I’m very happy to point you toward the new group of Visiting Fellows here at the Nieman Foundation, of which Nieman Lab is a part. Regular Lab readers will spot several people who’ve appeared in (or written) stories here in the past. Go here for the full press release; the winners are listed below.

A reminder: The Visiting Fellowship program exists “to invite individuals with promising research proposals to advance journalism to take advantage of the many resources at Harvard and the Nieman Foundation.” And it’s not just limited to journalists: “Those who are welcome to apply include publishers, programmers, designers, media analysts, academics, journalists and others interested in enhancing quality, building new business models or designing programs to improve journalism.”

We’ll open applications for the Visiting Fellowships again next year — watch this space. And if you are a working journalist interested in our year-long fellowships, which are amazing, it’s time to start thinking about applying. The deadline for non-U.S. citizens is December 1; for Americans, the deadline is January 31.

Dean Haddock, director of web and information technology for StoryCorps, will design a system for recording, editing and accessing user-generated interviews online that will extend StoryCorps’ proven interview methodology to the Internet and mobile devices. The project will offer new ways to produce high-quality, well-organized audio content that journalists, communities, families and the public at large can freely use and share.

Melody Joy Kramer, an editor and digital strategist at NPR, will develop a new model for public media membership to include non-financial forms of contributions and use of local stations’ physical space for community building. The goal of the project is to instill a sense of ownership and identity among listeners, allowing them to feel more connected to and invested in public media’s content, work and mission. She will also be working with MIT Media Lab graduate students to investigate new ways for audiences to tag audio.

Donna Pierce, a contributing editor at Upscale Magazine who writes about food in a syndicated column for the Chicago Defender, will research papers at the Harvard University Archives and elsewhere for a publishing project on the migration of African-American cooks and recipes from the South to the Midwest, West and Northeast. She also will work on a companion project to teach journalistic skills to young people through interviews with senior citizens about their food traditions.

Jack Riley, the London-based head of audience development for The Huffington Post UK, will research the future impact of smartwatches and wearable devices on journalism and content. His work at Harvard will include research, interviews, case studies and surveys about product potential and likely adoption, as well as monetization. Riley also will work on a prototype of a smartwatch publishing app.

Freek Staps, the head of the business news start-up NRC Q in the Netherlands, will research a set of issues related to journalism’s digital transformation, including leadership skills, newsroom buy-in and how content producers can work hand-in-hand with reader-oriented departments on the business side of media companies. His goal is to identify best practices in the United States order to introduce them to European markets.

Amy Webb, founder and CEO of Webbmedia Group and co-founder of Spark Camp, will develop a program to reform journalism education by researching and publishing a blueprint that can be adapted within universities. Webb has developed seven key areas for change, as well as new metrics and key performance indicators to measure outcomes, and will spend her time in Cambridge advancing her research.