CAMBRIDGE, MA—The Center for International Studies at MIT announces today that Meera Srinivasan, formerly a senior assistant editor with The Hindu, has been selected as the 2015–16 IWMF Elizabeth Neuffer Fellow. The fellowship is offered through the International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF) and is sponsored in part by CIS. The award provides a unique academic and professional opportunity for women journalists focusing on human rights and social justice reporting.

Beginning in August, Srinivasan will spend the seven-month fellowship as a research associate in residence at CIS. She will utilize the academic opportunity with MIT to pursue research and coursework on refugees and vulnerable communities. She will also complete journalism internships with The Boston Globe and The New York Times.

The fellowship was created in memory of Elizabeth Neuffer, The Boston Globe correspondent and 1998 IWMF Courage in Journalism Award winner. Neuffer died while reporting in Iraq on May 9, 2003. In collaboration with Neuffer’s family and friends, the IWMF started this program to honor her legacy while advancing her work in the fields of human rights and social justice.

“We are thrilled to welcome Meera Srinivasan to MIT as a Elizabeth Neuffer Fellow,” said Richard Samuels, director of the MIT Center for International Studies and Ford International Professor of Political Science. “Meera is a courageous journalist who, in the spirit of Elizabeth, works tirelessly to reveal social injustices that would otherwise be ignored. It is an honor to have her among us.”

Srinivasan, based in Tamil Nadu, India, covers human rights pertaining to ethnic reconciliation, religious intolerance, and refugees in both Sri Lanka and her home country of India.

From 2013-2015, Srinivasan was posted to Sri Lanka as a foreign correspondent for The Hindu covering the country’s post-war challenges. She has also reported extensively on the fisheries conflict in northern Sri Lanka.

“The fellowship is a fantastic opportunity for personal reflection on larger themes of human rights and social justice, that are critical to addressing class inequalities and discrimination reflected in vulnerable communities everywhere,” Srinivasan said.

Srinivasan is the 11th journalist to win the fellowship. Since 2004, 10 journalists representing nine countries have been awarded the fellowship. Neuffer Fellows advance their reporting expertise while exploring a wide range of issues including gender-based violence, indigenous rights and freedom of speech. For more information about the fellowship, visit www.iwmf.org/neuffer.