Technology and Human Rights Fellowships 2026 2027: How to Join Harvard Carr Ryan Center Global Think Tank

If you spend your days thinking about how AI, data, and platforms collide with democracy and human rights, this fellowship is basically your natural habitat.

The Carr-Ryan Center Technology and Human Rights Fellowship 2026–2027 at Harvard Kennedy School is not a generic academic program with a fancy logo and a few webinars. It is a serious, multi-year intellectual project asking brutally direct questions about power in the digital age:

• Surveillance capitalism or democracy
• Who knows
• Who decides

If those questions make you sit up a little straighter, keep reading.

This is a virtual-plus-in-person fellowship that pulls together a small international cohort (typically around 10–15 people) for deep, recurring conversations, workshopping, and concrete outputs on technology and human rights. Fellows come from academia, civil society, international organizations, law, journalism, tech policy, healthcare, and more. In other words: if your work cuts across tech and human rights in a serious way, you’re in the right neighborhood.

There is no “tourist mode” here. This is for people who are already doing substantial work and want an intellectual home, rigorous feedback, and a serious platform to push that work further.

The headline you need to remember:

Deadline: February 22, 2026
Cohort period: Academic Year 2026–2027

Let’s break down what this opportunity actually offers, who it’s for, and how to put together an application that stands a real chance.

Carr-Ryan Technology and Human Rights Fellowship at a Glance

What This Fellowship Actually Offers (Beyond a Shiny Harvard Logo)

The easiest way to underestimate this program is to think of it as “another fellowship at a big-name university.” Don’t make that mistake.

1. A Serious Intellectual Home for Your Project

You’re not just dropped into a mailing list and left to fend for yourself. The fellowship is structured around twice-monthly virtual meetings where fellows present and interrogate each other’s work.

Think of it as a recurring, high-level research group where:

• You bring your work-in-progress
• Everyone else brings their best questions
• You leave with sharper arguments, clearer framing, and a much stronger path to publication or policy impact

Because the cohort is intentionally curated around the core theme of surveillance capitalism, democracy, and human rights, you’re not explaining basic concepts every time you open your mouth. You can skip the 101 slides and dig straight into the real dilemmas.

2. In-Person Convenings with Travel Support

Each fellow is expected to attend an on-campus convening once per semester at Harvard Kennedy School.

These are not ceremonial photo-op trips. The convenings are structured around:

• Intensive discussions of fellows’ projects at advanced stages
• Group workshops and strategy sessions
• Meetings with faculty, students, and practitioners working in adjacent fields

Travel subsidies are provided, which is especially meaningful if you’re coming from outside the US or from an under-resourced organization. It’s not a luxury vacation, but it does help remove the “I can’t afford to get there” barrier.

3. Access to the Harvard Ecosystem

While you’re on campus, you’ll have the option to:

• Audit classes at Harvard Kennedy School (and often beyond, subject to rules and availability)
• Meet with experts across tech policy, human rights, law, philosophy, and governance
• Lead or join student study groups related to your work
• Tap into seminars, conferences, and public events at HKS and neighboring schools

For many practitioners and nontraditional academics, this is one of the most transformative parts. You get a structured reason to step out of day-to-day firefighting and sit inside a world where you can read, think, argue, and build.

4. A Cohort of People Who Take Your Topic As Seriously As You Do

Past fellows have included:

• Postdocs and university-based scholars
• Academics on sabbatical
• Human rights advocates and NGO leaders
• Senior officials in international organizations
• Journalists and legal practitioners
• Professionals from healthcare, education, and other sectors dealing with digital power in concrete ways

If you’re used to being the resident “digital rights person” in your organization, this is your chance to not be the only one in the room who cares about consent, data extraction, or algorithmic opacity.

Who Should Apply (And Who Probably Should Not)

This program is not for people who just think technology is “interesting” or “concerning in general.” It is for those with a concrete project and a strong throughline to the fellowship’s core questions.

You’re likely a good fit if:

• You have an ongoing or planned research or policy project that sits at the intersection of technology and human rights.
• Your work meaningfully engages with issues related to surveillance capitalism, democracy, and institutional power.
• You can point to at least some prior work: publications, reports, campaigns, litigation, investigative pieces, tech builds, or policy design.

