Senior Fellowship

What is a Senior Fellow?

Each year, ten Fellows are selected through an open application process to become Senior Fellows. Senior Fellows attend additional TED conferences over two years, as well as a Salon in New York City. They also participate in Fellows Forum with their cohort, a peer-to-peer coaching program that meets virtually every month. Senior Fellows have the opportunity to apply to give another TED talk.

Should I apply to be a Senior Fellow?

We look for Senior Fellows who are working on a significant project that would greatly benefit from engaging deeply with TED as an organization and community, including TED-Ed, TEDx, curation and beyond.

You should be excited about actively participating in a close-knit cohort of Senior Fellows through the Fellows Forum program and also committed to mentoring new Fellows. Being a Senior Fellow is an opportunity to give back to the TED community in a substantial way through supporting other Fellows and the community overall.

What are the expectations for Senior Fellows?

We expect Senior Fellows to participate in Fellows Forum with their cohort, a peer-to-peer coaching program built on the “Mastermind” model of goal setting and partner accountability. The group meets monthly during three-hour virtual calls, as well as in-person at TED conferences. You should not apply to be a Senior Fellow unless you are committed (and excited) about participating in these monthly meetings with your cohort.

Senior Fellows are required to attend the Senior Fellows Salon at TED headquarters in New York in June. Every new Senior Fellow gives a short update on their work to a curated invited audience and TED staff. Our hope is to have Senior Fellows better understand all the programs and initiatives within TED, as well as introduce all of our colleagues to each Senior Fellow. The hope is to spark new collaborations and connections. Senior Fellows also participate in skill-building workshops and have an in-person Fellows Forum meeting.

Senior Fellows are also invited to attend additional TED events (ie. TED, Climate Countdown, TED Global, TED Fellows Retreat) over two years, whenever possible.

What do you look for in an applicant?

We are looking for Fellows who have a continued track record of actively supporting the community and other Fellows, who are kind and collaborative, as well as at a new and unique inflection point with their work.

Keep in mind that the Senior Fellowship is very competitive and many Fellows apply multiple times before they are selected. You must be a TED Fellow for at least one year before you are eligible to apply (meaning, if you attended TED this year as a new Fellow, you should wait a year to apply).

We open applications for two weeks each fall and select our new class of Senior Fellows by the end of the year.

Next steps:

With so much uncertainty, with the ongoing pandemic and exactly when and how we’ll be able to gather in person again, we’ve made the difficult decision not to select a new Senior Fellows class. Instead, we are shifting our resources to prioritize bringing the new classes to conferences in person as soon as we can. We’ll continue to support and engage with our current cohorts of Senior Fellows and look forward to selecting a new class soon.