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Applications for the 2026 Bellagio Center Residency Program are now open. The Bellagio Center supports leaders to advance novel solutions and develop partnerships that may at first seem unlikely — unlocking breakthroughs essential to humanity’s well-being.
Opportunity Details
The Rockefeller Foundation believes good ideas can come from anyone, anywhere. For more than 60 years, our Bellagio Center Residency Program has supported innovators, trailblazers, changemakers, and champions to advance specific breakthrough projects. Bellagio seeks to inspire collaboration across sectors and professions, political affiliations, and national borders. In sharing their knowledge, approaches, and perspectives, residents strengthen their work and collectively transform the issues that define our present and shape our future.
Based in Lake Como, Italy, the four-week residency offers participants the opportunity to unleash their creativity and advance groundbreaking work. Residents can take advantage of focused, uninterrupted work time in this unique environment while participating in an interdisciplinary, cross-cultural cohort. They form lasting bonds and stay connected to The Rockefeller Foundation long after their residency ends as members of the Bellagio Network.
The Bellagio Center Residency Program is for thinkers, doers, and dreamers working in any discipline or area of study. Projects can be based on any topic but must demonstrate clear social impact and charitable purpose. We look for applications that produce novel solutions and approaches, as well as new knowledge and art that inspires change.
They encourage applications that include at least one of these dimensions:
Application Themes
Food is Medicine
Access to affordable, nutritious food is crucial for good health, yet many Americans, particularly those in under-resourced communities, face barriers. Integrating nutrition into our healthcare system would enable doctors to prescribe healthy food and use food-based interventions to help prevent, manage, and treat diet-related diseases while lowering healthcare costs.
Artificial Intelligence and The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
Advances in artificial intelligence have accelerated dramatically over the past two years. There is an opportunity to deploy AI for social good to help accelerate breakthrough progress on The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
Women, Girls, and Climate
It is estimated that 158 million more women and girls, particularly in low-income and rural communities, will be pushed into extreme poverty because of climate change. At the same time, women and girls have a critical role to play in advancing solutions that make opportunity universal and sustainable. Reimagining the lives of women and girls amid climate change can unlock new opportunities to advance better social, financial, and climate outcomes for the whole of society.
Migration and Climate
An estimated 143 million individuals in the Global South — primarily Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America — are projected to be internally displaced by 2050 due to the impacts of climate change, such as rising sea levels, extreme weather, and resource scarcity. Accurate modeling and forecasting of migration dynamics can inform solutions that create economic opportunity and effective policy responses that strengthen the resilience of the displaced populations and host communities.
Water and Climate
In the face of climate change, increasing water scarcity and pollution threaten lives and livelihoods in communities across the world. As climate change exacerbates these issues, the risks to public health and sustainable food production intensify, threatening the resilience of communities and their ability to thrive. Investments in water infrastructure, governance, and conservation will help address disparities, support resilient ecosystems, and foster inclusive growth.
Energy Systems and Climate
840 million people still lack access to electricity and more than 3 billion people cannot access the Modern Energy Minimum of 1,000 kwh per year– even when the power sector is the biggest contributor of greenhouse gases. There is an opportunity to increase access to clean and renewable energy, supporting a just transition by creating new jobs, diversifying economies, and boosting revenue, with a stable and durable supply of responsibly mined minerals to power the energy transition.
Health Systems and Climate
One in four deaths today can be attributed to preventable environmental causes that are exacerbated by climate change, such as heat, air pollution, infectious and vector-borne diseases, mental health, and others. Strengthened community-level health systems can help ensure that communities are better prepared to understand, predict, and respond to the impact of climate change on health and well-being.
Food Systems and Climate
Hundreds of millions of people around the world still go to bed hungry. Sustainable and climate-friendly ways exist to produce enough nutritious food — such as expanding alternative proteins, reducing food waste, and improving agricultural practices. There is an opportunity to explore additional innovative solutions to feed the world's poor and hungry, including school children, while also enhancing the sustainability and resilience of our food system.
Climate Finance
The annual climate finance gap is projected to reach $2.7 trillion by 2050, highlighting the urgent need for new financial tools to mobilize capital at scale for the benefit of underserved groups. Traditional financing models have struggled to keep up with the speed of climate change. Innovative instruments like blended finance, green bonds, and outcome-based financing can attract investors, reduce risks, and unlock critical funding for people and planet. Developing flexible and scalable financial solutions is key to driving the investments needed for a sustainable and resilient future.
The program offers:
Who should apply?
Academics and Scholars: University- and think-tank-based academics, researchers, professors, and scientists working in any discipline. These projects frequently advance a scholarly discipline or field of study and often lead to a published book or article.
Artists and writers — including but not limited to composers, fiction and non-fiction writers, playwrights, poets, video/filmmakers, dancers, musicians, and visual artists — who share in the Foundation’s mission of promoting the well-being of humanity and produce work that inspires change and action. Art projects can be in the research, production, and/or post-production stage.
Practitioners, Senior-level policymakers, nonprofit leaders, journalists, private-sector leaders, and public advocates in a variety of fields and sectors. These projects can take many different forms, including books, articles, organizational plans, and policy briefs.
The first step in the application process is a Pre-Application Questionnaire to verify eligibility. Eligible applicants can then complete an online Expression of Interest to share more about their professional background and proposed project. The Rockefeller Foundation will invite a shortlist of candidates to submit a full application. An external review panel will inform the selection of finalists to proceed to the interview stage. Final decisions will be made by the end of December 2025.
Apply for Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Residency Program