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In the spring of 2021, MIT Technology Review announced a fellowship focused on exploring the different ways technology and data are used to address issues of inequality during the pandemic.

With the help of the Heising-Simons Foundation, a family foundation based in Los Altos and San Francisco, California, which supports projects focused on climate and clean energy, society and opportunities, education, human rights, and science, our call aimed to find journalists. who can report thoughtfully and insightfully on the systematic, technological and challenges covid poses to secret societies. Members each receive at least $7,500 to run their work and the chance to publish it in the world’s oldest tech publication.

We are proud to announce the recipients of the scholarship:

LaVonne RobertsAn independent journalist covering science, health and technology news from New York City, he will write about the rollout of immersive, high-tech charging rooms for healthcare professionals as a pilot that expands from doctors to other hospital workers. The judges said his work stood out from the crowd and was a clear impact and compelling summary.

Elaine ShellyGeorgia-based freelance writer and documentary filmmaker examines the impact of long-lasting covid on Black Americans and explores how we can better understand the disease and its cultural impacts. The judges hoped their work could fill in a missing element of the current pandemic coverage. “Focusing on black women’s lives and her own experience with long-term covid-19 symptoms, Elaine Shelly’s reports will dive into the overlapping burdens of chronic illness, medical racism and misogyny,” they said.

Chandra Whitfield, An author and multimedia journalist from Colorado will examine how Black women have been particularly affected by the intersection of the pandemic and domestic abuse and how to gather relevant data. The judges said they had “identified an important public policy issue” and drafted a proposal “with a sense of purpose and urgency”.

And our newsroom scholarship Rob Chaney, covering environment and science in Montana Missoulian. Rob and colleagues are investigating the consequences of the covid response and an increase in federal financial support in Montana’s indigenous communities, particularly the Blackfeet Reservation. The judges agreed that his proposal was a “clear winner” in its category.

Judging the entries was a panel of experienced journalists and researchers who were intimately familiar with the issues at stake: Alexis Madrigal, co-host of KQED public radio Forum; Krystal Tsotsie, a geneticist at Vanderbilt University and a board member of the Native BioData Consortium; Mark Rochester, a veteran investigative journalist and executive editor of the nonprofit newsroom Inewsource in San Diego; and Sema Jasmine, a journalist, medical doctor, and director of the Stanford Health Communication Initiative.