How Your Work Should Connect to the Core Texts

The fellowship explicitly looks for projects that relate to:

• Shoshana Zuboff’s work, especially:

  • The Age of Surveillance Capitalism (2019)
  • 2022 paper: “Surveillance Capitalism or Democracy, the Deathmatch of Institutional Orders”

• Mathias Risse’s work, especially:

  • Political Theory of the Digital Age (2023)

You don’t have to be writing commentary on these books, but your project should live in the same intellectual neighborhood. For example:

• A legal scholar in Kenya examining how data-hungry financial apps shape democratic participation and consent.
• A tech policy researcher analyzing how predictive policing systems in Europe entrench discrimination and erode rule of law.
• A journalist documenting how platform moderation practices silence activists in the Global South.
• A human rights advocate mapping how biometric ID systems transform citizenship and exclusion in African states.

If your work is about “improving social media engagement for brands” or “boosting e-commerce conversion,” this is not your fellowship.

Career Stage: Early, Mid, Senior All Welcome

The program welcomes early-career, mid-career, and more senior people, as long as:

• You can show substance in your work so far, and
• Your project clearly matches the fellowship priorities.

An early-career researcher with a bold, well-argued project and a solid writing sample can be just as competitive as a seasoned practitioner with a long CV. What matters is clarity, alignment, and seriousness of purpose.

Insider Tips for a Winning Application

Assume the reviewers are smart, pressed for time, and allergic to buzzwords. Your job is to make their lives easy and your project irresistible.

1. Make the Connection to Zuboff and Risse Explicit

Don’t just say your project is “related” to surveillance capitalism or digital political theory. Show it.

• Name the specific ideas from Zuboff or Risse that your work engages with or challenges.
• Explain whether your project provides empirical evidence, normative critique, policy extension, or practical testing of those ideas.

A good sentence might look like:

This project tests Zuboff’s argument that surveillance capitalism disfigures democratic institutions by examining how credit scoring apps in Nigeria structurally incentivize opaque data extraction and asymmetric knowledge.

Short, clear, anchored.

2. Treat the 3-Page Proposal as a Miniature Book Proposal

You have up to three pages. Use them with intent.

Make sure you clearly cover:

• Background, context, and time horizon: What’s the problem, where does it show up, and why now?
• Alignment with Carr-Ryan priorities: Spell out why this project belongs specifically in this fellowship and not just anywhere.
• Anticipated impact: Who will care about your findings and what could realistically change because of them?
• Your qualifications: Not a full CV, but a convincing story of why you are the person to tackle this.

Think in terms of narrative, not just headings. You’re explaining not only what you’ll do, but why this is the right project at the right time in the right place.

3. Nail the Executive Summary

You get up to 200 words for an executive summary. Assume this is the first (and maybe the only) thing some reviewers read carefully.

Make sure it:

• States the core question or hypothesis in one sentence.
• Explains why it matters in two or three sentences.
• Outlines what you will actually do in plain language.
• Mentions how this fits the fellowship’s focus.

If a non-specialist friend can read your summary and explain back what you’re doing and why it matters, you’re in good shape.

4. Choose a Writing Sample That Shows Depth, Not Just Polish

You can submit up to 5 pages of a writing sample. Don’t just upload the most recent thing you wrote.

Pick something that shows:

• You can handle complex arguments clearly.
• You’re comfortable with normative and/or empirical analysis.
• You actually have something to say about technology and power, not just surface-level commentary.

An excerpt from a longer article, chapter, or report is fine, as long as it stands alone and doesn’t require twenty pages of backstory.

5. Be Strategic About References

You only need to provide contact information for two references; they don’t have to submit letters unless asked.

Choose people who can:

• Speak directly about your ability to complete substantial projects.
• Comment on your work related to technology, human rights, or political theory, not just general competence.
• Respond promptly if the Center reaches out.

Give them a heads up, send them your proposal draft, and tell them what this fellowship is about. Don’t let them be surprised by a Harvard email.

