Applications open today for the Churchill Fellowships, a life-changing opportunity for UK citizens to research new ideas worldwide and make change happen in their communities and sectors when they come home.
Fellowships are offered in a range of practical subjects, from healthcare to education, social enterprise to rural living. These are open to all UK citizens, and will fund them to travel for 4-8 weeks anywhere in the world seeking out the best ideas and practice to be found anywhere in the world.
This year three new Fellowship categories will explore new ideas for improving palliative and end of life care, encouraging physical activity, and using the arts to enhance the built environment.
Churchill Fellowships are travel grants that fund dedicated and dynamic individuals to research innovative ideas and best practice overseas, then bring their global insights back to the UK and make change happen in their professions and communities. They are awarded to people from all parts of UK society, regardless of age, qualifications or background.
Julia Weston, Chief Executive of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, said: “A Churchill Fellowship is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to explore new ideas globally and make a difference with them back home.
“We are funding Fellowships to find inspiration from the world’s best projects and practice across a range of practical issues, including three new categories that reflect some of the biggest challenges facing the UK today. We hope that anyone with real passion for a cause will seize this opportunity to find solutions.”
Past Fellow Retta Bowen, a child psychotherapist from London who research approaches to working with children affected by substance misuse, said: “My trip was one of the best experiences of my life and changed my relationship to learning and innovation forever.”
12 award categories are offered, addressing current challenges facing the UK:
- Arts for the built environment (New category for 2019)
- Education
- Emergency response
- Enterprise: supporting social impact
- Environment, conservation and sustainable living
- Healthcare: innovations for the twenty-first century
- Palliative and end of life care (New category for 2019)
- Physical activity: making moves for healthy lives (New category for 2019)
- Rural living: strengthening countryside communities
- Science, technology and engineering
- Suicide: prevention, intervention and postvention
- Open category: for any topics beyond this range
Applications in the 12 subjects are open from 16 May at www.wcmt.org.uk.
