2025 Annual Science Immersion Workshop for Journalists

Seeding Change: How our food systems adapt to climate change

As climate change has become a more frequent issue of concern, newsrooms have adjusted by incorporating more coverage of environmental change and its impacts. Unfortunately, many reporters and editors lack the background, sources, and confidence to cover these stories with the depth and nuance they require. Metcalf Institute’s Annual Science Immersion Workshop for Journalists is a fellowship designed to address this gap and be a valuable resource for journalists working in a wide variety of beats. It’s the 27th anniversary of this immersive program, and this year will have a special focus on food systems and climate change. Fellows will dive deep into issues such as food quality and public health, climate impacts on food systems and food communities, restoration and adaptation, and more, all through a social justice lens.

The Metcalf Institute fellowship is for full-time journalists working in all media who want learn more about research and topics relating to climate change science, impacts, adaptation, and justice. It’s designed to bolster your understanding of the methods, norms, and culture of science, with hands-on activities, field trips, and opportunities to develop relationships with scientific experts and journalist colleagues. We welcome journalists from all beats, including not only environment but also general assignment, arts & culture, business, technology, policy, and politics, as climate change shapes all of these areas with ever-increasing urgency.

The Annual Workshop is designed to help Fellows gain new insights, sources and resources to aid their reporting, expand peer networks with journalists from around the globe, and produce accurate and contextualized reporting on globally relevant environmental issues. Metcalf Fellows will gain a solid foundation in the fundamentals of research practice, climate science, and adaptation measures from leading researchers and policy makers.

The 2025 Workshop was conducted in person at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston, RI on June 8-13, with supplementary asynchronous preparation. Thanks to Metcalf Institute’s endowment and the generosity of private donors, the fellowships include full tuition, lodging, meals, as well as a travel stipend paid after travel.

We received over 120 applications from 32 countries, competing for ten fellowship slots. We are proud to welcome the following journalists to the 2025 Metcalf Fellowship cohort: