Program Overview

Overview of the Dalai Lama Fellows Program

The Dalai Lama Fellows (DLF) program is a unique one-year leadership initiative designed for emerging social change makers. The program aims to help participants cultivate self-awareness, resilience, and compassion, while broadening their cultural perspectives and learning how to engage effectively with complex systems. The ultimate goal of DLF is to assist change makers in integrating contemplative work and intentional personal transformation with their efforts to bring about positive change in their communities and the world at large.

Program Components

The primary components of the yearlong fellowship include:

• The Head, Heart, and Hands Curriculum: a 12-module semi-synchronous curriculum providing concepts, practices, and applied reflective exercises for contemplative leadership development
• 1-on-1 Contemplative Coaching: monthly support for Fellows’ contemplative and holistic development
• 1-on-1 Social Innovation Coaching: monthly support for Fellows’ social innovation projects
• Cohort Calls: monthly full-group learning experiences integrating lessons learned from each curriculum module
• Learning Pods: regional learning communities facilitated by program alumni
• Contemplative Leadership Assembly: an in-person immersive learning experience delivered at the beginning and end of the fellowship year

Global Representation and Program History

To date, the program has awarded 247 fellowships to change makers from 56 different countries, with the majority of Fellows representing the Global South. The Dalai Lama Fellows program was founded in 2010, with the support of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, as an independent, non-sectarian, and inclusive organization. The program has become a pioneer in integrating contemplative practices and personal flourishing with social innovation, assembling an active global leadership network that serves as a resource for human flourishing for next-generation change makers.

Partnership and Operation

The Dalai Lama Fellows program is stewarded through a partnership between the University of Virginia’s Contemplative Sciences Center, the University of Colorado Boulder’s Renée Crown Wellness Institute, Stanford University’s Office of Religious and Spiritual Life, and the Stanford Storytelling Project. Each university contributes resources to the global fellowship program while also operating interwoven local academic programs for students on each university’s campus.