6. Don’t Overpromise on Deliverables

Ambition is good. Delusion is not.

If you say you’ll produce a book, three peer-reviewed papers, a global advocacy campaign, and an app prototype in one fellowship year while working full-time elsewhere, reviewers will quietly move on.

Propose a focused, feasible set of outputs: a polished article, a policy paper, a report series, a well-scoped chapter, or a tightly designed research project with clearly defined milestones.

Application Timeline: Working Backward from February 22, 2026

You technically could sprint this in a weekend. You also could try to climb Everest in flip-flops. Both are bad ideas.

Here’s a realistic backwards plan:

October – November 2025: Clarify Your Project

• Decide what specific project you’re proposing, not just a general theme.
• Revisit Zuboff’s and Risse’s texts and identify the exact concepts you’ll be engaging.
• Sketch a one-page outline: core question, methods, outputs, and why this fellowship is a fit.

December 2025: Draft Your Proposal

• Write a first full draft of the 3-page proposal.
• Draft your 200-word executive summary early – it will shape the rest.
• Identify your writing sample and trim it to 5 pages if needed.

Early January 2026: Get Feedback

• Share your draft with one person who knows the tech/human rights space and one who doesn’t.
• Ask them: “What’s unclear? Where do you lose interest? Does this sound feasible?”
• Refine sections on impact and alignment with the fellowship.

Late January – Early February 2026: Finalize and Polish

• Lock in your two references and confirm their availability.
• Clean up your proposal for clarity and structure.
• Update your list of prior publications, with links or up to three attachments.

By February 20, 2026: Submit Before the Crunch

• Aim to submit at least 48 hours before the February 22 deadline.
• Upload all documents and double-check that each file opens correctly.
• Confirm you’ve filled out all required fields in the online system.

Required Materials and How to Prepare Them

You’ll need to assemble a small but tight application package. Based on the official requirements, plan for:

• Project Proposal (up to 3 pages)
  Include background and context, time horizon for your research, alignment with Carr-Ryan priorities, expected impact, and why you’re well placed to do this.

• Executive Summary (up to 200 words)
  This is your short, high-impact explanation of the project. Treat it like something that might be quoted in a selection memo.

• Contact Information for Two References
  Names, roles, organizations, and email addresses. They may be contacted by the Center, but they don’t need to send letters unless requested.

• Writing Sample (up to 5 pages)
  Select your best work related to tech, power, or human rights. If it’s an excerpt, include a one-sentence note at the top explaining the larger piece.

• List of Prior Publications
  This can include academic articles, policy reports, essays, investigative pieces, legal briefs, etc. Include links where possible, or up to three attachments.

As you prepare, think of the entire package as a single story: Here is who I am, what I am working on, and why this fellowship is the right crucible for this work.

What Makes an Application Stand Out

Reviewers aren’t looking for who has the most impressive institution on their email signature. They’re asking:

1. Is this genuinely about technology and human rights, not generic tech enthusiasm or broad human rights work with a token “digital” paragraph?
2. Does the project meaningfully engage with questions of surveillance capitalism, democracy, and institutional orders?
3. Is there a clear, plausible path from the project as described to real outputs in the fellowship period?

Strong applications usually share a few traits:

• Sharp problem definition: They don’t say “AI is dangerous” and stop there. They pinpoint where, how, and for whom it is reshaping power.
• Conceptual clarity: They know which theoretical debates they’re stepping into and can name them.
• Grounded examples: They aren’t floating in abstraction; they focus on concrete systems, cases, or institutions.
• Feasible scope: The proposed work fits into a year’s worth of serious effort, not a lifetime wish list.
• Coherent narrative across documents: The proposal, summary, writing sample, and publications all sing the same song, just in different registers.

If a reviewer can describe your project to a colleague in two or three sentences and it sounds compelling, you’ve done your job.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

A lot of applications knock themselves out of the running long before review committees do.

1. Vague Alignment with the Fellowship

Writing “this project relates to surveillance capitalism and democracy” without actually showing how is a red flag. Spell out the link. Cite ideas. Name tensions. Don’t assume the connection is obvious.

