Up to 170 fellowships a year, split between up to 50 master's degrees and up to 120 professional development certificates, at eight Rotary peace centers. Since 2002 the programme has trained more than 1,900 fellows now working in over 140 countries.
Coverage is complete for both tracks: tuition and fees, room and board, round-trip transport, and the cost of the internship and field study.
This is not a scholarship for recent graduates, and the rule that enforces that is unusually strict. Master's candidates need at least three years of full-time relevant experience in peace or development work, and there must be a gap of at least three years between finishing their most recent degree and the intended start date. Anyone currently enrolled in a degree programme, or who will be in the coming academic year, is out.
Two further waiting periods apply. A fellow who completed the certificate programme, or who held a Global Grant Scholarship, waits three years from that programme's end before starting the master's fellowship.
The master's sits at one of five centers: Duke and UNC Chapel Hill in the United States, International Christian University in Tokyo, the University of Bradford in England, the University of Queensland in Brisbane, and Uppsala University in Sweden. Programmes run 15 to 24 months and build in a two to three month field study that the fellow designs.
One placement rule shapes where an application can go: master's fellows may not study at a peace center in their own country.
The certificate is a different proposition, a one-year blended programme aimed at working professionals who stay in post, built around field studies and a social change initiative the fellow designs and runs.
Rotary's own people are excluded. Active Rotary members and employees of a Rotary club, Rotary International or any Rotary entity cannot apply, though Rotaract members who are not also Rotary members can.
What Rotary says it selects for goes beyond the degree. Prior achievement in peacebuilding, capacity for extensive reading and research, active participation in a diverse cohort, and a willingness afterwards to share the work and stay connected with fellows in the region and with Rotary members.
The peace fellowships page was checked on 22 September 2026. The 2027-28 application had closed and Rotary said the 2028-29 application would go online in February 2027 without naming a deadline.