Currently 5 active tech and infrastructure grants, fellowships and residencies open to applicants in Remote (work-from-anywhere). 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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Tech Policy Press is recruiting its 2027 fellowship cohort to pursue independent reporting and analysis on urgent questions at the intersection of technology and democracy. Since 2023 the programme has supported 25 fellows from 11 countries across three cohorts, writing on AI governance, tech regulation, digital rights and the entanglement of state and corporate power. WHO IT IS FOR: mid-career journalists, researchers, lawyers and public policy professionals with a strong background in a specific tech policy area, a particular geography, or technology's impact on democracy and society. Applicants from the Global Majority and from communities underrepresented in media are encouraged, as are projects that centre communities and regions usually excluded from global tech policy conversations. Contributions can range from original reporting to policy analysis, and technical practitioners are welcome as long as the work fits the publication's editorial purview. EXPECTATIONS: at least one piece of analysis or reporting per month (exclusive to Tech Policy Press, though it may be republished elsewhere), a mandatory hour-long monthly cohort meeting, a monthly check-in with the editorial team, collaboration with other fellows and the masthead, agreed deadlines, and disclosure of conflicts of interest. Applicants should arrive with a clear area of focus and a sense of how the work will inform both the public and decision-makers. APPLY via the online form by 11:59pm EDT on 24 September 2026, with a CV or resume, a cover letter of no more than two pages, links to prior publications (open access, published within the past three years, at least one in English and at least one solo-authored; social posts, pre-prints and unpublished coursework do not count) and two professional references. Shortlisted candidates may be invited to an online interview. Decisions are expected by early December 2026. Two optional Zoom information sessions run on 9 September at 8am EDT and 16 September at 7pm EDT; registration required.
The Wilson Center, the congressionally chartered nonpartisan policy research institution in Washington DC, awards 10 to 20 research fellowships for its 2027-2028 class. Fellows conduct research and write in their areas of interest while interacting with policymakers in Washington and with other fellows. The Center accepts policy-relevant, nonpartisan proposals that address key foreign policy challenges confronting the United States and the world, and projects must align with at least one of the Center's four scholarship pillars: strategic competition, economic statecraft, TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION, and regional scholarship. The technology and innovation pillar is the relevant route for AI governance, emerging technology and digital policy projects, which the Center also supports through its Science and Technology Innovation Program. Fellows work remotely for the duration of the fellowship; the Center covers travel costs for two required trips to Washington DC at the beginning and the conclusion of the term. The stipend is USD 10,000 per month for the twelve-month term, which runs 1 June 2027 to 30 May 2028. ELIGIBILITY: academic candidates need a PhD in hand and either a published book or monograph beyond the dissertation, or a substantial body of research articles (five or more) in reputable peer-reviewed journals. Non-academic applicants (practitioners, journalists, public intellectuals) need at least ten years of relevant experience and a record of substantial policy impact. There is no citizenship restriction, but English proficiency is required. Applications, including letters of recommendation, must be submitted online via Interfolio by 11:59pm ET on 30 September 2026. Questions: fellowships@wilsoncenter.org. NOTE: this is an open-topic foreign policy fellowship, not an AI-specific one; the technology angle depends on how you scope the proposal.
A bias bounty from Zindi, Humane Intelligence, Radiant Earth, and the Heising-Simons Foundation: measure coverage gaps in Overture Maps across US Census tracts by comparing it against Census TIGER/Line Roads, Microsoft US Building Footprints, USGS National Map critical facilities, and Census County Business Patterns. Submissions are automatically evaluated with a Bias Score assessing equity metrics across demographic and climate-vulnerability strata, surfacing whose neighbourhoods open map data underserves. PRIZES: 1st USD 4,500, 2nd USD 2,500, 3rd USD 1,500, Best Bias Discovery USD 1,000, Best Documentation USD 500 (USD 10,000 total), plus 10,000 Zindi points. ELIGIBILITY: open to all, teams of up to 4. HOW TO ENTER: create a Zindi account, download the sample submission files, compute coverage-gap scores per tract GEOID, and upload a CSV; 10 submissions per day, 300 total. Free to enter. DEADLINE: 31 October 2026.
The American Sunlight Project works to ensure that citizens have access to trustworthy sources to inform the choices they make in their daily lives. It is looking for a Free Expression Fellow to produce its regular newsletter on censorship, helping readers stay informed on a rapidly evolving US political landscape. RESPONSIBILITIES: compile and write 'Last Week in Censorship', a clear and engaging newsletter-style roundup of platform policy changes, censorship news and regulatory developments that erode American democracy; and, in support of the organisation's censorship tracker, compile instances from the weekly briefing into a database. IDEAL CANDIDATE: motivated to document instances of democratic backsliding in the United States and happy to take on a part-time nonprofit commitment in service of that goal. The posting explicitly welcomes students, retirees and people looking to moonlight for a good cause. REQUIRED: U.S. citizenship or legal residency; exceptional writing skills with a strong command of tone, clarity and synthesis; and knowledge of U.S. politics and social media. DESIRABLE: experience in research, journalism, public policy or a related field. STRONG PLUS: familiarity with tech policy, internet culture, free expression issues and/or platform governance. Familiarity with Substack is a plus but not required. TERMS: roughly 5 to 8 hours per week, fully remote with flexible scheduling, starting as soon as possible and running through December 2026 with possible extension pending funding, for a USD 2,500 honorarium. APPLY by emailing your CV, a short cover note of a couple of paragraphs explaining your interest, and a writing sample (preferably on a tech or policy topic) to benjamin@americansunlight.org with 'Fellow Application' in the subject line. No closing date is stated.
Rest of World is in the third year of its Labor x Tech program, underwritten by the Ford Foundation, commissioning reported stories on the changing nature of work at a moment of upheaval: AI tools and robotics reshaping professions at every rung of society, from self-driving cars replacing drivers to humanoid robots working alongside nurses; lay-offs across the tech industry; and the gig work model continuing to reshape traditional employment. The programme's premise is that this moment needs documenting now, in stories that help prepare society for what comes next. WHAT THEY COMMISSION: reported stories of 800 to 1,000 words from around the world on this beat, at a fee of USD 1,000 per story. WHAT THEY ARE LOOKING FOR, based on previous years: how new technology is transforming existing industries in unique ways and creating unexpected new pockets of employment; how technology is leading to significant job gain, job loss, and government responses to those trends; whether large demographic shifts are following the adoption of new technology or the arrival of new industries; how workplace technology is changing workplace dynamics; how new industries and tools are changing workers' incomes; and the expansion of the gig work model alongside the threats of automation. EXAMPLES of the kind of story they hope to commission, all previously published by Rest of World: workers in Chinese data factories teaching humanoid robots boring tasks; entry-level tech workers describing the AI-fuelled jobpocalypse; Microsoft and Google claiming their data centres create thousands of jobs while their permit filings say otherwise; AI helping judges close cases quickly and lawyers open them quickly; tech workers fuelling a mini baby boom in Taiwan's Silicon Valley; Dubai's robotaxi ambitions coming for human drivers; and the job brokers who run the lives of the migrant workers staffing Taiwan's chip plants. ELIGIBILITY NOTE: the programme is unable to commission reporting in India or from writers based in India for this series. HOW TO PITCH: send 2 to 3 paragraphs laying out the nutgraf of the proposal and explaining how the pitch fits the editorial mission of the programme. Indicate what sources will be used, whether any pre-reporting has been completed, what reporting has already been done on the topic at other outlets, and what the story contributes to the discourse. Pitches go to laborxtech@restofworld.org. Pitching is open on a rolling basis; no closing date is stated.