Carr-Ryan Center Technology and Human Rights Fellowship 2026-2027: Applications Closed
The Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights has closed applications for the 2026-2027 Technology and Human Rights Fellowship. Harvard expects applications for the 2027-2028 cohort to open in December 2026, but has not published a new deadline.
The 2026–2027 cohort is closed and this page is a historical reference. Harvard Kennedy School’s Carr-Ryan Center states plainly on the official fellowship page that “Applications for the Technology & Human Rights Fellowship’s 2026-2027 cohort are now closed,” and adds: “Expect applications for the 2027-2028 cohort to open in December 2026.” The closed round’s deadline was 22 February 2026. Harvard has not published a specific opening date or deadline for 2027–2028, so there is no active application to submit now; use the preparation guidance below, then re-check the official page when the next call appears.
Which Carr-Ryan fellowship is this?
The Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights Policy runs several fellowships that share one application portal, which causes a lot of confusion. This page covers the Technology and Human Rights Fellowship specifically — the thematic program jointly directed by Professor Mathias Risse and Professor Shoshana Zuboff, organized around surveillance capitalism, democracy, and epistemic power.
It is not the general Carr-Ryan Center Fellowship, which offers “post-docs, scholars, human rights defenders, and leaders of international or human rights organizations a yearlong affiliation with the HKS community” across the Center’s full human rights remit. The two differ in concrete ways:
| Technology & Human Rights Fellowship | General Carr-Ryan Center Fellowship | |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | One theme: technology, surveillance capitalism, democracy | Broad human rights and public policy |
| Structure | Curated cohort, twice-monthly virtual seminars, semester convenings | Yearlong affiliation, looser structure |
| Cohort size | Between 10 and 15 virtual fellows each year | Not fixed to a cohort model |
| Writing sample | Up to 5 pages | Up to 10 pages |
| CV required | Not listed among the proposal requirements | Resume/CV explicitly required |
| Direction | Risse and Zuboff jointly | Center leadership broadly |
Both closed their 2026–2027 rounds on 22 February 2026, and both expect to reopen for 2027–2028 in December 2026. If you apply, make sure you are in the right queue: a proposal built around Zuboff’s and Risse’s research programs belongs in this one.
What the fellowship is
The Technology and Human Rights Fellowship has been a long-running Carr-Ryan initiative examining how technological developments shape the future of human life and the protections the human rights framework can offer. Under Risse’s direction it convened between 10 and 15 virtual fellows a year and hosted the webinar series Towards Life 3.0: Ethics and Technology, along with conferences and convenings.
From the 2024/25 academic year, the program narrowed sharply. It now pursues what the Center calls a multi-year intellectual project summarized in three questions:
- Surveillance capitalism or democracy?
- Who knows?
- Who decides?
Two cohorts have gone through this reframed version since 2024. The Center describes itself as having gathered “exceptional expertise” among those first two cohorts and now treats the fellowship as a standing home for work on this frontier.
The practical terms are worth stating bluntly, because they are the single most common source of disappointed applicants and remain the terms stated for the closed 2026–2027 call:
- All fellowship terms run one academic year: 1 September to 30 June.
- Fellowships are not funded. There is no stipend and no salary.
- Limited shared office space may be available during short-term visits to the Cambridge/Boston area.
- Travel subsidies are provided for the required on-campus convenings.
So this is an affiliation that sits on top of your existing role, funding, or sabbatical — not a replacement income. Applicants who need paid time should plan to pair it with an employer arrangement, institutional support, or an external grant. Applicants who already have a salary, a research budget, or sabbatical time and want intellectual company, structure, and a Harvard-adjacent platform will find the terms perfectly workable.
How the year actually runs
The cohort meets virtually twice a month for in-depth discussions built directly on fellows’ research projects. This is the spine of the program: recurring, substantive sessions where you present work-in-progress and get read closely by people who already know the literature. Because the cohort is curated around one theme, you skip the introductory framing every time you speak and go straight to the hard part of your argument.
Each fellow is also expected to join an on-campus convening once each semester. The Center describes these as programmed events and activities meant to advance group development through intellectual exchange and shared work-in-progress “as projects move into their final stages on their way to publication.” That phrasing tells you what the selection committee is optimizing for: projects with a realistic path to a finished output during the year, not open-ended exploration.
While on campus, fellows may audit classes, meet faculty and other experts, lead student study groups, and take part in the wider set of learning opportunities at HKS and adjacent schools across the University.
Who the Center is looking for
Eligibility is deliberately wide on credentials and narrow on subject matter. The Center welcomes “early career, mid-career, and more senior theorists, researchers, and practitioners” whose work aligns with the fellowship’s priorities. Past fellows have been post-docs, scholars, academics on sabbatical, human rights advocates, senior leaders in international organizations, and established professionals from law, healthcare, journalism, education, and other fields.
