MOTH FELLOWSHIP
As part of its MOTH Academy, the NYU MOTH Program offers its Fellowship as both a professional development opportunity for promising practitioners and scholars and as a space for creative incubation of actionable initiatives for improved relations with the more-than-human world. As such, the Fellowship serves both as a platform for emerging leaders in this growing field and as a strategic intervention in advancing the rights and well-being of the more-than-human world.
Each year, MOTH selects up to twelve outstanding thinkers and doers to join a vibrant, interdisciplinary cohort. Over the course of twelve months, fellows cultivate generative connections across disciplines, develop innovative projects, and deepen the skills and practices that enhance their ability to contribute meaningfully to this burgeoning field. Rooted in collaboration, the program brings fellows together to exchange their work, brainstorm ideas, and chart new paths forward as a community.
In this is the inaugural year of the Fellowship, we welcome all who are interested to apply, though preference will be given to past participants in our Annual Course and the conference associated with the MOTH Festival.
At the core of the program is a project conceived by each fellow and refined and expanded through collaboration with peers, mentors, and the wider MOTH community. Applicants are invited to propose projects that engage with this year’s central theme of reciprocity with the rest of the more-than-human world: How can we live and work in more relational and reciprocal ways with the more-than-human world? How might we give back to the rest of nature for all it has given us?
MOTH seeks to build a truly interdisciplinary and collaborative cohort. Proposed projects may vary widely depending on a fellow’s background, the organizations or networks in which they are embedded, and the questions they are looking to address. For example, a lawyer might explore a novel legal action or theory recognizing an animal species’ contribution to a medical advancement; a filmmaker might document relational approaches to nature within citizen assemblies across regions; a campaigner might design an advocacy campaign urging fashion companies to adopt circular practices aligned with ecological limits. By the end of the Fellowship, each participant will have developed an actionable, impactful output which will be showcased at the 2027 MOTH Festival of Ideas.
Since the Fellowship is rooted in the principle of collaboration and collective impact, it supports fellows who are already embedded in broader communities, networks, and organizations of humans and nonhumans, enabling their projects to generate tangible benefits for broader collectives and ecosystems.
Beyond the individual project, the Fellowship experience is enriched through layered programmatic elements designed to nurture skills, deepen capacities, and foster community with humans and the rest of nature. Each fellow is paired with a dedicated mentor from the MOTH Program who provides guidance throughout the year. The Fellowship follows a hybrid model, blending virtual workshops and meetings with immersive in-person, in-nature gatherings that offer opportunities for reflection, feedback, and cross-pollination of ideas and places.
Community is at the heart of MOTH. Fellows will not only form lasting, meaningful bonds with one another, but will also become part of the wider MOTH network—a growing global community committed to reimagining our relationships with the more-than-human world. Fellows will learn from each other—collaborating to refine their projects—and from the larger more-than-human world.
Program Design
Components of the Fellowship
- The Project
Fellows develop and begin to implement projects which promote, in some fashion, reciprocity or a relational approach with the rest of nature through creative or strategic action. The project should be designed to address a particular question or problem regarding reciprocity with the more-than-human world.
The precise contours of this project and proposed action will vary depending on the disciplinary background of the fellow. Fellows will be assisted in the design and refinement of their projects by the MOTH team as well as the other fellows.
- Community of Practice
In addition to supporting personal and professional development, the Fellowship aims to plug practitioners embedded in various networks and ecosystems into a rich community of practice which can nurture their growth as well as strengthen the field. The program accomplishes this first by building a complementary cohort of fellows and second by connecting fellows to the larger MOTH team, including mentors from the MOTH Collective. Ultimately, by the end of the Fellowship and beyond, fellows will be integrated into the extended MOTH network.
- Transformative, Ecocentric Learning
Through the program, fellows will dive deeper into ecocentric ideas and practices, absorbing insights from a range of disciplines, including law, the biological sciences, storytelling, and the arts. The in-person, in-nature gatherings and online workshops and meetings will include opportunities to learn from experts at the forefront of new and transformative approaches to acting with and on behalf of the more-than-human world. Through these learning opportunities, MOTH is especially interested in introducing fellows to how place-based learning and tapping into emotions like awe and wonder can meaningfully facilitate and enhance actions, strategies, and tools to better relate to and act with the more-than-human world.
- Mentorship
Each fellow will be paired at the outset with a mentor from the MOTH Collective. Fellows will work with their mentors in the design and implementation of their projects. Mentors will help fellows ideate and strategize while also more generally supporting their growth through the Fellowship.
For additional information on the application process, selection criteria, program timeline, and program time commitment please see the full Fellowship description below. To assist the application process, we’ve also compiled an application checklist, which can also be found below.
To apply, please send all application materials aggregated into a single PDF to [email protected].
There will be two information sessions for the Fellowship. To join, use the links below.
- December 12 at 11:00 AM EST – [Zoom link here]
- January 9 at 11:00 AM EST – [Zoom link here]
