The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has announced its 2024 class of MacArthur Fellows.

Twenty-two fellows working in fields ranging from poetry, filmmaking, and sociology to evolutionary biology and public policy research will each receive $800,000 over five years. Commonly referred to as the “genius grants,” the unrestricted awards come without stipulations or reporting requirements and provide fellows with maximum freedom to follow their unique creative vision.

This year’s recipients include Loka Ashwood, a sociologist shedding light on rural identity and culture and on the ecological, economic, and social challenges facing many rural communities; Ruha Benjamin, a transdisciplinary scholar and writer illuminating how technology reflects and reproduces inequality and championing the role of imagination in social transformation; Justin Vivian Bond, an artist and performer working in the cabaret tradition and weaving cultural critique and an ethic of care into performances that center queer joy; Dorothy Roberts, a legal scholar and public policy researcher exposing racial inequities embedded in social service systems and uplifting the experiences of people caught up in them; and Martha Muñoz, an evolutionary biologist investigating the motors and brakes of evolution.

“The 2024 MacArthur Fellows pursue rigorous inquiry with aspiration and purpose. They expose biases built into emerging technologies and social systems and fill critical gaps in the knowledge of cycles that sustain life on Earth,” said MacArthur Fellows director Marlies A. Carruth. “Their work highlights our shared humanity, centering the agency of disabled people, the humor and histories of Indigenous communities, the emotional lives of adolescents, and perspectives of rural Americans.”

For a complete list of fellows, visit the MacArthur Foundation website.

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Wasan Tita)