Class of 2026

We are delighted to announce the 2026 Yale World Fellows. These 16 extraordinary individuals are leaders working in politics and public policy, global health, technology, environment, journalism, and the arts around the world. They include a Ukrainian journalist, a Chinese environmentalist, and a Kenyan orchestral conductor.

“At a moment when norms are under strain and the international order is being rewritten, the World Fellows remind us that principled leadership still exists—and still matters,” said Emma Sky, director of Yale’s International Leadership Center, which houses the World Fellows program. “The world does not lack for problems or pessimists. What it needs are skilled, courageous practitioners willing to create new possibilities. The 2026 World Fellows are exactly that. These are the people quietly doing the hard, often unglamorous work of holding things together while building something better.”

The World Fellows program is Yale University’s signature global leadership development initiative and a core element of Yale’s ongoing commitment to internationalism. Each year, the University selects 16 individuals from thousands of applicants for an intensive four-month period of academic enrichment and leadership training. Since the program’s start in 2002, it has welcomed over 400 Fellows, representing 102 countries.

The mission of the World Fellows Program is to enable extraordinary individuals, from across the globe and from diverse disciplines, to increase their capacity to make the world a better place. The International Leadership Center, part of the Jackson School of Global Affairs, runs parallel initiatives for practitioners in climate, peace and multilateralism to cultivate leadership for today’s most acute and complex challenges.