Global mental health is an increasingly important field, particularly as millions of people worldwide continue to experience mental health conditions while access to appropriate and affordable care remains limited. For individuals interested in contributing to solutions in this area, the Effective Mental Health (EMH) Global Mental Health Fellowship offers an opportunity to explore evidence-informed approaches, emerging interventions, measurement methods, and career pathways.
The fellowship is designed as a discussion-based online learning programme for people who want to understand how effective interventions can be developed, evaluated, scaled, and integrated into broader global mental health efforts.
About the Effective Mental Health Global Mental Health Fellowship
The Effective Mental Health Global Mental Health Fellowship is an online educational programme developed by Effective Mental Health (EMH).
The programme focuses on helping participants understand approaches to improving mental health outcomes at both individual and population levels. Rather than concentrating exclusively on conventional mental health treatment, the fellowship examines a broader range of interventions and methodologies, including interpersonal interventions, digital tools, measurement of wellbeing, and macro-level approaches.
According to EMH, the fellowship is built from previous successful fellowship programmes, with the organisers continuing to refine the content and ultimately intending to make the materials available as an open resource that other groups can use to run similar programmes.
What Will Participants Learn?
The fellowship covers several major areas of global mental health. Each week combines an introduction to the topic, icebreakers, discussion of key questions and resources, activities, and reflections.
The syllabus is structured around six core themes.
Week 1: What Is Effective Global Mental Health and Why Should We Care?
The programme begins by introducing the concept of effective global mental health.
Participants will explore what global mental health means, why mental health interventions matter, and how individuals can think about opportunities to contribute to the field.
This introductory week provides the foundation for subsequent discussions about measurement, interventions, technology, policy, and careers.
Week 2: The Measurement of Wellbeing
The second week focuses on how wellbeing can be measured and quantified.
Topics include:
- Quantification methods
- Pair-and-teach activities
- WELLBYs and cost-effectiveness
- Problems and limitations in psychology research
- The replication crisis
Participants can therefore examine not only how wellbeing is measured but also some of the methodological questions surrounding psychological research and evidence.
Week 3: Interpersonal Micro Interventions
The third week turns toward interventions that operate at the interpersonal level.
Key topics include:
- Theories of change
- Scaling lay therapy
- Other types of mental health interventions
The discussion provides an opportunity to consider how interventions involving interpersonal support can potentially be developed and expanded.
Week 4: Digital Interventions
Technology is increasingly relevant to the delivery of mental health support, and the fourth week examines digital interventions.
Participants will explore:
- Digital mental health tools
- Tools that have been used by the organisers
- Potential advantages of digital interventions
- Potential disadvantages and limitations of digital interventions
This part of the programme allows participants to consider both the opportunities and challenges associated with technology-based approaches to mental health.
Week 5: Macro Interventions
The fifth week moves beyond individual interventions to examine broader social and policy-level approaches.
Topics include:
- The mental health landscape in participants’ home countries
- GDP compared with alternative measures of national wellbeing
- The idea of a broader paradigm shift
This component encourages participants to think about mental health in relation to national wellbeing, development, policy, and wider social systems.
Week 6: Your Career and How to Have Impact for Global Mental Health
The final week connects the fellowship’s learning to participants’ professional development.
Participants will consider:
- Knowledge and skills they would like to continue developing
- Career planning
- Ways of contributing to global mental health through their careers
This makes the programme particularly relevant for people who are still exploring how their professional background could connect with global mental health.
Fellowship Format and Meetings
The programme is conducted online, making it accessible to participants from different geographical locations.
The programme information describes it as a discussion-based fellowship, with each week incorporating multiple forms of participation rather than simply providing passive lectures.
The weekly structure includes:
- An introduction to the week’s topic
- Icebreakers
- Key thoughts and questions arising from resources
- Activities
- Group discussion
- Final reflections and takeaways
The listed meeting time is:
Every Monday at 2:00 PM UTC
Participants should convert this time to their own local time zone before participating.
