The Kenneth Myer Innovation Fellowships 2024 program has opened for applications, seeking changemakers with gamechanging solutions to Australia’s most pressing social and environmental challenges.
The program offers Fellows a unique opportunity to focus exclusively on their project for 12 months, with each receiving $180,000.
Launched by the Sidney Myer Fund and The Myer Foundation in 2014, the program has already empowered some of Australia’s brightest, self-directed leaders to turn their big ideas into reality, including:
- 2014 Fellow Jordan O’Reilly’s HireUp platform for people with disabilities to engage their own support workers
- 2016 Fellow Anna Rose’s work to build a national movement of farmers taking climate action through establishing Farmers for Climate Action
- 2020 Fellow Mikaela Stafrace’s The Placement Circle supports women who are isolated and vulnerable to become employment capable
Kenneth Myer Innovation Fellowships Committee Co-Convenors Edwina Myer and Jonathan Lindsay said the program looks for the powerful combination of a breakthrough initiative and the capacity of the applicant to bring it to fruition.
“Fellows have the opportunity to develop personally and professionally to best position themselves to drive real change, all while building connections with a diverse cohort of changemakers,” Edwina Myer said.
Co-Convenor Jonathan Lindsay added: “Time and money can be the two scarcest resources for social and environmental entrepreneurs; the Fellowships offer a rare combination of focus and financial resources to help Fellows progress their work and scale their impact.”
The Kenneth Myer Innovation Fellowships program is seeking:
- individuals who are experienced, entrepreneurial and connected with ideas that are high impact, unique, scalable and sustainable
- projects that align with one or more of the three program themes of Human, Civil & Legal Rights, Sustainability & Environment including climate change, and Inclusion & Equality and meet a range of other eligibility criteria.
Applicants from all professional and cultural backgrounds and across all sectors – private, public and non-profit – are encouraged to apply for the 2024 program.
