20 Responsible Tech and Public Interest Technology Fellowships

As a nascent and developing field, Responsible Tech roles within industry are currently skewed toward senior positions within newly-formed departments and teams, as well as other experienced talent in support positions within more mature teams, while the majority of the talent pool is comprised of early career talent and those still attaining educational credentials. Because of this reality, fellowships have become one of the most crucial components of the responsible tech pipeline as these roles provide the invaluable opportunity to gain early career experience, which helps close the gap in available jobs and qualified talent. 

With this in mind, we have compiled a resource highlighting 20 of the top Fellowships in Responsible Tech and Public Interest Technology. Our goal in this post is to feature a representative sampling of the fellowships that are available throughout the ecosystem: across government and civic tech, academia, and nonprofit organizations. Many, but not all, of these fellowships are for entry-level talent. Some of these fellowships are not currently accepting applicants, but most are annual and will be available again in the near future. 

Check out 20 of the top fellowships that we’ve identified and let us know what we’ve missed!

Do you know of an active fellowship program with an open call for applicants that belongs on our Responsible Tech job board? Contact us through this form.

Government Fellowships: 

Science and Technology Policy Institute Fellowship

The two-year Science and Technology Policy Institute fellowship connects fellows with leaders in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) in the Executive Office of the President, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and other Federal Government organizations. Fellows will conduct collaborative research into science and tech policy areas including “energy and the environment, space sciences, innovation and competitiveness, evaluation, life sciences, information technologies, national security, and STEM education.” Ideal candidates will have a “BS/BA degree conferred between May 2020 and July 2022 in one of a range of disciplines, including engineering, life sciences, physical sciences, social and behavioral sciences, computer science, mathematical sciences or statistics, and learning sciences.” 

U.S. Digital Corps Fellows

This recently announced Fellowship connects early tech talent with two-year full-time roles in the Federal government at the GS-9 pay level based on location (for example, “Washington, D.C.-based Fellows will have a starting total salary just above $80,000”); crucially, U.S. Digital Corps Fellows “will have the opportunity to convert to a permanent, full‑time position upon successful completion of the program.” There will be 30 Fellows in the first cohort, with plans to “scale significantly in subsequent years.” The program is “for recent graduates from qualifying undergraduate and graduate degree programs, reskilling, and other certificate programs,” and offers “five broad skill tracks: software engineering, data science and analytics, product management, design, and cybersecurity.”

Cybersecurity Talent Initiative

Partnership for Public Service, through their Cybersecurity Talent Initiative for undergraduate and graduate students in cybersecurity-related programs like computer science, engineering, information systems, and mathematics, offers a two-year placement at a federal agency with cybersecurity needs and an invitation to subsequently apply for full-time positions with private sector partners like MasterCard, Workday, and Microsoft. Students must have completed a cybersecurity-related degree program prior to the federal agency start date and will receive up to $75,000 in student loan assistance. 

Coding It Forward’s Civic Digital Fellowship

Coding It Forward offers current undergraduates and recent grads who are passionate about social impact technology a summer-long (10 weeks) full-time Civic Digital Fellowship opportunity in software engineering, data science, product management, or design. Students will be “gaining a deeper understanding of the technology behind government services and applying your skills to develop solutions that will serve everyday Americans,” and receive a stipend in addition to other perks like one-on-one mentorship. 

Congressional Innovation Fellows

TechCongress offers Congressional Innovation Fellows a one-year opportunity to “work with Members of Congress and Congressional Committees in order to build capacity in Congress, train cross-sector leaders...and keep Congress up to date about the latest challenges and opportunities relating to technology.” The full-time, Washington, D.C.-based fellowships award an $85,000 stipend, and are for early to mid-career tech professionals. Tasks include “Researching relevant policymaking (on issues like cyber and election security, data and biometric privacy, AI policy, autonomous vehicle regulations, health IT, encryption, disinformation, and many others). Helping educate Members and staff about these issues. Writing legislation. Preparing for and organizing Committee hearings, markups, or investigations. Building coalitions with partners and other groups.”

