IWMF Selects Alicia Chen as 20th Annual Elizabeth Neuffer Fellow

Taiwanese journalist will report on human rights and breaking news at leading news outlets; Kyrgyz journalist Aigerim Turgunbaeva chosen as 2025 runner-up

[July 25, 2024 – WASHINGTON, DC] – The International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) today announced Taiwanese journalist and filmmaker Alicia Chen as the organization’s 2025 Elizabeth Neuffer Fellow. Chen is the 20^th annual recipient of this hallmark fellowship and was selected from more than 110 applicants across 50 countries by this year’s committee. The fellowship, named after late Boston Globe journalist Elizabeth Neuffer, awards one journalist the opportunity to study and report on human rights and social justice, broadly defined, while working in the United States.

Early next year, Chen will begin her fellowship in Boston, Massachusetts, as a research associate with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for International Studies, as well as a role embedding with The Boston Globe. In spring 2025, she will transition to a position with The New York Times. Throughout her seven years of experience in journalism, Chen has focused on stories of forced migration, social movements, and human rights – including as a news researcher for The Washington Post’s China Bureau.

“I am so honored to be the IWMF’s 2025 Elizabeth Neuffer Fellow and have this incredible opportunity to strengthen my reporting on the complex dynamics surrounding human rights issues at home and abroad,” said Chen. “Taiwan stands as a beacon of press freedom among looming threats of authoritarianism in our region. I hope to use the skills I gain from this fellowship to explore the lives and resistance of people whose rights are violated by these regimes.”

Based in Taipei, Chen is a freelance multimedia journalist whose coverage of reproductive rights, labor violations, the COVID-19 pandemic and political repression in Taiwan and China has been featured in outlets including The Washington Post, Al Jazeera English, and The Guardian, among others. Chen has previously reported for Chinese-language media outlets including The Reporter and Initium Media, where she covered stories including psychological support for war survivors in Ukraine and Chinese immigrants crossing the Darien Gap. In 2020, she participated in a cross-border reporting project on global fishing crimes, which won two Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) awards for Environmental and Investigative Reporting, respectively.

“It’s been one of the joys of my career to work with each of our Elizabeth Neuffer fellows across the past two decades,” said IWMF executive director Elisa Lees Muñoz. “Like the 19 women before her – and Elizabeth herself – Alicia brings light to the stories of those impacted by human rights abuses. As she heads into her fellowship, we look forward to seeing her deepening coverage of today’s most critical issues.”

This year’s runner-up is Kyrgyz journalist Aigerim Turgunbaeva, a freelance journalist covering human rights, violence against women and press freedom in Central Asia. Her work frequently appears in Al Jazeera, The Guardian, Reuters, and Eurasianet, for whom she most often covers the underreported issues of femicide and domestic violence in Central Asian region. Turgunbaeva has more than 10 years of reporting and editorial experience.

This fellowship was created in 2004 in memory of Elizabeth Neuffer, a Boston Globe correspondent and an IWMF Courage in Journalism Award winner. Neuffer was killed in 2003 while reporting in Iraq; following her death, and in collaboration with her family, friends and peers, the IWMF established the fellowship to honor Neuffer’s legacy while advancing the work of women reporting within the field of human rights and social justice.

More information about the Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship and other programs can be found on the IWMF website.

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About the International Women’s Media Foundation

The IWMF is the only global organization built to serve the holistic needs of women and nonbinary journalists. We are a bold and inclusive organization that supports journalists where they are with awards, reporting opportunities, fellowships, grants, safety training and emergency aid. As one of the largest supporters of women-produced journalism, our transformative work strengthens equal opportunity and press freedom worldwide. Follow the IWMF on Twitter at @IWMF, on Facebook at @IWMFPage, on Instagram on @TheIWMF and on TikTok @theiwmf.