~500 words) on why you are interested in the position and what you hope to gain from working with Geneva Health Files. Also send us your CV with a cover letter before April 1, 2024. Write to Priti Patnaik, Founding Editor, Geneva Health Files: Patnaik.reporting@gmail.com.
It is important you explain in your cover letter why you are interested in global health journalism specifically. We want you to tell us why you want to work with Geneva Health Files. It is not enough to be knowledgeable about global health, and/ or journalism. We need to see specific skills and demonstrated interests that will make you a good fit in our niche reporting initiative.
Shortlisted candidates will need to appear for a small writing test, followed by an interview.
Owing to time constraints, we are only able to offer three-five positions this year to do justice to selected fellows.
This fellowship is intended to run from May 1, 2024 – November 1, 2024. This period is also subject to the availability of interested candidates.
If you are affiliated with any of the actors that we report on, during the period of the fellowship, we thank you for your interest, but we will not be able to work with you.
Please apply only if you are certain that you can commit to regular hours on a weekly basis. We invest valuable time mentoring and supporting our fellows in the midst of a hectic news cycle and a demanding entrepreneurial operation. We simply cannot afford to lose time with candidates who are unsure about their engagement with us.
While we are respectful of our fellows’ time, we also need hands-on candidates who can hit teh ground running and are able to work in a fast-paced newsroom that typically operates under tight deadlines.
We look forward to receiving applications. Thank you for your engagement.
DESCRIPTION OF TASKS
We would consider fellows who would be interested specifically in each of these tasks. People who can straddle both these areas are also welcome.
I. Editorial tasks
· Working on specific reporting projects
· Attending a monthly editorial call to discuss priorities for coverage.
· Curating news developments
· Listening in on press briefings and webinars (Summarising as necessary)
· Production of occasional podcasts [If the candidate has relevant skills for this.]
II. Tasks around Business Development
· Systematic mapping and reaching out to global health organizations in Geneva
· Working on online events as necessary
· Targeted outreach of global health academics outside of Geneva
· Working on e-books, and posters as necessary
· Working on grant proposals and fundraising activities
· Working on audience engagement
· Illustrations and design
Skills required:
· An understanding of global health and international trade
· An appreciation of the role of journalism in global health
· A good writer with a nose for news (Prior writing experience desirable)
· Web skills including content management system, social media
· A basic understanding of the newsletter economy
· Critical thinking and a sense of humor will be a plus
· Fast worker with quick turn-around time under tight deadlines
Outcomes:
· Getting published in Geneva Health Files
· Familiarity with the Geneva Global Health Ecosystem
· Understanding newsletter journalism
· Experience in media entrepreneurship
To know more about the work of previous fellows:
Our first round of fellowship in 2021 that attracted a brilliant set of volunteers who published with us [Read their work here and here]. In 2022, more than six different fellows joined us to produce some critical reporting on global health. (See some articles published by our fellows here and here.)
In 2023, the following fellows made rich contribution to our journalism: Alyssa Chetrick, Anjali Britto, Claire Csenge, Lulwama Mulalu, Mridini Kulkarni, Parth Chandna, Sana Ali, Skander Essafi, Tessa Jager
II. WORKSHOP: GLOBAL HEALTH NEGOTIATIONS
Register here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/geneva-health-files-global-health-negotiations-at-who-tickets-797889307397?aff=oddtdtcreator
When:
15th February, 2024 [2:30 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. CET]
Where:
Online on zoom
Global health is everybody’s business. Help us probe the dynamics where science and politics interface with interests. Support investigative global health journalism.
Thank you Priti, for all the work you do!
I wonder though why Health has to go 'Global'?
The contrary has to happen I feel; we all have to go inward,
work on a more natural biotope for ourselves and our children,
we have to respect 'self healing'
We have to turn to the small and local again, I think.
Hello from Belgium.