RFPs: Information Controls Fellowship Program

Deadline Date: February 28, 2025

 Donor Name: Open Technology Fund

 Grant Size: $1000 to $10,000

https://www.opentech.fund/fellowships/icfp

The Open Technology Fund is requesting applications for the Information Controls Fellowship Program to cultivate research, outputs, and creative collaboration on topics related to repressive internet censorship and surveillance.

The ICFP supports researchers examining how governments in countries, regions, or areas of OTF’s core focus are restricting the free flow of information, cutting access to the open internet, and implementing censorship mechanisms, thereby threatening the ability of global citizens to exercise basic human rights and democracy; work focused on mitigation of such threats is also supported.

Focus Areas

• Development and refinement of tools and techniques to continuously monitor internet interference on a global scale
• Investigation of information controls, security, and privacy in popular applications such as search engines, social media platforms, and instant messaging applications
• Leveraging open data to analyze the types of information controls being carried out and what they are targeting
• Testing creative methods and new protocols for censorship circumvention and analyzing network interference measures, including all forms of internet filtering
• Examination of the impact of internet censorship and use of circumvention tools
• Experimental techniques to limit pro-government manipulation of online discussions
• Researching emerging, state-sponsored surveillance patterns and analysis of targeted digital threats against civil society organizations and/or human rights defenders, such as denial of service attacks, social engineering, and phishing attacks such as malware
• Studying the roles of machine learning and artificial intelligence in digital surveillance practices in repressive environments
• Investigating how the traits of quantum computing implicate the realm of Internet freedom and exploring opportunities to employ this leap in computing power to evade censorship
• Other novel ideas and approaches relating to the study of global and regional information controls

Funding Information

• Monthly stipend of $7,000 USD
• Travel stipend of $1,250 to $5,000 USD, depending on the fellowship length
• Equipment stipend of $1,250 to $5,000 USD, depending on the fellowship length
• Fellowship contracts are 3, 6, 9 or 12 months in duration.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applications are open to experienced researchers from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines and can include students and junior to mid-career practitioners with demonstrated ability and expertise. Typically, ICFP fellows have experience in fields such as computer science, engineering, information security research, software development, social sciences, law, and data visualization, among others.
• Criteria:
  • Individuals
  • Of all ages irrespective of nationality, residency, creed, gender, or other factors, with the exception that OTF is not able to support applicants within countries that the United States has trade restrictions or export sanctions as determined by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control;
  • Who demonstrate skill and ability to assist in efforts to overcome information controls; 
  • Who demonstrate a desire to grow their knowledge and skills through a collaborative, cross-discipline approach; 
  • Who demonstrate a commitment to reach audiences outside of the research community.

For more information, visit Open Technology Fund.