What is the Just Tech Fellowship?

The Social Science Research Council’s Just Tech Fellowship is a remote, two-year, full-time (36 hours a week) fellowship supporting a diverse cross-sector community of practitioners to imagine and create more just technological futures.

Why is this fellowship important?

Members of communities most impacted by the rollout of new technologies have pioneered work to uncover the harms and examine the potential benefits of new technologies. Yet, these leaders are often subject to historical and ongoing discrimination and are underrepresented in every sector where technology is produced, deployed, and integrated into daily life.

Therefore, a fellowship program is needed to support this critical work and mitigate long-standing inequities. The Just Tech program seeks to establish generative and lasting connections through regular convenings, workshops, and purposeful engagement with key external stakeholders and peer organizations. The fellowship is designed to support a practitioner’s work, invest in their entire person, and build a community of support and collaboration.

Who is the Just Tech Fellowship for?

Just Tech seeks a diverse pool of applicants whose work and lived experience inform critical perspectives on the nature of technology, power, and inequity—and who are invested in imagining and creating more just technological futures. Successful applicants will demonstrate a track record of success in their respective fields, a clear potential to grow into or innovate a desired field, and a proclivity for collaboration and exchange across sectors.

Just Tech Fellows come from diverse backgrounds and work across various fields and practices, including the arts, journalism, civil society, the social sciences, the humanities, and computer science. Just Tech prioritizes the composition of a collaborative cohort that has a wide range of knowledge and skills, is sector-diverse, and demographically diverse, including members of historically and systematically marginalized communities, such as Black/African Americans, Latinx/Hispanics, Indigenous peoples or Alaska Native groups, AAPI individuals, religious minorities, gender nonconforming individuals, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and people with disabilities.

What types of projects is the fellowship seeking to fund?

We seek diverse projects focusing on the relationship between technological development, power, and social justice. To that end, we invite Fellows to use their particular skill sets in technology, art, activism, research, and policy to develop projects that ultimately lay the groundwork to imagine and create technological futures that celebrate and manifest justice, equity, agency, knowledge, and joy. 

Proposed projects might include creating a product such as an art installation, a book, or a series of essays or journal articles; developing policy frameworks and interventions; an initiative of a nonprofit organization; designing technological tools; or other creative work products. Unfortunately, we cannot review project ideas before application submission.

Do I have to be a US resident or citizen to be a Fellow?

Citizens of any country may apply, but Fellows will be expected to reside in the United States during their fellowship term. The SSRC will not sponsor visas and may not be indicated as an affiliate or sponsor of visa applications. The SSRC and Just Tech program cannot give guidance on immigration or visa matters. Please refer to the US State Department to learn more about visa requirements.

Can I apply as a pair or group?

Just Tech only accepts applications from individuals. Awards are made to individuals, and the fellowship is intended to support individuals. Applicants may collaborate with other people or organizations, but it must be very clear in applications the distinction between their project (which they must lead) and any possible collaborations they anticipate.

What are the minimum education requirements?

Applicants must have a demonstrated track record of success in their respective fields. There are no other education or experience requirements. Please note: the fellowship is not for dissertation completion or to finance postdoctoral positions.

Would I need to leave my current job/position for the Just Tech Fellowship?

The Just Tech Fellowship is a full-time pursuit (36 hours a week) for the two-year fellowship term. Where appropriate, applicants should indicate whether they are eligible and willing to take leave from their current position during at least one of the fellowship years.

How can I find out whether the program has received my application?

Upon successful application submission, an acknowledgment of receipt will be sent automatically via email. If you do not receive an automatic email confirmation within 24 hours of submitting your application, please contact just-tech@ssrc.org. Please specify “Just Tech Fellowship” in the subject line.

If I submit my application before the deadline, can I change it?

No alterations will be accepted after the application has been submitted.

How many Fellows are there?

In its third year, Just Tech will support a cohort of eight Fellows.

What are the selection criteria for Just Tech Fellows?

Fellows will be selected based on a rigorous review process. We will evaluate applications according to the following criteria:

• Alignment with Fellowship Goals: Applicants must champion vital work into tech’s impact and its potential for both harm and benefit; must center historically minoritized or racialized perspectives; must show commitment to building and sustaining a diverse community of practitioners; and must demonstrate a commitment to vision and build toward technological futures that manifest justice, agency, knowledge, and joy.
  
• Scope of Work: The project must address the relationship between digital and novel technologies, power, and social justice.
  
• Clarity of Purpose: Applicants should communicate how they would use their time as a Fellow to systematically uncover evidence, build understanding, and shape public interest solutions to advance the goals of Just Tech.
  
