Become a Fellow

The Gingko Interfaith Fellowship recognizes that religion not only unites people to work together for a common good but can be used to justify violence and stand in the way of justice. Scholars who join the Gingko Interfaith Fellowship critically reflect on their own tradition and its impact. As an interreligious encounter, the Fellowship is important not only because mutual stereotypes can be reduced but because faith leaders from different traditions face similar questions and might learn from one another.

Each year there are around 20 Fellows, with roughly equal numbers from MENA and the West. Gingko recruits about 10 new Fellows each year to join the returning Fellows. Potential Fellows can apply at any time.

Fellows also gain access to the network of current and past Fellows. Gingko also hopes to hold Fellowship events at, for example, relevant academic conferences (such as BRISMES and MESA. Fellows also benefit from exclusive access to the Fellowship Collaboration Prize, which funds a collaborative project by two or more Fellows. Gingko will also give preference to applications from Fellows for its Research, Encounter and WMLM grants.

Candidates for the Fellowship can be nominated or apply to Gingko directly.

Please fill out the Application Form and return it to gingko@gingko.org.uk to apply. 

Fellowship Criteria

1. The Fellowship is designed to be an early career scheme for scholars from MENA and the West, giving them a transformative encounter at a crucial time and enabling learning and network-building with long-term effects.
2. Fellowship is for scholars from Masters level up to early years of post-doctoral research.
3. Fellows must be affiliated to a higher education institution.
4. Fellows must have a good command of English to be able to benefit fully from the Fellowship. This means an IELTS score of 7.0 or higher or equivalent qualification.
5. Fellows should be researching religion / religious studies, broadly defined, including theology, comparative religion and interfaith studies.
6. Gingko Fellows are usually adherents of one of the religions of the MENA region, especially the three Abrahamic faiths.
7. Gingko aims to recruit people who are going to be future faith leaders (perhaps becoming priests / imams / rabbis etc), community leaders, thought leaders (in academia or outside it) or public servants.
8. Fellows must have a curiosity and openness towards the other.
9. Applicants must fill out an application form and make themselves available for a face-to-face interview.
10. Gingko does not discriminate against anybody in its selection of suitable candidates for the Fellowship and aims to be as inclusive and diverse as possible.
11. Gingko’s selection decision is final.
12. Successful candidates commit to take part in two residential Retreats, one in the MENA region and one in Europe in two consecutive years.