Co-founder and CEO of 4ocean, Alex Schulze, has articulated to us four priority areas in the movement to clean up our oceans:

1. Waste collection:

How do we get plastic out of the ocean?

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2. Innovation in recycling plastic:

What do we do with it after?

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3. Global engagement & educational outreach:

Can we create a movement that cares about this?

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4. Environmental & species impact:

How do we motivate the movement?

Position type
‍Fellowship

Cohort size
‍5 specialised fellows attached to BLUE 2025

Period
‍12 weeks

Duration
‍January 2024 - April 2025

4ocean x BLUE Resident Fellow

1. Meet all the requirements of being a BLUE Resident Fellow.

2. Receive guidance from the 4ocean team at the beginning, middle, and end stages of the project cycle.

3. Present the final iteration of the project internally at Building 21 and potentially, externally, with 4ocean.

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Function

‍Develop one’s personal, original, creative, and rigorous academic project in order to acquire the knowledge and skills to think beyond the acknowledged, the recognized, and the comfortable.

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‍Presence‍

Fellows will be required to work out of—and be physically present at—Building 21 for a minimum of 15 hours per week over the course of the Fellowship. In-person presence at B21 leads to essential interdisciplinary connections and conversations.

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Responsibility

• Develop and present your project with the community

• Participate in one Lightning session per week

• Schedule regular project check-ins (twice per month) with Anita Parmar or Ollivier Dyens

• Attend regularly scheduled talks and discussions

• Share ideas and feedback to a group of interdisciplinary scholars

• As an aspect of the fellowship, students will also be asked to help organize or host B21 events and take on some administrative tasks.

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Communication Workshop

As part of 4ocean x BLUE, fellows will be required to make availability for a 3-day intensive communication training, led by former Director of Engagement & Partnerships and Director of Media Relations at McGill, Carole Graveline. This will be held early February based on the cohort's schedule.

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Showcase‍

Fellows will be asked to present their work to the community at the end of the Fellowship in a project showcase.

Eligibility and Requirements

Community Guidelines

Applicants will be asked to ‘wow’ the selection committee in the manner they prefer. This means choosing whatever platform they feel will best highlight both their ideas and personal strengths (video, text, music, filmed performance, unusual and original research work, etc.).

The application should show the originality and boldness of the idea submitted and the technical capacity of the applicant to make progress. We are looking for students who are passionate, engaged, autonomous, and are obsessed with knowledge, learning, and discovery. Think about the question or the unknown that you are trying to get at, and articulate it in your application.

Important: articulate the unknown that you're trying to uncover as clearly as you can!

Due to the expected large volume of applications, please aim for maximum impact and clarity as opposed to detail. We strongly recommend keeping videos and similar applications to be viewed within 3-5 minutes.

If you are shortlisted, we may call you for an interview where you are expected to explain your rationale for applying, and your overall goals.

Anita Parmar
‍Co-director, Building 21

Book a meeting

Email

Ollivier Dyens
‍‍Co-director, Building 21

Email