The Fung Fellowship is a unique program at UC Berkeley that brings together undergraduates from across campus to address public health and sustainability challenges through innovative technology solutions.
Partnerships with professionals, community members, and organizations are the cornerstone of our program and critical for both student learning and impact.
The program hosts two courses each semester. During each course our students work in teams on real-world projects sourced from industry and community organizations. This is a great opportunity for organizations to gain fresh customer, design, and product insights as a fellowship team works on a topic of interest to your organization. Upon completion student teams will deliver a final report and presentation.
Type of Projects
Semester-long Projects
Offered in both Fall and Spring, Fung Fellowship projects span ~12 weeks and center on close collaboration between partners and student teams to explore meaningful, impact-driven solutions.
Each project should be framed as an open-ended design challenge that aligns with one of the two Fung Fellowship tracks:
Health + Innovation Track: The subject matter should be relevant to public health and address challenges that deal with human/community health and/or well-being topics.
Sustainability + Innovation: The subject matter should be relevant to and address challenges related to biodiversity conservation and/or environmental sustainability.
Project Criteria
The project criteria listed below are in place to ensure that the learning and outcomes from the project are beneficial to both the partner organization and to the Fung Fellows.
Innovation: The project must be positioned as an innovation project – seeking a novel solution to a problem, with the goal of being more effective than current approaches.
Framing: Ideal projects are strategic in nature, open-ended, and allow our students to apply knowledge they are gaining in the classroom, including: digital innovation, equity, and human-centered design.
Technology: Our students are expected to meaningfully ideate and incorporate technology into their solutions. Successful projects focus on concept and prototype development and testing rather than solving or troubleshooting technical issues of an already existing technology solution.
Customer Engagement: A successful project should include meaningful customer engagement (e.g., need finding, customer feedback, prototype development and testing).
Feasibility: The Fellowship works with partners to ensure projects are feasible for student teams. Solutions should be designed with a reasonable path to implementation, though full implementation is not required during the semester.
Project Scope: Fellows balance this work with academics and partners should expect each team to contribute 8 hours / week at most (per team).
To submit a project proposal please fill out this form. If you have questions about the process or want to support framing a project to align it with the required criteria and guidelines, please email our team at fungfellowship@berkeley.edu.
Our fellows select projects they would like to work on so we cannot guarantee that your project will be matched to a student team. However, we are happy to help you craft and deliver a strong and engaging proposal and presentation.
Meet and form relationships with UC Berkeley’s top undergraduates trained in design innovations, health, conservation, and technology representing diversity of knowledge, experience, and disciplines.
Receive widespread brand recognition on the UC Berkeley campus as well as throughout the community, through event marketing materials, fellowship pitch events, and fellowship website. Participate in events showcasing your engagement with the Fellowship program.
Connect with fellowship faculty and staff on topics of interest to your organization and leverage their expertise and experience in this field.
Join a campus-based ecosystem committed to solving today’s most pressing issues in health, environmental, and sustainability spaces.
The Fung Fellowship provides multiple layers of support to ensure student teams and project partners can succeed together. Each team has access to program staff, teaching faculty, and additional guidance from campus experts as needed. Fellows work in small, interdisciplinary teams (3–5 students) and participate in feedback evaluations to strengthen communication, leadership, and collaboration skills.
To help teams bring their ideas to life, project funds are available for prototyping materials and other necessary expenses. In addition, all teams share their progress through a mid-point presentation and a final showcase, creating opportunities for feedback from peers, mentors, industry partners, and program staff.
Project partners play an important role in helping Fellow teams succeed. Each project has a designated advisor or liaison who meets with the team regularly, usually through bi-weekly check-ins to share updates, offer guidance, and answer questions. As teams may also reach out in between meetings, having a dedicated advisor/point of contact makes collaboration and communication easier and more effective.
Partners are also asked to provide any key resources (like software or data access) that the team may need, with all specific commitments discussed together at the start of the project.
“I was impressed with the multidisciplinary approach the fellows bring to key issues impacting health and their willingness to bring their diversity and creativity to solve challenging programs in healthcare delivery facing at risk populations such as seniors, children with chronic disease, and veterans.”
Richard RothChief Strategic Innovation Officer, Dignity Health
“The Fung Fellowship isn’t just about ticking a box or “giving back” to the next generation. It’s an incredible opportunity to leverage a cross-discipline team of young, tech savvy and ambitious students looking to make a difference. The ideas and feedback they give are invaluable.”
CascadAIProject Partner
“It’s like getting a second brain. The Fellows have a totally different set of perspectives and skills from us.”
BitmarkProject Partner
Other Ways to Get Involved:
Pitch an idea for our design challenges where students tackle current, real-world public health or conservation issues.
Be a customer connector and link student teams with customer groups.
Mentor a student team and provide your expertise and guidance.
Be a guest speaker in the classroom either in-person or virtually to share your expertise.
Provide an internship opportunity for one or more of our fellows.
