TED Fellows Impact

Hundreds of Fellows. Millions of lives changed.

A revolutionary approach to vaccine delivery in rural Africa. Legal challenges to abuses in state-sponsored surveillance. Prosthetics that help amputees “feel” their new limb. Through these and hundreds more innovative projects, TED Fellows are improving lives around the world.

86% of Fellows say the program helped them achieve impact
83% of Fellows say the program helped them reach new audiences
85% of Fellows participate beyond the first year of their fellowship
Future Shaping

Honored, published, funded—and just getting started.

They are inventors and educators, activists and artists, science geeks and policy wonks. Even so, all new TED Fellows have two things in common: They are still early in their careers—and they are approaching a problem in a new way -- whether that's curing disease, fighting climate change, or combating inequality.

Across six continents, TED Fellows have been recognized with prestigious awards and millions of dollars in funding. They’ve been published in books, science periodicals, and professional journals. They’ve spoken at trade conferences, business roundtables, and government hearings. Their art has sparked global movements.

The TED Fellows program seeks to help amplify both their recognition, and the impact of their ideas.

Read about Fellows impact

"The TED Fellows have given me hope for a shared, global future."

Nassim Assefi

Global Women’s Health Specialist

“The TED Fellowship is magical pixie dust / rocket fuel. A really powerful catalyst.”

Nina Tandon

Biomedical Engineer

“It was monumental. The Fellows team and TED community gave me incredible personal support and friendship and have accelerated the impact my team and I are making by several years, which equates to hundreds of thousands more people seeing who otherwise wouldn't. It has been nothing short of amazing.”

Andrew Bastawrous

Social Entrepreneur + Eye Surgeon

“The TED Fellows program changed my life – I would not have been able to build my own path through academia and through the pandemic years without the strength, inspiration and friendship of this community.”

Shohini Ghose

Quantum Physicist

Watch their TED Talks

Browse more Fellows Talks

Could we treat spinal cord injuries with asparagus?

Take a mind-blowing trip to the lab as TED Senior Fellow Andrew Pelling shares his research on how we could use fruits, vegetables and plants to regenerate damaged human tissues -- and develop a potentially groundbreaking way to repair complex spinal cord injuries with asparagus.

Watch video

The multibillion-dollar US prison industry -- and how to dismantle it

A phone call to a US prison or jail can cost up to a dollar per minute -- a rate that forces one in three families with incarcerated loved ones into debt. In this searing talk about mass incarceration, criminal justice advocate and TED Fellow Bianca Tylek exposes the predatory nature of the billion-dollar prison telecom industry and presents straightforward strategies to dismantle the network of corporations that has a financial interest in seeing more people behind bars for longer periods of time.

Watch video

Escaping the Khmer Rouge

TED Fellow Sophal Ear shares the compelling story of his family's escape from Cambodia under the rule of the Khmer Rouge. He recounts his mother's cunning and determination to save her children.

Watch video

“The TED Fellows program has both consciously and subconsciously given me the confidence (and playbook) to build multiple institutions, startups, and communities of my own.”

Keolu Fox

Genome Scientist + Indigenous Futurist

“My TED training was instrumental in communicating complex scientific concepts to the general public and in persuading politicians to adopt scientifically sound approaches especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Edsel Salvaña

Molecular Epidemiologist + Public Health Strategist

TED Fellows impact at a glance

Change that gets noticed

200M

200M people impacted by Fellows work annually

451M

451M TED Talk views

2,234

2,234 articles published by/about Fellows per year

1,303

1,303 speaking engagements each year

234

234 businesses launched

The groundbreaking work of a TED Fellow does not stay in the shadows. Each year we study the impact Fellows have on their respective fields, as measured by tangible forms of recognition. Here are some highlights from the past few years.

To read our full 2025 Impact Report, click here!

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partners & individuals

We are deeply grateful to our partners and supporters for their generosity. We invite you to join them in championing social innovators.

  • Bezos Family Foundation
  • Ballmer Group
  • Anonymous
  • Bradley Tusk
  • Kathleen Donohue & David Sze
  • Gerry Ohrstrom
  • Mark Dwight, Rickshaw Bagworks

The Fellows program would like to especially thank the professional coaches who date their time to working with TED Fellows: Danielle Adams, Emily Aiken, Nadia Allaudin, June Archer, Claudia Aronowitz, Peter Bailey, John Bates, Amir Bonefetami, Vikki Brock, Catherine Carr, Margaret Cary, Michael Cauley, Laura Colcord, Marcia Conner, Marianne Craig, Toni Crow, Karen Curnow, Drew Curtis, Tonya Echols, Dan Feldstein, Charles Feltman, Ben Gallagher, Dian Ginsberg, Soulaima Gourami, Alan Graham, Danielle Gustafson, Christy Haynes, Steve Heller, Geert Hofman, Colleen Jack, Nick Jekogian, Donna Karlin, Heather Kaye, Leda Kerabela, Ken Kesslin, Paul Klein, Moty Koppes, Kate Lye, Craig Miller, Gregoery Miller, Sukh Mishra, DJ Mitsch, Linda Morris, Cynder Niemela, Petra Platzer, Jess Ponce, Libby Robinson, Stephanie Rosol, Alexandra Ross, Steve Salee, Mark Setch, Julie Sgarzi, Matthew Shelley, Laura Sicola, Nancy Smyth, Marianne Vermeer, Amy Waterman and Karen Wright.