Information Controls Fellowship Program 2025 (USD 7,000 Stipend Available)

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About Information Controls Fellowship Program

The ICFP supports researchers examining how governments in countries, regions, or areas of Open Technology Fund (OTF) 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.

Fellowship Information:

• Three, six, nine or twelve month fellowships available
• Fellows work full-time with a supportive host organization of their choosing
• Usually offered to postdoctoral, doctoral students, and experienced researchers with demonstrated ability and expertise

Applications to the Fund go through a two-stage application process and are accepted once per year (the 2025 application window is January 13, 2025 –  February 28, 2025).

Funding awards are performance-based contracts signed directly with the applicant. Funding is dispersed upon completion of stated objectives, activities, and deliverables per a schedule outlined in the contract. All payments are made in U.S. dollars and will comply with local laws, regulations, and ethics rules.

Successful applicants are paired with an OTF program manager who will oversee all project monitoring and evaluation for the duration of the contract. Monitoring and evaluation assessments are based on predetermined and agreed-upon metrics, deliverables, and goals as laid out by the applicant in the project proposal.

Potential Areas of Focus

• 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

Things to Avoid

• A focus on countries with minimal information controls
• Working with a host organization you are already affiliated with
• Testing of end-user connections that violate established ethical principles
• Reverse engineering individual apps that are not directly used by state actors to carry out mass surveillance or targeted attacks

Where do fellows work?

ICFP fellows embed with a host organization for the duration of their fellowship.

When applying, applicants can specify any host organization of their choosing. Regardless of whether it is a previous or new host organization, justification needs to be provided in the application. Please note that non-academic host organizations are welcome, as are those based outside the United States. While fellows are ideally able to work locally within their host organization, applicants who wish to work remotely will also be considered with the expectation that a strategy for remote communication will be established. You can find previous host organizations listed in the fellowship descriptions.

For entities interested in serving as a host organization, please email [email protected] for more information.

• Sponsor Organisation: Open Technology Fund

Benefits of Information Controls Fellowship Program

• 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

Information Controls Fellowship Program Requirements

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.

To get a better sense of the ICFP community, you can read about fellows from round one, round two, round three,round four, round five, round six, round seven, round eight, round nine, and round ten.

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; 
• and who demonstrate a commitment to reach audiences outside of the research community.

Application Date and Process

It is a two-stage process:

Stage 1: Submit a concept note via OTF’s online application system.

Stage 2: Highly competitive concept notes will be invited to submit a full proposal together with the proposed host organization via their online application system.

All applications are reviewed by the OTF team. The independent ICFP Advisory Council, comprising experts in the internet freedom space, will conducts a final review of competitive proposals.

Please review their Applicant Guidebook for additional information, especially the Review Process section to understand how they evaluate applications.

Application Deadline

28 February, 2025

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