Applications now open for the inaugural cohort of
UC Berkeley Tech Policy Fellows

Deadline to apply is Wed., Jan. 18, 2023 at 5 pm PT

Sponsored by the CITRIS Policy Lab and the Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley

The UC Berkeley Tech Policy Fellows program offers scholars and practitioners the opportunity to spend six months to a year as a non-residential fellow at UC Berkeley to conduct research; share expertise and experiences with faculty, staff, and students; and develop technical or policy interventions that support responsible technology development and use. 

Fellows will have the opportunity to collaborate with each other; to engage with faculty, staff, and students; and to contribute in meaningful ways to the UC Berkeley academic community.

We seek to attract a diverse cohort of fellows from different backgrounds, disciplines, and sectors (e.g., industry, journalism, government, civil society, academia) who would like to pursue a project that focuses on technical and/or policy strategies in one or more of the following thematic areas:

• • Responsible development and use of artificial intelligence in the public and private sectors
  • Effective content moderation at scale
  • Prosocial recommender systems
  • Mitigating and/or effectively countering harmful mis- and disinformation
  • Responsible platform data scraping
  • Blockchain in the public sector (e.g., health, government services)
  • Relationship between EU policy strategies (e.g., Digital Services Act, Digital Markets Act, Data Governance Act, and EU AI Act) and US policy strategies (e.g., Platform Accountability and Transparency Act, NIST AI Risk Management Framework, National AI Initiative Act)
  • And other proposed topics related to responsible technology and policy

Program Details

Up to six fellows will be selected. Fellowships are for up to one year and will be primarily non-residential, although local participants are welcome to attend and participate in on-campus events, meetings, and other activities. At this time, fellows should not expect to receive financial remuneration.

Students currently enrolled at any academic institution are ineligible to apply. 

Fellows will receive:

• • A UC Berkeley email address and Google workspace account
  • Access to university libraries and collections 
  • Access to a mentorship network and research support
  • Opportunities to share and receive feedback on current research and works in progress
  • Opportunities to engage and collaborate with faculty, staff, and students on research and/or practical interventions related to responsible technology development and governance
  • Opportunities to engage with UC Berkeley faculty, staff, and students and serve as an advisor, mentor, or collaborator.
  • Opportunities to help organize and host tech policy-related events and convenings
  • Access to a wide range of conferences, symposia, and other events hosted by UC Berkeley
  • Access to workshops and other professional development opportunities
  • Tailored workshop on writing an effective policy memo or op-ed based on their research
  • Support in submitting an opinion piece to mainstream news outlets or relevant blogs
  • Opportunities to present their work and share expertise in public seminars and in undergraduate and graduate courses

Fellows are expected to:

• • Participate in periodic Zoom calls with their fellowship cohort
  • Publish their research article or white paper on the CITRIS Policy Lab website and on relevant partnering organizations’ websites

Application Process

The deadline for applications is Wednesday, January 18, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time. Fellows will be announced in early February with an anticipated start date of March 1, 2023.

To apply, please submit the following materials via this online form:

• • Your current resume or CV
  • Project proposal 
    • Project proposal (max 2 pages) should include an executive summary (~200 words), background/nature of the problem, your proposed research agenda and/or intervention, and anticipated impact.
  • Relevant writing sample

You may be asked at a later date to provide two letters of recommendation from individuals who can comment on your ability to complete the proposed project.

Questions

For more information, visit the Tech Policy Initiative page on the GSPP website or contact Dr. Brandie Nonnecke (nonnecke@berkeley.edu), Director of the Tech Policy Initiative and the Tech Policy Fellows Program.  

The Tech Policy Fellows Program is part of UC Berkeley’s Tech Policy Initiative, a collaboration between the Goldman School of Public Policy and the CITRIS Policy Lab. The Tech Policy Initiative aims to strengthen multidisciplinary scholarly collaborations, foster tech policy education, and innovation, and inform effective tech-related policy strategies across the public and private sectors.