Who Can Participate?
The fellowship information specifically states that the organisers welcome a broad range of participants interested in global mental health.
The intended audience includes:
- Effective altruism (EA) community members
- Mental health professionals
- Policymakers
- International applicants
- People who are curious about making an informed impact in global mental health
- Individuals interested in developing their understanding of global mental health interventions and methodologies
The programme therefore does not appear to be restricted to people from one particular academic discipline or country.
Its international orientation makes it potentially relevant to applicants from different parts of the world who want to learn about global mental health and explore ways of contributing to the field.
An Opportunity to Build Knowledge Across Disciplines
One notable feature of the fellowship is its multidisciplinary approach.
The programme brings together questions concerning:
- Mental health
- Psychology
- Research methodology
- Wellbeing measurement
- Cost-effectiveness
- Digital technology
- Public policy
- National development
- Career planning
This broad approach can help participants understand that global mental health is not limited to clinical treatment. Questions about measurement, policy, technology, economics, research quality, and systems-level change can also influence how mental health interventions are designed and implemented.
Open-Source Approach
Effective Mental Health says that the fellowship is being developed from previous successful fellowships and that the organisers are continuing to improve and refine its content.
The longer-term aim is to share the fellowship materials as a resource so that other organisations and groups can potentially lead similar fellowships.
This open-source approach could help extend access to global mental health educational materials beyond the participants in the immediate programme.
Course Organisers
The fellowship is organised by:
- Damin Curtis
- Mark Rootenberg
- Gina Hafez
- Emily Budd
The organisers bring the fellowship together around discussions of effective approaches to global mental health and professional pathways for contributing to the field.
Why Consider the Global Mental Health Fellowship?
The fellowship may be particularly useful for people who want to develop a broader understanding of global mental health before deciding how they would like to contribute professionally.
Potential areas of value include:
- Learning about different approaches to global mental health interventions
- Exploring how wellbeing can be measured
- Understanding discussions around cost-effectiveness
- Examining interpersonal and digital interventions
- Considering mental health from a macro and policy perspective
- Connecting with other people interested in global mental health
- Identifying knowledge and skills for further development
- Thinking more systematically about career options in the field
- Participating in an international, discussion-oriented learning environment
Fellowship Schedule
According to the provided programme information, the course is scheduled to begin in late March 2026, with weekly Monday meetings at 2:00 PM UTC.
The programme description refers to the fellowship as an 8-week online course in its heading, while the detailed syllabus provided on the page contains six thematic weeks. Prospective applicants should therefore check the organiser’s current application information for the precise programme duration and schedule.
Application Deadline
The stated application deadline is:
March 22, 2026
Because this deadline has already passed as of September 2026, prospective participants should verify with Effective Mental Health whether a later cohort, extension, or future fellowship is available before attempting to apply.
How to Apply
Applications are submitted through the application page provided by Effective Mental Health.
Apply to the Global Mental Health Fellowship
For additional information or expressions of interest, the programme page lists Damin Curtis as a contact person.
About Effective Mental Health
Effective Mental Health focuses on initiatives and resources related to improving mental health through approaches intended to create meaningful impact.
The organisation’s fellowship brings together educational content, discussion, practical activities, and career exploration to help participants develop a stronger understanding of global mental health.
Conclusion
The Effective Mental Health Global Mental Health Fellowship provides a structured online learning opportunity for people interested in understanding global mental health from multiple perspectives. Its curriculum moves from foundational questions about effective global mental health to wellbeing measurement, interpersonal interventions, digital interventions, macro-level approaches, and career planning.
With participation open to mental health professionals, policymakers, international applicants, members of the EA community, and others interested in making an informed contribution, the programme takes an interdisciplinary approach to an increasingly important global issue.
The stated deadline for the 2026 cohort was March 22, 2026, so applicants discovering this opportunity after that date should check Effective Mental Health’s official website for information about future cohorts or new application periods.