Presidential Innovation Fellows

The Presidential Innovation Fellows (PIF) program is a one-year opportunity to contribute tech expertise at the highest level of the U.S. Federal government, embedded into federal agencies with compensation at the GS15 level ($120,000-150,000). Current fellows are engaged in a wide variety of projects across many federal agencies. “Acting like a government-to-government incubator, Presidential Innovation Fellows and our agency partners explore problems, uncover insights, and create exciting new solutions to modernize government. Our approach includes workshopping, design sprints, live user-testing, and rapid prototyping to deliver the highest quality results in the shortest possible time frame.”

University Fellowships:

Race and Technology Fellow (Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, Stanford University)

Stanford’s Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity’s Race and Technology Fellow provides an opportunity to participate in an initiative to “[understand] the ways that new technologies encode and exacerbate racial inequity, as well as the ways that new technologies might be used to advance racial equity,” with the goal of revising an “understanding of how technology can combat racial problems, as well as generate new technologies and accountability mechanisms to advance racial equity.” The 11-month fellowship requires a Bachelor’s degree and two years of relevant experience or a combination of education, training, and relevant experience.

The Technology and Public Purpose (TAPP) Fellowship (Belfer Center, Harvard University)

The one-year full-time in-residence Technology and Public Purpose (TAPP) Fellowship “provides a unique opportunity for practitioners at the intersection of responsible technology development to explore multidisciplinary approaches to maximizing the societal benefits of emerging technologies while minimizing the harms.” The Fellows, who “should know the ins and outs of their field enough to bring and share that knowledge throughout the fellowship,” will conduct research and collaborate within a multidisciplinary cohort to increase one another’s understanding of fields related to tech and public purpose; for example, “improving digital media, managing the geopolitics of technology, designing ethical AI and biotech, improving the alignment of new forms of work with human fulfillment, and in general shaping technological progress to enhance public purposes.”

Berkman Klein Center Fellows (Harvard University)

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University awards annual in-person Fellowships for the duration of the academic year. The Berkman Klein Center Fellows are a multidisciplinary diverse cohort of participants focused on issues that orbit the intersection of Internet and Society. Stipends are awarded on a case-by-case basis.

Center for Information Technology Policy Fellows (Princeton University)

The Center for Information Technology Policy Fellows Program is a fully-funded in-residence one-year program with the possibility of an extension which provides Fellows with the opportunity to engage in research alongside members of the CITP community. Fellows should have recently received a Ph.D. in one of the following areas of study: “computer science, sociology, economics, political science, psychology, public policy, information science, communication, philosophy, and related technology disciplines.” Candidates with an interest in “Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data Science, Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies and Cryptography” are especially welcome to apply.

Center for Applied Data Ethics Fellows (University of San Francisco)

University of San Francisco’s Center for Applied Data Ethics Fellows will work toward designing and teaching “a deeper curriculum on data ethics and algorithmic justice” with a focus on “foundations, methods, or on a specific domain at the undergraduate level” as well as disseminating research on the topic “through papers, blog posts, and speaking at conferences (eg industry, non-profit, or academic).” Importantly, this call for Fellows notes that advocacy and activism experience are relevant qualifications. “Conventional qualifications - for example, a graduate degree or equivalent experience - serve as a shorthand, but are not strictly necessary.”

Cyber AI Research Fellows (Center for Security and Emerging Technology, Georgetown University)

The Center for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University offers a Cyber AI Research Fellows program that seeks candidates to “assess the potential of AI techniques to support cybersecurity, the potential failure modes of related AI techniques, and the geostrategic implications of AI-enabled cyber operations.” Beyond ML programming and coding experience, Fellows are required to have a Master’s degree and “3 years experience in research and policy analysis, including familiarity with interpreting and visualizing data.” Additionally, it’s helpful if the Fellow has “familiarity with the failure modes of various AI models in real-world situations, including those in which AI systems may be actively attacked (e.g., data poisoning, adversarial images, etc).”

