Changemakers' Fellowship

Accelerate your path to impact

Free, one-week summer residential programme to meet other changemakers tackling pressing social issues, and fast-track your progress towards making a major difference.

Who: For smart, curious, and ambitiously altruistic 16-18 year olds in the UK, whatever subjects you are studying
Where: Wycliffe Hall, a college of Oxford University (including residential accommodation)
When: 19-27th August, 2023

Applications are now closed for this programme. Sign up for email updates to stay in the loop.

Changemakers Fellowship

This is not your typical summer course.

The Fellowship is about exploration of ambitious aims like preventing human extinction or steering the course of history towards a more positive future. We help you move beyond the theoretical to drive real-world change.

It’s up to our changemakers to choose how to make the most use of the Fellowship. For instance, you might focus on:

Picking a new research, advocacy, or communications project to launch this summer
Diving deep into the top questions of our time and what you can do about them
Planning the next steps in your studies and career, plus soliciting advice from our network which includes staff focused on long-term risks at research institutes within Oxford University and a number of other social impact-focused organisations

What is attending our residentials like?

Overall reported satisfaction with Leaf’s Summer programme: higher than 9 out of 10 for both parents & participants

Priscilla

“Leaf was able to capture all the elements of the ideal summer programme - it did what it said it would (discussing the world's most pressing problems in an innovative way), you were provided with a lot of freedom with no pressure, felt open to talk to facilitators and other participants, made many new friends, and the leisure activities were very enjoyable… As a result of Leaf, I have considered future careers/roles in AI risk and computer science.”
Aryan

“It was genuinely one of the best weeks ever, both in terms of productive content and social interactions with like-minded people… everyone was willing to engage in productive discussions, despite having differing beliefs. This created a culture of open mindedness… Leaf also helped a lot with my uni application. Attendees shared advice with each other and the personal statement Q&A was very good.”
Nicole

“It was great, I was able to learn a lot about effective altruism and longtermism which I haven't thought about before. The content was valuable and the evenings of activities allowed me to relax with others which was fun (there was both an educational and fun side to it).”

- Group workshops, discussions, and debates
- Talks from researchers and advocates working on pressing problems
- Supported co-working to make progress on group projects
You’ll think critically about issues like poverty, climate change, pandemic reduction, risks from AI, or animal welfare, plus whether and how you could realistically contribute to tackling them.
Of course, there will be plenty of time to relax, have fun, and explore the beautiful city of Oxford.
9:00am - Morning check-in
9:30am - How to have productive disagreements
10:45am - A framework for prioritising pressing problems
12:00am - How big will the future be? A Fermi estimate
1:00pm - Lunch
2:00pm - “Opportunities in pandemic prevention” with Janvi Ahuja, researcher at the Future of Humanity Institute
4:15pm - How can you contribute? Exploring academia vs. industry vs. government
5:30pm - Subject area discussions run by Changemaker Fellows
6:30pm - Dinner and project time
8:00pm - Evening activity (bowling, board games, tour of Oxford, etc)
All sessions are optional, so fellows are free to take a breather, explore a topic on their own, or set up an alternative session. Past fellows have praised the freedom, autonomy, and respect they are given at Leaf.
See more detail in the video at the top of our FAQ.
- This first stage is a short written form (~10 minutes). We mostly ask for basic info about you to check eligibility.
- If you are invited to the second stage, you’ll answer a small number of open-ended questions that give a taste of the topics our fellows will explore, plus a series of rapid fire closed questions.
- Finally, our top few applicants will be invited to a short interview where we’ll discuss your interests and some of ours over a virtual call.
Participants in previous Leaf programmes can skip some or all of these stages; get in touch directly if you’d like to return!

It’s the other fellows that will make the fellowship outstanding. They will become your collaborators, advisors, and (friendly!) critics. Changemaker Fellows include:

Bhavika

Bhavika has researched opportunities to reduce nuclear risk and co-organised a conference on pressing problems featuring a shadow minister and several SpAds.
Rohan

Rohan has compared the urgency of addressing risks from either climate change or artificial intelligence, and explored the implications of AI being used in diplomacy.
Avleen

Avleen is launching a project to improve AI alignment, is president of a local human rights committee, and editor for the Young Voice magazine.

After the residential programme, you’ll be paired with a mentor who can support you in any altruistic projects you are pursuing.

More broadly, Leaf offers a range of follow-up opportunities, including feedback on applications for universities, internships, or grant funding, and extra events that connect students and professionals with shared expertise.