Supporting Fellowships for young British Muslims at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism

The Aziz Foundation has been supporting British Muslim students for many years. This involves providing funding for Masters scholarships and other educational opportunities. However, feedback from our Masters scholarship recipients (currently over 650) suggests that while postgraduate courses give people the academic knowledge and grounding to pursue careers, they are struggling to get into careers without relevant practical experience.

The internship/fellowship/apprenticeship stream was developed in response to this. The intention in offering paid internship opportunities is therefore to strengthen the pipeline from academic study into professional life for British Muslims.

This is imperative as British Muslims are more likely to be not in employment, education or training (NEET) than other communities, face discrimination in the labour market, and are less represented in senior leadership positions (sources: The Missing Muslims, Report by the Citizen’s Commission on Islam, Participation and Public Life; ONS). 

The Aziz Foundation has been running this fellowship opportunity with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism for 3 years, but is no longer fully funding the scheme. Some of the larger organisations involved in providing internships/fellowships/apprenticeships are able to provide match funding support to the individual. However, for smaller organisations and non-profits, this is not possible.

Therefore, the Aziz Foundation is seeking other funders who might be interested in match funding, or part funding, with the overall aim of getting more underrepresented voices into industries which have social/economic barriers.