2024 Mozilla Fellows for Tech + Society Fellowship

Critical civil society organizations fight inequality, protect the public, and partner with the public sector to serve citizenry. In the era of ubiquitous technology, it’s paramount that civil society also work to address societal issues, as they converge with the digital world. Increasing collective impact at the intersection of technology and society will help fortify the relevance and sustainability of public interest movements and technologists —and help to advance a more human-centered internet.

Are you an experienced technologist interested in working more deeply at the intersection of technology and social justice issues you care about?

This fellowship is designed to bring technological strategists and civil society leaders together into collaboration. By pairing technologists [as fellows] with civil society organizations [as host organizations], the program aims to increase the impact of the organizations’ work and enhance their ability to address societal issues that intersect with technology. This is rooted in the idea that technologists and civil society leaders both come to the table with essential expertise: the fellows bring a wealth of technical know-how, while the host organizations bring a deep understanding of how technology broadly — and in some cases AI specifically — is impacting the communities they serve. This fellowship also serves to expand the leadership capacity of fellows by providing opportunities to deeply impact local movements, meaningfully connect to a global community of other public interest leaders, amplify their impact, and find the space and support to explore personal projects.

Fellows will join a cohort of public interest technologists and human rights organizations from Eastern Africa, MENA, Brazil, India, and Mexico. The fellowship is an opportunity for technologists and civil society organizations, each with their own unique areas of expertise, to work in collaboration with one another and the cohort in a shared purpose.

The application for a Mozilla Fellowship is a two-part process: 1) registration and 2) full application. The registration form must be submitted in Fluxx by January 22 in order to be able to submit a full application.

1. Registration: To begin the application process, complete the Mozilla Fellows 2024-2026 Registration Form by 22 January 2024. Within two business days of submitting your registration, you will receive an email from @fluxx.io with instructions to set your password on Mozilla’s Fluxx portal.

   The answers you provide on your registration form will become a part of your full application, and will be assessed by reviewers. Please provide accurate and complete responses to the questions on the registration form.

2. Full application: To complete the full application, log in to your account on https://mozilla.fluxx.io. A full application form will be available in the “Drafts” section of the portal. Once you submit your application, you will receive a confirmation email within two business days. If you have not received a confirmation email within two business days please email grants@mozillafoundation.org. The deadline for submission of full applications is 5 February 2024.

As part of the application process, please be prepared to share:

• A description of an issue at the intersection of technology and social justice in your identified potential host organization that the fellowship would be used as a platform to address;
• Some key results you think can achieve during the fellowship;
• Suggestions for host organization alignment;
• A summary of a potential personal project you would like to spend a portion of your fellowship time working on and the issue it aims to address;
• A history of your professional experience.

Application Support Resources

• Application Guide: You can find more details and guidance about the application in the application guide.
• Information Sessions: We are hosting information sessions on 20 December 2023, 9 January 2024, and 25 January 2024 for interested applicants. They will take place via Zoom, and are opportunities to learn more about the Tech + Society Fellowship and to pose any questions you may have about the application process. These info sessions will be recorded for reference by anyone who is unable to attend.

Please note:

Mozilla Foundation offices will be closed between 22 December 2023 and 3 January 2024, and we will be unable to respond to messages during this time.

If you have questions during the time when Mozilla Offices will be closed, please consult the FAQs for this program or watch the recording of the info session. You will also find the full list of questions included in the full application in the application guide.

The ideal candidates for this fellowship will be able to demonstrate the following:

Mission Driven. We are looking for individuals with an interest in social justice issues and a track record of success working in technology in their region, and who are dedicated to continuing to work in that space after their fellowship. In addition to having a long term commitment to working on the issue(s) proposed in their application, fellows should align with Mozilla’s interests and focus, and be able to easily leverage Mozilla’s strengths as an organization, i.e. open source ethos, large network of contributors.

Collaboration. Collaboration is inherent in the design of this fellowship. The ideal candidate should enter the program with an issue at the intersection of technology and social justice that would benefit from partnership with their selected host organization. We invite all applicants to review the potential 2024-2026 host organizations, and—as part of the application—to suggest which organization(s) are most aligned with their work. We’re looking for fellows who are eager to: 1) share expertise that will enhance their host organization’s strategic approach and impact to serve the broader community; 2) learn from and contribute towards the learning of new skills from their host organization, Mozilla community and peers; and 3) work openly and collaboratively in the public interest.

Impact. We’re looking for individuals focused on solving issues at the intersection of technology and society that will make — or be the catalyst for — significant change, with tangible, measurable results within their host organizations. Fellows should also be able to articulate how the impact of their project will advance the change they’d like to see in the world.

Leverage. Ideal candidates for a Mozilla fellowship will understand how to leverage their proposal to drive change at a wider level. We’re looking for individuals who have technical and community expertise and who are able to think about changing systems, manage a project, and understand levers of change. This involves strong listening skills as well as the ability to translate what’s needed.

Initiative. An ideal candidate for a Mozilla Fellowship is someone who shows a lot of initiative, and will take charge of the experiences and opportunities given to them. Fellows are expected to manage their time and resources, and must be comfortable working with a high level of autonomy.

Communication. We’re looking for individuals with an interest in advocating for change and/or popularizing new ideas and approaches, and be comfortable using their voice — whether through written media or public speaking — to do so. Fellows should also have the ability to explain technology to a broad audience.

In addition to the criteria above, candidates for the Tech + Society Fellowship will:

• Be experienced technologists, with a minimum of 3-5 years experience working in a technology-related capacity.
• Reside in or have work authorization in the country or region of the host organization. Note that organizations have location-specific parameters.
• Understand relevant cultural nuance and context of the host country. Note that organizations may have language-specific parameters.
• Be strategically-minded and collaboration-oriented, with experience in identifying problems and solutions at the intersection of technology and social justice issues.
• Be able to carry out fellowship work to an extent generally consistent with full-time engagement. Engagement length of the fellowship is a minimum of 1.5 years and a maximum of 2 years.
• Have working fluency in English.

Application Process

The application is a two-step process. Please note that in order to submit a full application you will be required to submit your registration before or by the deadline of 22 January 2024.

Applications will be reviewed by a restricted panel of reviewers made up of Mozilla staff, organizational partners including the Ford Foundation, and other experts in the discipline(s) of the application.

You may also be invited to participate in an interview and discussions with possible host organization(s) as part of the review process. Interviews will take place between April-May 2024.

More detailed information on the selection process →

Fellowship Details

This fellowship is a full-time, fully remote fellowship that is slated to begin in August 2024. Fellows will join a cohort of public interest technologists and human rights organizations from Eastern Africa, MENA, Brazil, India, and Mexico.

The fellowship is an opportunity for technologists and civil society organizations, each with their own unique areas of expertise, to work in collaboration with one another and the cohort in shared purpose.

The fellowship award is designed to support the whole person, including a fellowship stipend, supplementary funding, and generous wrap-around support provided by Mozilla.

Learn more about the details of the fellowship →

Please note

• All applications must be submitted via Fluxx.
• All registrations and submissions must be in English. However, we encourage applicants to use free translation services. Applications will be reviewed based on their conceptual strength, not quality of language.
• No responsibility is assumed for lost, late, incomplete, invalid, illegible, incorrect, inaccurate, or misdirected registrations or submissions; or for any error, human, technical, or otherwise, that may occur in the processing of submissions.
• With applicant permission, submitted applications may be shared with other projects within Mozilla, other foundations, and partner organizations.
• Neither Mozilla nor any potential fellow responding to this Call For Proposals shall be considered to have entered into an agreement, until and unless both parties have signed a separate definitive fellowship agreement.