Next System Studies is accepting applications from GMU undergraduate and graduate students for the Spring 2027 cohort of Next System Fellows.
Seeking a career in public service, research, social enterprise, community building, activism, or advocacy? Want practical experience and networks in fields relevant to social change? Apply to become a Next System Fellow.
ABOUT THE FELLOWSHIP
Next System Fellows are GMU undergraduate and graduate students in Mason's selective Arlington Fellows Program. Fellows:
- Complete an internship-practicum with a partner organization, union, or research group, or with a Next System Studies project (Next System Teach-In, Community Power/Democratizing NOVA, Digital Commonwealth, or Next Constitutions).
- Join a cohort taking courses together.
- Prepare for careers in social and public service, organizing, research, technology development, cooperative and social entrepreneurship, teaching, and more.
- Engage directly with real-world next system projects: worker cooperatives, solidarity economy initiatives, community-owned enterprises, campaigns for abolition and political democracy, transition communities, democratic technologies, restorative justice, and more.
Each Fellow receives a $1000 honorarium.
COURSEWORK
Required:
- Social Change and the Next System Seminar (SOCI 401, INTS 475)
- Internship Practicum
Undergraduate electives (choose two):
- Big Data, Technology, and Society
- Power, Politics, and Society
- Social Movements and Political Protest (Fall 2026, 2025, and 2024 courses only)
- Socialist and Capitalist Globalizations
- Sociology of Human Rights
- Cooperatives and Social Enterprise
A TRANSFORMATIVE SEMESTER
A Next System Fellowship becomes your Spring 2027 semester: same students, close work with core faculty, and a transdisciplinary approach that unites the social sciences and humanities, business, environmental and biological sciences, and technology.
APPLY
Final deadline: November 15th, 2026. Formal review begins on a rolling basis on October 15th.
Apply here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfw8L_pcQMUm_6bA-TROfqcP5IcnBMfN2F2Zdt2d7-nhYJNpw/viewform
Up-to-date details: https://nextsystem.gmu.edu/fellows