The Fordham Social Innovation Research Fellow and Intern Program is designed to promote university-wide social innovation research, develop faculty-student research collaborations, and facilitate internal and external research partnerships in the area of social innovation. The program will build on the success of the first Social Innovation Fellows program in creating and sustaining a core group of inter-disciplinary faculty who will bring internal and external visibility and recognition to Fordham as a leader in social innovation. Social innovation, as defined by the World Economic Forum, is innovative, practical, sustainable, market-based approaches that benefit society, with special focus on the vulnerable.

1 It is for the development of mindsets and capabilities to create innovative, practical, financially and environmentally sustainable solutions that benefit society. A social innovation should be novel, socially purposed to improve society in some way with scalable and measurable outcomes. It also uses society’s resources more efficiently and effectively and empowers sectors in society that may have been left out in the past. This year, the program will select 5 faculty research fellows who will each select up to 2 student research interns to work collaboratively with internal Fordham scholars and/or external research partners from May 15, 2020 to May 14, 2021. In total, 5 faculty and 10 students will be funded through this program.