Sharon Muzaki Selected for Africa and Middle East Fellowship The inaugural recipient of this fellowship, Muzaki will join the other KSJ fellows in Cambridge, to learn from some of the world’s top scientists and storytellers.

In January of 2024, the Knight Science Journalism Program at MIT announced a new Fellowship for Advancing Science Journalism in Africa and the Middle East. The fellowship, created in honor of the pioneering Egyptian science journalist, Mohammed Yahia, is funded by the publisher, Springer Nature. It is designed to enrich the training of a journalist working in Africa or the Middle East so they can contribute to a culture of high-quality science and health journalism in those regions, as well as raise awareness of scientific advances elsewhere in the world.

The fellowship received more than 160 applications, which were reviewed by a panel of judges made up of three award-winning science journalists: Diran Onifade, Editor-in-Chief of AfricaSTI; Aliaa Hamed, Executive Editor for Nature Research in MENA; and Pallab Ghosh, Science Correspondent for BBC News. Judges worked with KSJ director Deborah Blum to make the final decision.

“We are delighted to announce that the  first recipient of the fellowship is Sharon Muzaki, an environmental journalist from Uganda, whose intelligence and dedication made her an outstanding candidate, ” Blum said. “The judges and I were also deeply impressed by the high quality of many of the applicants, something that speaks to the rising excellence of science journalism in the Middle East and throughout Africa.”

Onifade called  the excellence of the applicants “ ..an indication of tremendous progress from where we were just a decade or two back, when only a handful of practitioners in the region had reasonable skills to cover science.” 

And Hamed said:  “I was incredibly impressed by the number of applicants and the high caliber of many entries. Selecting just one winner for this fellowship was a true challenge, but it also filled me with hope. The abundance of talented science journalists in our region bodes well for tackling the critical challenges we face,” 

2024 Fellow: Sharon Muzaki

Uganda’s Sharon Muzaki, the inaugural fellow for the new program, has been with UGStandard Media since 2019, reporting on the environment and climate change. In an area where three quarters of the population makes a living through agriculture, her reporting has contributed to important discussions about the ways that agroecology can be used to support local farmers as the changing climate impacts the success of current farming operations. 

Muzaki graduated from Makerere University in 2019 with a degree in Journalism and Communication. While working for UGStandard Media, she has attended numerous trainings at the Aga Khan University Graduate School of Media and Communications, honing skills in storytelling, data journalism, and mobile storytelling. In just the past four years, Muzaki has also sought training in agroecology, environmental coverage, climate journalism and multimedia journalism.

Through the KSJ fellowship, Muzaki will join KSJ in Cambridge in August for this fall semester at MIT. She will join other KSJ fellows in a program of study at MIT and other Cambridge/Boston area universities and in the program’s seminars. 

 “Congratulations to the winner,” Hamed said. “And to everyone who applied, I encourage you to keep honing your skills and seize future opportunities like this one.” 

Added Blum, “It’s a pleasure to honor the journalism of the region and the work of Mohammed Yahia in this pioneering way. “ Mohammed Yahia, who died last year at the age of 41, was a long time editor and executive for Springer Nature In Africa and the Middle East, and one of the leading voices for science journalism in the global South.

About the Judges

Diran Onifade is Editor-in-Chief of AfricaSTI. He is a 2002 KSJ fellow, former board member of the World Federation of Science Journalists and former President of African Federation of Science Journalists.

Aliaa Hamed is Executive Editor for Nature Research in MENA. She is former Executive Editor of Nature Arabic Edition. She has over 15 years of experience in journalism and translation. 

Pallab Ghosh is a Science Correspondent for BBC News and has been with the outlet for the past 27 years. He is an honorary president of the Association of British Science Writers and former president of the World Federation of Science Journalists. 

Deborah Blum, a former board member of the World Federation of Science Journalists, has been director of the Knight Science Journalism Program since 2015.

About Springer Nature

Springer Nature is the founding sponsor of the Fellowship. As a global publisher of trusted research, including Nature Africa and Nature Middle East and the rest of the Nature Portfolio, they support essential and accurate science communication around the world. Yahia worked for Springer Nature for 14 years, where he built an award-winning editorial team.

About the Knight Science Journalism Program

The Knight Science Journalism Program, established at MIT in 1983, is the world’s leading science journalism fellowship program. More than 400 leading science journalists from six continents have graduated from the program, which offers a course of study at MIT, Harvard University and other leading institutions in the Boston area, as well as specialized training workshops, seminars, and science-focused field trips for all attendees. KSJ also publishes an award-winning science magazine, Undark, and offers programming to journalists on topics ranging from science editing to fact-checking.