The Information Controls Fellowship Program (ICFP) from the Open Technology Fund (OTF) fosters research, outputs, and creative collaboration on repressive Internet censorship and surveillance issues. The program 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, threatening global citizens’ ability to exercise basic human rights and democracy; work focused on mitigating such threats is also encouraged. The application is available on the OTF website.

Deadline: February 28, 2025.

Fellowship Details 

  • 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
  • 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

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.

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 our online application system. 

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

Likely Candidates

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 more 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 where 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.

ICFP at The Citizen Lab 

The Citizen Lab co-founded the program with OTF and has been a host organization since its inception. 

We welcome proposals from fellowship candidates for research projects related to our current thematic areas described below:

Freedom of Expression Online

Information is censored and disrupted by state actors and private companies at the network layer (e.g., network shutdowns, network throttling, Internet filtering, etc.) and the application layer (e.g., content filtering and moderation, government requests for content removal, etc).

Research Objectives: Develop methods for identifying how content is restricted at the technical level, and conduct policy and legal analyses to understand the underlying political economy around the practice and policy of these controls. Evaluate how these information controls impact freedom of expression and other rights. 

Recent Research

Targeted Digital Threats against Civil Society

Digital espionage enabled by phishing, malware, disinformation campaigns, and other threat vectors poses a persistent threat to global civil society.  Civil society does not have the same level of resources as governments and the private sector to defend against these threats.

Research Objectives: Document digital threats against civil society groups across regions and communities. Identify technical trends in how groups are targeted. Understand the political context in which these threats are happening and the impact they have on groups and social movements. Evaluate the efficacy of mitigation strategies available to civil society.

Recent Research

Mobile App Privacy and Security

Mobile applications have become a central means for civil society to communicate, organize, and mobilize. Applications that have amassed huge user populations in some regions of the world remain largely understudied by security researchers leaving users with limited information on their relative privacy and security. 

Research Objectives: Evaluate security and privacy issues in mobile applications with high user bases in communities of interest that have received minimal research attention. When applicable, outreach to companies to present concerns around security and privacy vulnerabilities. Present findings in accessible ways to help users make informed decisions about the tools they use.

Recent Research

Transparency and Accountability

Users of information technologies now depend on and share their data with a plethora of private companies, many of whom are required by law or otherwise induced to share information with government agencies. These data retention and sharing practices can lack transparency and impact user privacy and security. Companies may face varying pressures to conform to the laws of the jurisdictions in which they operate, many of which are illiberal or authoritarian.

Recent Research

Technical, Policy, and Legal Research

Apart from these research areas, we encourage applicants to propose projects that are within the following broad areas (or combinations of the two):

  • Legal and Policy Research: Evaluation of laws, policies, and norms related to Internet censorship and surveillance.
  • Technical Research: Empirically document technologies and technical practices affecting openness, privacy, and security. This area can include: research and development of software tools, analysis of systems for Internet censorship and surveillance, and data analytics and visualization.

Apply here.