Currently 3 active tech and infrastructure grants, fellowships and residencies open to applicants in Asia. Hand-curated and updated weekly. Almost every entry is funded; a few notable unpaid open calls and festival submissions are included as clearly flagged exceptions. Browse the list below, or use the interactive desk for filtering and shortlisting.
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Developh invites applications for its inaugural Tropical Internet Research Fellowship, supporting researchers, writers, and artist-technologists at any career stage who are investigating the cultural and material conditions of the internet across the Philippines and Southeast Asia and are interested in producing written work. The fellowship runs seasonally (every 1-2 years) to support new writing about the 'tropical internet': the online as experienced from the tropical regions of the Philippines and broader Southeast Asia, concerned with heat, extremes, monsoons, distance, islandedness, improvisation, pluralities, and diasporas. It nurtures work examining how the internet is lived, built, resisted, and felt across the region, welcoming research on infrastructures, digital labor, rural-urban internet inequities, algorithmic cultures, online intimacies, and the entangled relationships between land, technology, and the body, and how colonial, corporate, and extractive forces shape infrastructures for connection. WHO SHOULD APPLY: researchers, writers, designers, artists, and technologists with strong ties to the Philippines or broader Southeast Asia; applicants welcome from any present location, with preference to those within the Philippines, particularly outside Metro Manila. Work may relate to an academic thesis, but the produced artifact must be a distinct new work separate from the thesis. COMMITMENTS: produce an output by January 2027 (suggested minimum ~2000 words, in English, Filipino, or any Philippine language); publish with Developh by March-April 2027 with editorial and publication support; present findings by March-April 2027; share citations and research notes for a collective reference library; attend three cohort group meetings; and participate in editorial review and feedback cycles (prototypes and interim essays are encouraged; a fully finished output is not required). FELLOWS RECEIVE: a PHP 20,000 (~USD 300) stipend, with a potential additional stipend depending on fieldwork/research needs; peer learning through online cohort sessions; check-ins with the Developh team and guest critics; editorial and publishing support (coding, design, hosting); and free access to Developh events and workshops for the fellowship period. TIMELINE: application deadline 22 August 2026; writing and research September 2026 to January 2027; publication and presentations March 2027 onwards. Apply via the Google Form. Free to apply.
Human Rights Watch is hiring an AI Strategy and Solutions Lead into its Operations Department to build the foundation for responsible AI adoption across the organisation. The role deliberately sits between strategy and execution: assessing organisational readiness, mapping partnerships and governance, and also prototyping and shipping working systems. THE WORK, in four strands. (1) STRATEGY AND READINESS: with the CIO and the Information Security and Technology (IST) leadership team, build an AI strategy covering data foundation requirements, infrastructure gaps and organisational readiness; assess current state and shape a roadmap balancing quick wins against long-term capacity; research what peer nonprofit, humanitarian and human rights organisations are doing and find collaboration openings. (2) FLAGSHIP SOLUTIONS: work with departments to find high-impact use cases, translate business needs into technical approaches, build and deploy AI/ML solutions with measurable value (time saved, efficiency, better outcomes), using the Microsoft AI ecosystem (Copilot Studio, Azure AI, Power Platform) among other tools, and oversee consultants and vendors to extend delivery capacity. (3) ADOPTION AND CAPACITY: balance onboarding staff onto AI tools against building custom solutions where they amplify the organisation's strengths; write training material pitched at different work areas and skill levels covering prompting and responsible use; support working groups and communities of practice; produce playbooks and guides for non-technical staff. (4) GOVERNANCE: partner with IST leadership on risk assessment frameworks, align solutions with security, infrastructure and architecture requirements, contribute to AI policy development and its operationalisation, set standards for evaluating proofs of concept and MVPs, and engage business units so outcomes are co-owned; all of it balanced against data quality, security and resource constraints and HRW's mission as a human rights organisation. WHO THEY WANT: a bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience in computer science, data science, information systems, mathematics, AI/ML implementation or a related technical field; a minimum of seven years' relevant experience including two to three years on AI and two to three years implementing AI/ML in production; experience contributing to technology strategy and assessing organisational readiness for new technology; strong Python and ML library/framework skills; hands-on predictive modelling, data science and statistical analysis; experience with low-code/no-code AI platforms such as Copilot Studio or Power Platform; a track record of scoping and delivering under resource constraints; a grasp of both generative AI and traditional ML; and the ability to explain technical concepts plainly to mixed audiences, engage stakeholders and lead technology adoption as an internal partner to business teams. PREFERRED: nonprofit, humanitarian or human rights experience; data privacy, security and ethical AI knowledge; familiarity with responsible AI frameworks and governance models; vendor and consultant management; and a background in politically sensitive or high-risk environments. APPLY: through the HRW job portal with a cover letter and CV, preferably as PDFs, by 30 August 2026. Only complete applications are reviewed and only shortlisted candidates are contacted; no calls or email enquiries. HRW states that it does not discriminate on the basis of disability, age, gender identity and expression, national origin, race and ethnicity, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or criminal record.
SAFL, described as South Asia's first research and capacity-building lab for navigating powerful AI, is hiring more than one Research Fellow. Its foundational work is supported by Schmidt Sciences and the Future of Life Institute among others. THE ROLE: original research carried from an open question to a finished result. The lab wants people who can take a question nobody has answered, choose a method that fits it, do the work and write up a result others can check, working closely with the research leads and with room to shape their own agenda and the wider one. RESEARCH AREAS, two broad tracks; you need to be deep in one and able to speak to the others. Managing AI Risks: technical AI governance and policy (the frameworks advanced AI needs and the technical artifacts they depend on, covering evaluation standards, incident reporting, logging and provenance, attribution methods, liability and accountability, and turning technical evidence into standards Indian and international bodies can adopt), and AI security and alignment research (the safety and security of AI systems themselves, including AI and cybersecurity and the security of systems AI is deployed on top of, such as India's digital public infrastructure). Societal and Economic Impacts: the economic impacts of AI on labour, growth and public finances with attention to India and other developing economies, plus psycho-social effects. BAR: at least 3 years of hands-on research experience, described as the lab's most senior research bar, though exceptional people without that experience are encouraged to apply and junior/internship versions exist. HONEST WARNING FROM THE POSTING: 'The work is demanding, and we mean that plainly.' Priorities change as the field changes; output goes to funders, government bodies and outside researchers. Not a role with fixed scope or settled routine. RELATED OPENING: SAFL is also hiring a Scientific Communicator, plus an Organisation Operations Specialist, a Special Projects Fellow and a general expression of interest. DEADLINE: none published; rolling.