Apply for a UAE mental health journalism fellowship

The programme provides a grant, training and mentorship for 12 months

Fatima Al Mahmoud (L) and Jenna Kleinwort, the 2022-23 mental health journalism fellows in the UAE. Victor Besa / The National

If you are a reporter, editor or content producer in the UAE, you can now apply for a 2023-24 Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism. The scheme provides a grant, training and mentorship for 12 months to successful candidates to support fair and accurate reporting of mental health. The window for applications is now CLOSED.

The fellowship programme, which is run by the Carter Centre in the US and has been administered by The National in the UAE since 2018, seeks to develop a diverse cohort of journalists who can improve the quality of mental health reporting in the media.

The Carter Centre, a non-governmental organisation, has awarded annual mental health journalism fellowships around the world since 1996. This year, fellows will be appointed in the US, Latin America and the Middle East.

The programme is named after Rosalynn Carter, co-founder of the Carter Centre, who has been an influential voice in the field of mental health for decades.

The 2023-24 recruitment drive will seek to appoint up to two journalists in the UAE.

The successful candidates will succeed Jenna Kleinwort and Fatima Al Mahmoud, the programme's 2022-23 UAE fellows.

Kleinwort is a freelance journalist who has been reporting on the people at the forefront of the mental health landscape in the UAE. Al Mahmoud, a social media journalist at The National, has been working on pieces about first responders and mental health.

Who can apply for a 2023-24 UAE fellowship?

Applicants must be citizens or residents of the UAE, or demonstrate a strong connection to the country by freelance work or employment. You should have experience as a reporter, editor or content producer.

How to apply

Applicants should submit a copy of their CV, together with a covering letter of no more than 500 words that provides an outline of the mental health reporting work the candidate seeks to undertake during their fellowship year. The project proposal could be for a single reported piece, a podcast series, a collection of features, video clips or any other form of publishable content.

The applicant should outline where they hope to publish their work and in what format (ie, digital, print, broadcast, multimedia, social media). It is not a requirement of the scheme that the reporting project is published in or by The National.

Any application should be supported by two samples of your previous reporting work.

In addition, the applicant should supply contact details for a suitable referee. That person is in all likelihood an editor, newsroom leader or publisher, and should be able to comment on the applicant's ability and potential as a journalist and, ideally, have a strong interest in publishing and supporting your fellowship project proposal. Referees will only be contacted if a candidate is called for interview.

Where to apply

Applicants should submit their CV, covering letter, two samples of their work and contact details for their referee to Nick March, Assistant Editor-in-Chief at The National and UAE Programme Administrator for the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism.

Send your documents to [e-mail]

Please mark the subject line as “Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism (UAE programme application 2023-24)".

When to apply

The window to submit applications for the UAE programme is now CLOSED.

All applications will be reviewed by a panel of editors at The National and the local advisory board for the fellowship in the UAE. Shortlisted candidates will then be interviewed by the local advisory board and programme administrator. It is intended that interviews will be conducted in June 2023, either in-person in Abu Dhabi or via Zoom.