Population Health

January 28, 2026

Summer 2026 Social Entrepreneurship Fellowship applications due April 3

Image of student engaged with a virtual reality headsetThe University of Washington Population Health Initiative is again partnering with the Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship and CoMotion in summer 2026 for the Social Entrepreneurship Fellows Program. Applications are due at 12 p.m. (Pacific) on Friday, April 3, 2026.

The program offers each graduate or professional student $10,000 over the course of 10 weeks to explore social enterprise models with the potential to support innovations developed by UW researchers. The four fellows will be selected from across a variety of disciplines and investigate a range of projects. The projects are focused on finding innovative ways to maintain the balance between financial sustainability and social impact in addition to generating revenue.

The four projects for summer 2026 are:

  • Nuestro Valor, evidence-based, culturally grounded interventions to promote consumption of fruits and vegetables among Latino shoppers.
  • aFloats (Acoustic Micro-float), which integrates hydrophones with profiling floats for cost-effective, volumetric acoustic measurements of underwater sounds that affect the life cycles of marine animals.
  • SMART-Wrap (Short Message Assisted Responsive Treatment for Wraparound), a text-based communication tool intended to coordinate care in real time for youth with complex needs to ensure optimal care.
  • TUNE: Hearing screening tool, a low-cost smartphone-based hearing screening device that can be used for early detection of hearing loss, specifically for those in low resource settings.

While each fellow has a primary responsibility for one project, the cohort will work together and contribute their disciplinary expertise to all projects. Fellows will be guided through a structured workplan by program faculty and staff, and will also have access to mentors and subject matter experts to enhance their expertise and contributions to their projects.

Eligible graduate and professional students from all UW schools or colleges are encouraged to apply by 12 p.m. on April 3rd. Please visit the program webpage for more information.