About

The Risktakers
Fellowship

To face the multiple crises of our time, more than ever we need spaces of hope and resilience. The Risktakers Fellowship aims to create one such space – a space to dream, plan and explore the possibilities and what-ifs that enable us to re-imagine the status quo through a wide range of voices and perspectives, in the digital world and beyond.

What kind of world do we want to live in? What do just, diverse and inclusive visions of the digital future look like if we dare to explore new ways of thinking? How can we stand up to the urgent matters of our time – such as the climate crisis, the rise of conservative and totalitarian politics, intersectional discrimination and violence, social inequalities, war – taking into account their complex relations and interdependencies? And what role do we want digital technologies to play in societies which centre around care, collaboration and sustainability, rather than economic growth, optimization and competition?

We, the Allianz Foundation and SUPERRR LAB, invite you to take on the challenge and shape new narratives and knowledge practices. Let’s dare to dream of equal and inclusive futures because, as Gloria Steinem said, “dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.”

“The Risktakers Fellowship – Daring to shape new digital futures” is a fellowship programme by Allianz Foundation and SUPERRR LAB.

Why the Risktakers
Fellowship?

Digital technologies are designed and used in ways that benefit certain groups while excluding or even harming others. By reflecting the lived realities of our societies (for example, the gender gap in access to resources and the under-representation of those pushed to the margins), they uphold existing systems of power and reinforce inequalities.

The Risktakers Fellowship aims to create a space to rethink dominant systems and practices by imagining alternative approaches and new possibilities for desirable digital futures. It acknowledges and supports the work of people who dare to resist common – and often comfortable – narratives by drawing attention to social and structural grievances as well as offering possible solutions and exits. The Risktakers Fellowship sees desirable futures centering around care, equity and sustainability are possible if we dare to imagine and build them together.

The Risktakers
Fellowship aims to:

  • Develop new approaches that face the crises of our present (such as the climate crisis, social and structural inequalities, discrimination, war, mass species extinction) by envisioning and enacting ideas for inclusive and just digital futures.
  • Demonstrate that desirable futures that center around care, intersectionality, equity and sustainability are possible if we dare to explore new ways of thinking.
  • Bring a multitude of perspectives and disciplines into discussions on digital policy and futures.
  • Link up and enrich discussions around diversity, inclusion, intersectionality and tech.
  • Contribute to a tech and civil society ecosystem that is anchored in values of collaboration, fairness, equality and equity.
  • Extend networks and forms of collaboration further by creating a space for exchange and mutual learning.
Read more Close

The Risktakers
Selection Committee

  • Risktakers Fellowship - abir

    Abir Ghattas

    Information Security Director,
    Human Rights Watch

    Photos: Sasha – Redyourblues
  • Risktakers Fellowship - berg-fd-1

    Diana Berg

    Leader of Platform Tu (Mariupol, Ukraine) – currently in exile

    Photos: Oleksandr Sosnovskyi
  • Risktakers Fellowship - Irini_Photo-Richard-Tymon-small-SW

    Irini Mirena Papadimitriou

    Creative Director, FutureEverything

    Photos: Richard Tymon
  • Risktakers Fellowship - Buse

    Raziye Buse Çetin

    Co-founder, Dreaming Beyond AI

    Photos: Svet Chassol 
  • Risktakers Fellowship - Soudeh

    Soudeh Rad

    Co-Founder and President of Spectrum and Co-chair of ILGA-Europe Executive Board

    Photos: Brian Finnegan, ILGA-Europe  
  • Risktakers Fellowship - Lisa_Tatu

    Tatu Hey

    Photos: Lea Schiewer
  • Risktakers Fellowship - e713e588-f0c9-4bdd-85c5-97b893947321

    Yaşar Adnan Adanalı

    Founding Director at Postane

    Photos: Onur Temel

The Risktakers
Team

  • Risktakers Fellowship - Nandita_2

    Nandita Vasanta

    Project Lead at SUPERRR LAB

    Photos: Muhammad Salah 
  • Risktakers Fellowship - Julia_2

    Julia Kloiber

    Co-Founder and Managing Director at SUPERRR LAB

    Photos: Muhammad Salah 
  • Risktakers Fellowship - Feray

    Feray Halil

    Allianz Foundation Fellows Program

    Photos: Marcel Wogram 
  • Risktakers Fellowship - Alban

    Alban Genty

    Allianz Foundation Fellows Program

    Photos: Marcel Wogram