ARTICLE 19’s Team Digital is looking for public interest advocates to join the 2023-2024 Internet of Rights (IoR) Fellowship. This is a 12-month fellowship, beginning in April 2023. Since 2014, ARTICLE 19 (A19) has been a pioneer in introducing and strengthening human rights considerations in the design, development, and deployment of Internet infrastructure technologies by participating in global Internet governance bodies where technical standards and policy development happens.
In doing so, A19 has carved out pathways for civil society engagement in these bodies; however, there remains the need for greater, more diverse, and more sustainable civil society participation. In its seventh year, the IoR Fellowship will equip and support a diverse community of advocates working on behalf of civil society with the tools they need to carry out long-term engagement to set the technical policies and standards that define the global Internet.
The general goals of the IoR Fellowship are:
● Toprotect and promote freedom of expression, freedom of association, privacy, and other human rights in key Internet technical standards and policy bodies.
● To bridge the knowledge gap in these bodies regarding human rights and their relevance to Internet infrastructure.
● To support sustained and effective participation of civil society advocates in Internet technical standards and policy bodies.
● To support and champion the consideration of underrepresented people and communities in decision-making processes within these bodies.
The Fellowship runs for 12 months, beginning on April 1, 2023. During this year, each fellow will work closely with their mentor—a designated member of A19’s Team Digital. All fellows follow one of three tracks: Censorship, Connectivity, or Datafication. Upon selection, fellows work with their A19 mentor to develop a workplan and schedule.
The Fellowship is designed to be flexible and dynamic to account for each fellow’s skills, interests, and experience. In line with the workplan, mentors will provide assistance such as advocacy coordination, support during meetings, ad hoc training, and in-depth research collaboration. Mentors will also facilitate fellows’ inclusion in global and regional networks of experts and activists working on digital rights and Internet governance issues, including current and former fellows.
2023-2024 Fellowship Tracks
This year, A19 is soliciting applications for the following tracks:
● Censorship: This track focuses on participation in the development of technical standards and policies that improve resilience to censorship and communications security.
- Connectivity: This track focuses on ensuring all people have choices in how they connect to the internet, particularly local communities dependent on last-mile networking technologies and infrastructure.
- Datafication: This track focuses on advocating for human rights in discussions of data-driven infrastructure technologies such as facial recognition, emotion recognition, and other biometric-based systems and the internet of things (IoT).
Application Procedure:
To apply, please submit the following materials as a single .zip file to fellowship@article19.org by Friday, March 3: 1. Curriculum vitae (CV in .pdf format) 2. A statement of interest, indicating the following:
● How you intend to meet the goals of the Fellowship.
● Aproposed 12-month workplan, including your key objectives, activities and outputs. Objectives should be ambitious, yet measurable and achievable with activities. (If you are selected, you will have the opportunity to revise this workplan; it is only requested at this stage to demonstrate your knowledge of the track you are applying for, internet governance, and human rights.)
● If applying to participate in ISO/IEC, CEN/CENELEC, ITU, or other intergovernmental organisations: please explain how you intend to secure participation through a national delegation or national mirror committee and which Member State(s) you intend to engage with.
● How you expect that these activities and outputs will create impact, in line with the goals of the overall fellowship and your selected track. ● How you expect that your project will help you sustain your participation in Internet governance beyond the life of the Fellowship.
3. Contact information for two references. Successful applicants will be invited to interview with A19 staff in March. Applicants from the global south, women, and other individuals that identify as part of underrepresented groups in Internet governance are especially encouraged to apply.
Click Here to Apply
Application Deadline: March 3rd, 2023
