Explore a professional direction through a substantial project—with structure, coaching and a working community around you.
It is tempting to wait until you know the right role, field or opportunity. But some career questions cannot be answered by thinking about them for another month.
The Career Fellowship gives you the space to explore one direction through real work. You will research a field, apply its methods, complete a project and reflect on what the experience shows you.
You do not need certainty to begin. The work helps create it.
You do not need a finished project or a fully formed plan before applying.
Each stage helps you understand the field, test your fit and leave with stronger professional evidence and clearer next steps.
The Fellowship develops more than a project outcome. You practise leadership through real work, then use focused 1:1 conversations to examine the decisions, behaviours and next steps that matter in your own context.
Build the habits needed to lead your own work, contribute with credibility and influence progress, whether or not you hold a formal leadership title.
Use confidential, focused conversations to think more clearly about a live goal, decision or leadership challenge. You bring the agenda; your coach helps you test assumptions and turn insight into action.
A successful Career Fellowship does not require you to change career or secure a job immediately. It means understanding your direction more clearly, having meaningful work to show and making your next professional decision with stronger evidence.
Choose a competitive Fully Funded place or reserve a paid Career place. Both include the complete Career Fellowship programme.
Best for applicants able to compete for a limited funded place. Funding only covers the cost of the fellowship.
Apply for fundingFor job seekers, career changers and returning professionals. Fee varies based on project scope and requirements.
Apply for Career FellowshipFully Funded applications are competitive and funding covers fellowship cost only. Paid Career places are confirmed subject to availability and fee varies by project scope.
The Career Fellowship is for people who want to build meaningful experience for a professional next step. You might be looking for work, changing career, returning after a break or exploring a field beyond your current role.
You do not need to arrive with a finished project. We help you define suitable work at the beginning of the Fellowship.
Your work will explore a specific professional direction through realistic practice. It may be an industry project, technical build, research study, portfolio project or practical investigation.
The goal is meaningful evidence of your capability and a clearer decision about your next professional step.
We offer a limited number of Fully Funded places through a competitive application process. Funding covers the fellowship cost only. Funded Fellows participate in the same core Fellowship and receive 2 private 1:1 executive coaching sessions.
Applicants who prefer a confirmed place can apply for the Paid Career Fellowship, which includes 4 private 1:1 executive coaching sessions. Fees vary based on project scope and requirements.
The Fellowship combines focused live sessions with approximately 20 hours of independent project work across the programme.
Live activities include route teaching, Ask Anything sessions, community discussions, project presentations and feedback. Independent time is used for research, development and your own Fellowship project.
You should attend as much of the live programme as possible because discussion, questions, presentations and feedback are important parts of the Fellowship.
Recordings will be available for appropriate sessions when you cannot attend, but the Fellowship is designed as a participatory experience rather than a collection of recorded lessons.
All Fellows receive live teaching, Ask Anything sessions, unlimited email support, community feedback and access to RIL guides, assets and library resources.
You also receive executive coaching according to your place: 2 private 1:1 sessions with a Fully Funded place or 4 with a paid Career place.
Yes. Fellows who successfully complete the programme can present their Fellowship experience on their CV, LinkedIn, portfolio and other professional platforms.
You will also receive completion certification, approved RIL Fellowship branding and a dedicated Fellow page that provides a public record of your Fellowship and project.
Your dedicated page can introduce you, your Career Fellowship project and the work you completed. It can be shared with employers, recruiters, professional collaborators or others interested in your work.
Your page forms part of the wider RIL Fellowship website rather than disappearing when your cohort finishes.
That can be a valuable Fellowship outcome. You may discover that a field is different from what you expected, that another role fits better or that you need a different kind of experience next.
The objective is not to prove that your original idea was right. It is to investigate it seriously enough to make a better decision based on evidence and experience.
Successful completion brings you into the RIL Fellowship alumni community. You can continue using your Fellowship credentials and Fellow page while staying connected with the network you have developed.
Alumni may also receive invitations to selected office hours, alumni events, community activities, future opportunities and RIL offers as the Fellowship community grows.
The project may finish, continue independently, strengthen your portfolio or develop into a professional opportunity. The important part is that you leave with meaningful work, stronger evidence and a clearer next step.
Your Career Fellowship becomes more than a private learning experience. Present it through your professional profile, a public Fellow page and formal certification that records what you completed.
Building evidence for the next professional move
Rapid Innovation Lab · Fellowship
Explored a professional direction through applied research, project development and evidence-led reflection. Presented completed work and documented the decisions behind it.
This recognition is awarded to
Your Name
For successfully completing the RIL Fellowship and presenting a substantial evidence-led project.
