Call for 2026 applicants open until June 11
The Just Futures Mekong Fellowship Program (JFMFP) is a capacity strengthening and research fellowship led by the Center for Social Development Studies (CSDS), Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University. The program supports emerging sustainability leaders, practitioners, researchers, journalists, and communicators to address pressing environmental and social challenges through community-based research, collaboration, and regional dialogue.
The program is a partnership with: Climate Finance Network Thailand (CFNT), Sustainable Agriculture Foundation Thailand (SAFT), Sustainable Development Foundation (SDF), and Towards Organic Asia (TOA). It works together with communities in Trat and Mae Hong Son Provinces.
By engaging with scholars, civil society, policymakers, and other actors, the ‘Just Futures Mekong Fellowship Program’ aims to create a comprehensive and transformative experience that empowers fellows to make a meaningful and lasting impact advancing just sustainability in the Mekong Region, build networks and collaborations, contribute towards collaborators’ missions, and support fellows to further their career and personal aspirations.
The ‘Just Futures Mekong Fellowship Program’ entails the following:
Training & Solidarity: The fellowship begins with pre-arrival online preparation and in-person workshops with CSDS and partners, equipping Fellows with skills for ethical community-based research, cross-cultural collaboration, and working with communities as knowledge partners.
Community-based Placement: Fellows spend most of the six-month fellowship in collaborating communities and partner organizations, working alongside community members and partner staff to co-produce research and outputs that respond to local priorities.
Co-produced knowledge: Fellows co-create knowledge and solutions through a research project guided by an experienced support network, addressing critical sustainability
Policy Impact: Fellows contribute to real-world change by informing policy-making processes, advocating for sustainable practices, and inspiring further research.
The upcoming fellowship will be a six-month program for eight fellows — four from Thailand and four from China. Fellows will spend most of their time in collaborating communities and partner organizations in Mae Hong Son (Northern) and Trat (Eastern) province, Thailand with shorter Bangkok blocks for synthesis, mentoring, training, networking, and public or policy engagement.
The 2026 thematic framing focuses on community-led climate adaptation and just green transformation. Communities are partners in co-design, local knowledge production, validation of findings, and the shaping of outputs that respond to their priorities. The fellowship aims to connect local realities — such as biodiversity change, livelihood transitions, water stress, agricultural change, and governance challenges — to wider policy, finance, trade, and investment dynamics.
The fellowship is also a learning and collaboration platform. Through peer learning, partner mentoring, and cross-cultural exchange, fellows will strengthen their ability to work across sectors and contexts, while contributing to a larger shared body of knowledge that is useful for communities, partners, policy actors, and wider public audiences.
The 2026 call is open to applicants from Thailand and China until June 11 2026.
Further Information
For further information, or to receive the application form by email, please contact: justmekongfellowship@gmail.com