• Public Impact: Applicants should communicate how their proposed work will contribute to equity and social justice. Applicants should also demonstrate a track record of successful, public-facing work that engages broad audiences through different forms of media or organizing.
  
• Collaboration: Applicants should demonstrate a track record of successful collaboration, as well as a willingness to share, learn, and create with others.
  
• Trajectory: Applicants should demonstrate a track record of work and previous experience that prepares them to answer their project questions and contribute to social justice goals.
  
• Ethical Considerations: Applicants should provide thoughtful and appropriate privacy and ethical considerations for their proposed work.

When will the Just Tech Fellowship start?

The third cohort of the Just Tech Fellowship will begin its term in August of 2024.

What is the fellowship term?

The fellowship must not begin earlier than August 1, 2024. The fellowship ends on June 30, 2026.

What does the fellowship award cover?

The fellowship award is designed to support the whole person, including:

• Awards: The Just Tech Fellowship provides Fellows with unrestricted individual awards of $100,000 per year for two years. 
  
• Supplementary Funding: Supplementary funding packages of up to $30,000 are available to subsidize additional needs such as dependent care, healthcare, equipment, communications, working space, or other needs. Supplementary funding will vary in kind and amount by individual need.
  
• Collaboration Funding: Each year, Fellows can apply for additional funding to support projects undertaken in collaboration with other Fellows. Collaboration funding is intended to encourage partnerships that would be unlikely outside of the Just Tech Fellowship.

What other support should Just Tech Fellows expect?

Along with competitive compensation and a robust supplementary funding package, Just Tech Fellows also become part of a vibrant community working to solve critical social problems at the intersection of technological development and social justice. Fellows will have the opportunity to meet regularly and have fruitful exchanges to share their work and learn together.

At the beginning of the fellowship, Just Tech will conduct an onboarding workshop that will include details on how Fellows will work with the Just Tech program, how Just Tech supports collaboration, and Just Tech’s method of disseminating the Fellows’ work.

Just Tech staff will work with Fellows to implement and report back on project plans and impact, share ideas for potential collaborations, and provide support to help Fellows scale their work’s impact. The fellowship will be complemented by a dynamic digital platform providing a venue for Fellows to showcase their work via interviews, profiles, essays, and field reviews. Just Tech staff will help Fellows share their work on the Just Tech platform.

What is the time commitment?

Just Tech Fellowships are remote, two-year, full-time fellowships (36 hours a week). Applicants should indicate how time for the fellowship would be used and managed, especially vis-à-vis other responsibilities or work commitments. When appropriate, applicants should indicate whether they are eligible and willing to take leave from their current position during at least one of the fellowship years. Fellows will be required to attend Just Tech Fellowship program events and are encouraged to participate in frequent check-ins with members of their cohort. Regular program events will be remote.

What obligations will the fellowship recipient have to Just Tech?

Fellows must commit to attending an onboarding workshop and monthly meetings with Just Tech staff and other Fellows. Fellows are expected to attend all Just Tech Fellowship events (such as the launch of another Fellow’s work) and to be an active part of the Just Tech community and team. Fellows are also encouraged to attend SSRC events and talks that overlap with their interests.

How do we measure the success of Just Tech Fellows?

The Just Tech Fellowship is centered on individual Fellows and the community they create. Fellows are encouraged to be creative during their fellowship, modify their work plans as needed, and use their time to explore new avenues of practice. For Just Tech, success is the generation of strong communities of thought and practice that will challenge and reframe assumptions about the nature of tech in society.  

Do Fellows have access to SSRC benefits?

Robust supplementary funding packages will augment individual awards to accommodate expenses related to health insurance, dependent care, coworking space, technical equipment, project materials, communications, or other needs. Supplementary funding will vary in kind and amount by individual need. Health insurance or other benefits are not provided directly by the SSRC for Fellows.

Who funds Just Tech?

Just Tech is funded by a broad range of philanthropic foundations committed to cultivating critical work on the intersection of technology and social justice, including the Ford Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. McArthur Foundation, the Surdna Foundation, and the Democracy Fund. Visit our program page to learn more about Just Tech and our funders.

Who can I contact for questions about my fellowship application submission?

If you have a content-related question, contact just-tech@ssrc.org; please provide the fellowship application reference number. If your question is related to technical support, contact communications@ssrc.org and copy just-tech@ssrc.org. Please specify “Just Tech Fellowship” in the subject line. We value all questions and will do our best to answer them immediately. However, please allow up to 48 hours for a reply.

How can I stay up to date about the Just Tech program?

Just Tech has a mailing list that shares news about the program, fellowship, and other events and opportunities in the social justice and technology space. Visit our program page to sign up for our mailing list.