Apply for our 2025-26 Future of Belarus Fellowship
Are you a Belarusian living in exile and working towards a free and peaceful future for your country? Our Leaders in Exile: Future of Belarus Fellowship could support your work.
Our Future of Belarus fellowship programme is for exceptional Belarusian professionals who work with young people and who are passionate about achieving their vision for a fairer, more sustainable and inclusive society. It brings together changemakers from different sectors, including civil society, journalism, politics, social enterprise, business, science and the arts.
This year, the programme is specifically for professionals focused on supporting young people and the efforts of the next generation to bring change for a better and fairer future for their society and country. If this describes your work, we’d love to hear from you.
About the programme
During our six-month fellowship programme, you’ll gain insights into the values, ways of working and challenges faced by people and institutions in the UK. You’ll also have a chance to connect with counterparts and learn from each other’s work.
The programme comprises a series of online workshops and a week-long residential programme in the UK. It runs from 1 October 2025 until 28 February 2026, with the residential programme taking place in the UK in early December.
Connections
Nine Fellows took part in our 2024-25 Future of Belarus Fellowship programme, from sectors including journalism, civil society, human rights law and politics. We asked them about their experiences during their fellowship.
Lawyer and activist Lizaveta Trakhalina set up a mentorship programme called Bright Belarus, which helps talented Belarusians apply for international scholarships.
She says: “The UK is famous for its culture of volunteering, of connecting with people and empowering people with fewer opportunities. John Smith Trust supported our personal action plans and helped us set up meetings with UK institutions that have been doing the work we’re doing for a very long time.
“I met with several mentorship programmes to learn how they work. I’ll take this experience and the connections I made with me to improve the quality of our mentorship programme.”
Networking
Political activist Ivan Kravtsov has been working on a plan to sustain political engagement among sections of the Belarusian diaspora community. “The fellowship was absolutely great,” he says. “The workshops were top tier, and the ability of the John Smith Trust to connect people with their extensive network of contacts in the UK really helped us to achieve results.”
We are looking forward to welcoming up to ten new Fellows onto our Future of Belarus programme. If you feel inspired, then you can find out more on our Belarus fellowship page. And you can apply online between 21 May-8 June 2025.