2. Overly Broad or Fuzzy Projects

“We will examine the impact of technology on human rights globally” is not a project; it’s a wish. Narrow it down. Choose a geography, a sector, a set of actors, a specific mechanism of harm or transformation.

3. Treating the Proposal Like a Grant Budget Narrative

This fellowship is primarily intellectual, not primarily financial. Overly bureaucratic, lifeless text that reads like a grant compliance report is going to struggle. You’re being evaluated on thoughtfulness as much as planning.

4. Misaligned Writing Sample

Submitting a polished but irrelevant writing sample (say, a piece on education reform with no digital component) wastes a huge opportunity. Your writing sample is proof that you can already think well about this area.

5. Last-Minute, Unpolished Submissions

Typos won’t kill you, but unclear structure, missing sections, or sloppy arguments will. Rushed proposals are obvious. They read like someone stitched together three conference abstracts and hoped for the best.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this fellowship only for academics?
No. Past fellows have included human rights advocates, leaders in international organizations, lawyers, journalists, healthcare professionals, and others. What matters is that you bring serious, thoughtful work on technology and human rights.

Do I need a PhD to be competitive?
Not necessarily. A PhD can help, but it’s not a hard requirement. You do need to demonstrate that you can handle rigorous thinking and produce substantial work. Strong publications, policy outputs, or investigative work can carry significant weight.

Is there a stipend or salary?
The available description emphasizes travel subsidies for the on-campus convenings, not a full living stipend. This is best understood as a fellowship that overlays your existing role, not a replacement for your job. Always check the official page for any updated financial details.

Do I have to move to Cambridge, Massachusetts?
No. The core structure is virtual, with the cohort meeting online twice a month. However, you are expected to travel to Harvard for one convening each semester, with travel costs supported.

Can I apply if my work focuses on Africa or other regions outside the US and Europe?
Absolutely, and frankly, that kind of perspective is extremely valuable here. If you’re looking at digital ID systems in African states, content moderation affecting activists in the Global South, fintech surveillance, or data extraction by global platforms, you’re right in the sweet spot.

Can I apply if my project is still in an early conceptual stage?
You don’t need all your data collected or a full draft written, but you do need more than a vague idea. The strongest applications present a well-thought-out project plan, with clear questions, methods, and expected outputs.

Will I be expected to publish during the fellowship year?
The fellowship is explicitly structured around supporting projects moving toward publication or equivalent outputs. You should be able to articulate what you expect to produce (articles, reports, chapters, policy work) and how the timeline lines up with the 2026–2027 academic year.

How to Apply

Ready to go from “this sounds interesting” to “I’m actually doing this”?

Here’s how to move:

1. Read the official fellowship page carefully.
   Go beyond summaries like this and review the full, current requirements and any updates to structure or funding.

2. Sketch your project in one page.
   Before you write the formal proposal, produce a scrappy one-page outline that forces you to make choices: What’s the question? Where’s the tension? What do you expect to produce?

3. Draft your 3-page proposal and 200-word summary.
   Treat these as two versions of the same story: long form and tight pitch. Make sure both clearly show why your work belongs in this specific fellowship.

4. Select and refine your writing sample.
   Choose something that shows your best intellectual work in this space. Trim it to 5 pages and make sure it’s clean and readable.

5. Confirm your references and upload materials.
   Once everything is ready, go to the application portal and complete the online form, upload documents, and provide reference contacts.

Ready to apply? Visit the official opportunity page and application portal here:

Carr-Ryan Center Technology and Human Rights Fellowship 2026–2027
https://connect.hks.harvard.edu/carrfellowships/s/?_gl=116l0fda_gcl_auMTE5ODcyOTMxOC4xNzY1MzY4MDgw_gaNDMxNDYyMDcuMTc1NjExMTkzMQ.._ga_72NC9RC7VN*czE3NjUzNjgxMDQkbzMkZzEkdDE3NjUzNjkzNTIkajYwJGwwJGg1MjY5NDU5Njc.

If your work sits at the fault line between technology and human rights, this is a tough fellowship to win—but absolutely worth the effort.