The University released the roster of this year’s 16 World Fellows roster on Tuesday. The incoming class of fellows marks the 12th year of the program, which brings international mid-career professionals to campus for four months of scholarship and leadership training.

“We are excited to have the 2013 Yale World Fellows on campus this fall,” President-elect Peter Salovey said in a University press release. “Yale students, faculty and staff will benefit greatly from engagement with the World Fellows, who, in turn, will be stimulated, provoked, and enriched by the vast intellectual resources they will discover on campus.”

The new World Fellows will arrive on campus in August and stay until December, during which time they will participate in seminars amongst themselves, have the option to audit any University courses and deliver talks, among other activities. Over 2,500 candidates applied for the 16 positions this year.

School of Medicine Professor Michael Cappello, who directs the program, added in the press release that this year’s World Fellows are “each poised to become even more effective change-makers in their societies and around the world.”

Read the short bios of the new group from the World Fellows website below:

Enrique Betancourt: Betancourt is co-founder and Executive Director of MESH, an organization that develops tools for bridging the gap between policy design and successful implementation. He is an expert on urban policy and crime and violence prevention and recently served as Executive Director of the National Center for Crime Prevention and Citizen Participation in Mexico. Previously he was Deputy General Director of Social Policy for the Presidency of the Republic of Mexico.

Prodyut Bora: Bora is an Indian politician currently serving as the State General Secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Assam. Prior to this, Bora served as the National Convener of BJP’s Information Technology Cell and as a Member of BJP’s National Media Cell. He directed a private software company for six years before entering politics full-time.

Janet Dalziell: Dalziell is the Director of Global Development for Greenpeace International and a member of its Senior Management Team based in the Netherlands. Originally from New Zealand, she is a key architect of a majorre-design of Greenpeace’s global operating model, aimed at making Greenpeace more effective in achieving just and sustainable global change to protect the environment.

Mohamed Elfayoumy: Elfayoumy is an Egyptian diplomat serving as his government’s representative to the Syrian Opposition. He previously served in the Egyptian Embassy in Syria and was instrumental in evacuating thousands of Egyptian nationals from Syria during the conflict in 2011-12. He is also active in a number of civil society organizations working toward the political development of Egypt.

Tokunboh Ishmael: Ishmael is co-founder and Managing Director of Alitheia Capital, a fund management and investment firm based in Nigeria. A pioneer of impact investing, she works to channel investments that enhance access to finance, energy and housing for small businesses and low-income households. She is passionate about transforming lives through meaningful investments.

Diala Khamra: Khamra is founder of the Justice Center for Legal Aid, based in Amman, Jordan. She is also a private consultant focusing on broad issues related to rule of law and governance, and has worked with USAID, the World Bank, and the Basel Institute on Governance in Switzerland.

Raheela Khan: Khan is Assistant Manager of Treasury and Investments for Doha Bank, one of Qatar’s largest banks. A Pakistani citizen based in Dubai, she manages a portfolio in excess of US $600 million. Previously, Khan was instrumental in transforming the investment culture in Pakistan through senior roles at institutions such as the Pakistan Mercantile Exchange. She is passionate about social welfare and has launched a number of charitable programs in Pakistan.

Lidia Kołucka-Żuk: Kołucka-Żuk is the Executive Director for the Warsaw-based Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe. She is a lawyer by training and has worked as a strategic advisor to the Polish Prime Minister on the issues of state efficiency and reforms in the judicial and legal sectors.

Saul Kornik: Kornik is CEO and co-founder of Africa Health Placements, a company focused on delivering healthcare to disenfranchised communities in South Africa and the region. His company has placed more than 2500 health workers, mostly in rural areas, and provides technical HR support to the South African government and healthcare sector, reaching over 10 million people per year.

Renzo Martens: Martens is Creative Director of the Institute for Human Activities, which is launching its Gentrification Program, an arts-based local development initiative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A Dutch artist and documentary filmmaker, his critically acclaimed film, Episode III: Enjoy Poverty, asks viewers to reflect on art’s complicity with the very practices it critiques.

Abhik Sen: Sen is a managing editor at The Economist Group in London, where he leads research and analysis on a range of issues influencing public policy, economic development and business across the world. Previously, he was an editor at Bloomberg. Sen has also worked as a journalist in Asia and headed the international operations of one of India’s leading media organizations. He is a trustee on the boards of two British charities active in the education and arts sectors.

Daniel Shin: Shin oversees global venture capital and a private equity investment program on behalf of Korea Telecom. In addition, he is a founding member and managing director of Kings Bay Capital, a Korea-U.S. cross-border venture capital firm with offices in Seoul and San Francisco. He has published several books and is a frequent speaker on subjects related to innovation and tech entrepreneurship.

Carlos Vecchio: Vecchio is co-founder of “Voluntad Popular,” a Venezuelan social and political movement working to eliminate poverty peacefully and within democracy. He ran campaigns for Venezuelan opposition presidential candidates in 2012.

Wang Xingzui: Wang is Vice President of the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, one of the oldest and largest NGOs in China, and one of the few working outside the country. He oversees expansion of the Foundation’s international impact. Wang also sits on the board of the China Foundation Center, an organization promoting unity and partnerships among Chinese NGOs.

Yakubu Lai Yahaya: A policy entrepreneur, Yahaya is currently Team Leader of the Facility for Oil Sector Transparency and Reform, an organization that advises the Nigerian government and NGOs involved in the energy sector. Previously he was a technical advisor on the Nigerian Presidential Taskforce on Power. He is an ardent activist for probity and accountability in government and big business.

Sawsan Zaher: Zaher is the Director of the Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights Unit of Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, and a leading voice for the rights of Palestinian citizens of Israel. As a human rights lawyer, she has litigated precedent-setting constitutional law cases before the Israeli Supreme Court, fighting for justice and equality for men and women.