Social Innovation Fellowship (Arizona State University)

Arizona State University offers a 13-month full-time Social Innovation Fellowship is an early to mid-career opportunity with a starting salary of $55,000, “with plans for transitioning them to a sustainable, permanent home at ASU or beyond.” Fellows are given the opportunity to “identify problems and opportunities, conduct background research and partnership development, and design and initiate their own projects and programs.”

Data Science For Social Good Fellowship (Carnegie Mellon University)

The Data Science For Social Good Fellowship is a full-time summer program at Carnegie Mellon University for 24 “aspiring data scientists to work on machine learning, data science, and AI projects with social impact in a fair and equitable manner” in partnership with governments and nonprofits. Fellows are current students and recent graduates from a variety of “quantitative and computational fields – from computer science and machine learning, to statistics, math, physical sciences and engineering, to social sciences, public health and public policy.” Small teams collaborate on data science projects “to tackle data-intensive high impact problems in education, public health, public safety, transportation, criminal justice, environmental issues, city operations, and social services, learning from full-time experienced mentors and project managers.”

Non-Profit Organizations:

United Nations Foundation’s Business Models and Software Sustainability Fellowship

The United Nations Foundation’s Business Models and Software Sustainability Fellowship is for current graduate students as well as recent graduates who will get the opportunity to research digital development trends and topics and to work on the digitization of sustainable development. The Fellowship program is part-time, takes place over a duration of 10-weeks to six months, and can be remote or in-person in New York or Washington, D.C.

Mozilla Foundation Senior Fellows

Mozilla Foundation is hiring two remote Senior Fellows for a 12-month Fellowship to help educate students on Responsible Computing and “to ensure the students involved are not only receiving a computing education that questions normative design constraints and considers broader ethical questions, but are sought after for their skills and training in the marketplace.” Fellows should have some experience in areas like “pedagogy, ethics, humanistic studies, technology industry, academia, and government,” and there are additional “opportunities to develop and contribute to work products like the Teaching Responsible Computing Playbook, supporting the online repository of content, and contributing to various writing products like op-eds and White Papers.”

Vitalik Buterin Postdoctoral Fellowship in AI Existential Safety (Future of Life Institute)

The Future of Life Institute is funding a three-year (subject to annual renewals) Vitalik Buterin Postdoctoral Fellowship in AI Existential Safety to support promising researchers at host universities in the U.S., UK, and Canada. The “Fellowship includes an annual $80,000 stipend and a fund of up to $10,000 that can be used for research-related expenses such as travel and computing.”

Kairos Fellowship

The Kairos Fellowship is an eight-month program designed to develop leaders in technology, analytics, digital campaigning, and online organizing, “by developing an effective base of digital leaders and technologists of color who can be mobilized and engaged in crucial movement moments while fighting for an internet and technology that allows communities of color to thrive.” Fellows are placed with national and state-based organizations and receive a salary, benefits, and other perks like mentorship and training.

Civic Design Fellows

Civic Design Fellows participate in a four-month program that attempts “to make elections work better and invite participation for everyone,” by addressing challenges within democracy as design problems. Fellows will complete “an independent project exploring the intersection of language access and voting participation.” With a focus on “access for voters who face historical barriers, speak other languages, have disabilities, or don’t read well,” early career UX Design professionals will “research, design, and implement new approaches to the voter experience.”

Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) Research Fellow

The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) Research Fellow will “design and lead research projects that examine, for example, meaningful transparency on social networking services, automated content moderation, or recommender systems and media pluralism.” The one-year Washington, D.C.-based Fellowship (with possibility of renewal) will be awarded to a candidate with a Master’s degree or Ph.D. in “computer/information science, engineering, economics, public policy, communication policy, etc., or similar research qualification and experience (e.g., work on the use of AI for content moderation at a company).”