The Citizen Lab is excited to announce that we are a host organization in the 2016  Open Web Fellowship (a collaboration between the Ford Foundation and Mozilla). The fellowship is an international leadership initiative that brings together the best emerging technology talent and civil society organizations to protect the open Web. Fellows spend 10 months embedded at leading research and advocacy organizations to safeguard the Internet as a global public resource.

At the Citizen Lab we believe that impartial, evidence-based, peer-reviewed research on information controls will help advocacy and policy engagement on an open and secure Internet. Apply for the Open Web Fellowship and  join us on our mission!

Unique collaborative environment

We offer a unique environment that encourages and supports interdisciplinary collaboration.

The Open Web Fellow will have the opportunity to work with researchers from diverse backgrounds and participate in events and engagements with academic, government, civil society, and industry stakeholders. As a university research group we are committed to providing mentorship at all levels.

Who we are looking for

The Open Web Fellow can come from a range of backgrounds including software development, DevOps, security research, data science, and visualization. Experience and interest in networks and information security (e.g, cryptography, network measurement, penetration testing, reverse engineering, malware analysis, etc) is of particular relevance to our projects, but is not necessarily required. Individuals who don’t have direct experience in our research areas but have solid backgrounds in networking, systems, information design, or data analytics and visualization can learn more about our subject matter as they progress through the fellowship with us. Above all we seek team players who are dedicated, diligent, open minded to new perspectives, and eager and willing to learn.

Project Areas

The Open Web fellow can contribute to four broad areas. Fellows may work on a single project or multiple projects depending on their skills and interest. In all of our projects the fellow will be part of interdisciplinary teams.

Measuring Internet filtering and network interference

This area includes developing new tools and methods for network measurement, analyzing Internet filtering systems, and correlating network interference with political events (e.g., elections, protests, conflicts, etc).

Targeted malware attacks against civil society

This area focuses on investigating politically motivated targeted malware campaigns against civil society groups. Specifically, reverse engineering malware, mapping attack infrastructure, tracking malware development, and linking contextual information to technical data.

Privacy and security of apps and social media

Projects  include uncovering censorship and surveillance in popular apps and social media platforms (e.g, chat apps, microblogs, etc), and evaluating the privacy and security of popular consumer apps (e.g., browsers, fitness trackers, etc). We are particularly interested in widely used apps and platforms that are understudied by security researchers. The goal of this work is to help users make more informed decision about the technologies they use.

Corporate and public transparency

Projects in this area include developing software platforms for empowering citizens to exercise their rights to data protection and access requests, and analyzing the systems and policies practices of telecommunication and Internet companies.

Application details and other information is available on the Mozilla fellowship website. Deadline for application is 11:59pm PST March 20, 2016

Join us to make a more free, open, and secure Internet!