The Wake Forest University Environmental and Epistemic Justice Initiative is a grant-funded research, teaching, and community engagement project that places at its center environmental and epistemic justice. The Initiative critically examines how and in what ways race and regimes of racial knowledge shape and inform our scholarly practices, public policies, and normative concerns.

The 2026 Summer Institute will welcome 4-6 early to mid-career journalists to the fourth class of EEJI fellows with the goal of improving coverage of the many environmental justice issues, while aiding in diversifying the ranks of environmental journalism.

For the 2026 session, the Institute is very interested in proposals that focus on the intersection of environmental and climate justice and health, particularly in the southeast and mid-Atlantic.

Applicants must be published journalists with at least one year of reporting and feature writing experience for newspapers, magazines, or digital media outlets.