Democracy Fellows
Inspiring the next generation of democracy champions
The Notre Dame Democracy Initiative invites applications from undergraduate students across all disciplines to apply for the Notre Dame Democracy Fellowship. Through this program, the Democracy Initiative seeks to support and inspire the next generation of public servants and democracy scholars at Notre Dame.
The Democracy Initiative, part of the University's Strategic Framework for advancing Notre Dame as the world's leading global Catholic research university, is reimagining this campus-wide program to provide advanced opportunities for students interested in studying and strengthening democracy.
Benefits for Fellows
As a Notre Dame Democracy Fellow, you will be granted exclusive access to opportunities for engagement with dozens of centers, research institutes, and faculty programs working to advance our understanding of democracy. Fellows will have exclusive opportunities for mentorship with faculty and alumni, an elite campus platform to promote your work, and social events to interact with your cohort and meet leaders from within the university and guest speakers.
Selected students will have the opportunity to receive up to $2,000 towards a research project, senior thesis, or funds towards their project.
Requirements
The Democracy Fellows program is open to undergraduates from all majors, colleges, and schools at Notre Dame.
Fellows will help support Democracy Initiative sponsored "Democracy Talks" and commit to working on at least one democracy-related project (including research, a class paper, an op-ed, internships or service-learning, etc.) These fellowships may be held alongside additional fellowships and awards from other units (e.g. Kellogg, Con Studies, Social Concerns, etc).
Application deadline
We will review applications once per year. The due date for the 2026-27 academic year cohort is October 5, 2026. We are accepting applications from students in their junior year.