No PhD requirement is stated. What is stated is the intellectual anchor. The Center seeks projects that connect to the research programs in:
- Shoshana Zuboff’s 2019 book, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism
- Zuboff’s 2022 paper, “Surveillance Capitalism or Democracy, the Deathmatch of Institutional Orders”
- Mathias Risse’s 2023 book, Political Theory of the Digital Age: Where Artificial Intelligence Might Take Us
You do not have to agree with either author. You do have to be arguing in the same room. Zuboff’s account traces how the large-scale extraction of behavioural data — from phones, apps, social platforms, GPS, household devices, public sensors and cameras — made human experience commodifiable and produced concentrations of wealth, knowledge, and power without precedent. Risse’s book builds a foundation for the philosophy of technology, extending core concepts in political philosophy to digital lifeworlds and devoting several chapters to epistemic rights under the human rights umbrella.
The Center notes that as internet use grows across Asia, South America, and Africa, these questions become more pertinent in those regions too — so work grounded outside North America and Europe is squarely in scope. Concrete examples of projects that would fit: a legal scholar tracing how data-hungry lending apps reshape consent and democratic participation in Kenya; a researcher testing whether predictive policing systems entrench discrimination in a specific European jurisdiction; a journalist documenting how platform moderation practices silence activists; an advocate mapping how biometric ID systems reorganize citizenship and exclusion.
Work on general “digital transformation,” growth marketing, or technology adoption with a human rights paragraph bolted on is not a fit.
What the closed 2026–2027 call required
The official page’s requirements for the most recent round were:
- A project proposal of up to 3 pages, covering the background, context, and time horizon of the research problem; alignment with Carr-Ryan Center priorities; and the anticipated impact of the work along with your qualifications for the project.
- An executive summary of up to 200 words.
- Contact information for two references who can comment on your ability to complete the proposed research. The Center may contact them; they need not submit documentation unless requested.
- A relevant writing sample of up to 5 pages.
- A list of prior publications, with links or up to three attachments.
These are historical requirements, not an active checklist. Re-check every item in December 2026 if and when the next call opens; requirements can shift between cycles, and Harvard’s new posting will be the version that governs.
Preparing before the next call
Nothing can be submitted today, which is an advantage if you use it. A realistic plan:
Read properly. Work through Zuboff’s 2022 paper and the relevant chapters of Risse’s book rather than summaries of them. Note the specific claims your project would test, extend, complicate, or contradict. The strongest proposals name those claims outright.
Scope the project. Pick a geography, a sector, a set of actors, and a mechanism. “The impact of technology on human rights” is not a project. “How mandatory digital ID enrolment reorganizes access to public health services in one country, and what that implies for epistemic rights” is.
Draft. Write the 3-page proposal and the 200-word summary together; the summary usually exposes whatever is vague in the proposal. Select and trim the writing sample to five pages, and if it is an excerpt, add a one-line note at the top explaining the larger piece. Assemble the publication list with working links.
December 2026 — watch for the possible opening. The official page says to expect applications for 2027–2028 in December, but it does not provide a date or confirm that the portal is open. Check the official page first, confirm the new requirements, then apply only through the link Harvard publishes. Have your two referees willing and briefed before you list them.
When a new deadline is announced — submit early. The previous cycle’s applications went through the Carr-Ryan fellowships portal at connect.hks.harvard.edu/carrfellowships, shared across the Center’s fellowships. Treat that portal as historical until Harvard links it again. Give yourself a buffer of at least a couple of days and check that every uploaded file opens.
What makes a proposal competitive
Three questions sit behind the review:
- Is this genuinely about technology and human rights, or is it general human rights work with a digital gesture?
- Does it engage seriously with surveillance capitalism, democracy, and institutional power — the questions the program actually organizes around?
- Can the work plausibly reach publication or an equivalent output within a single academic year, from 1 September to 30 June?
Strong applications define a sharp problem, name the theoretical debate they are entering, ground the argument in specific systems or institutions rather than abstractions, and propose a scope that one year of part-time effort can finish. Since the fellowship is unfunded and layered on top of an existing role, an over-promised deliverable set reads as a warning sign rather than ambition. One well-argued article, a policy paper, a report, or a completed book chapter is a better pitch than four of them.
Frequently asked questions
Is there any money attached? No stipend or salary — the Center states that fellowships are not funded. Travel subsidies cover the required on-campus convenings, and limited shared office space may be available during short visits to Cambridge/Boston.
Do I need to move to Cambridge? No. The cohort is virtual, meeting twice a month online, with one on-campus convening expected each semester.
Do I need a PhD? Not according to the stated eligibility. Early-career, mid-career, and senior practitioners are all welcome, provided the work aligns with the fellowship’s priorities and you can show you can complete a substantial project.
Can I apply if I applied for 2026–2027? The Center has not published a restriction on reapplying. If your project has advanced since February 2026, say so explicitly in the new proposal.
When exactly does the next round open? The official page says to expect applications for the 2027–2028 cohort to open in December 2026. It does not publish a specific opening date or deadline, so do not treat December as a submission deadline.
Where to check
Verify everything here against the Carr-Ryan Center’s own page before you write a word of the proposal — dates, requirements, and terms all change between cycles, and the official posting is what governs:
Technology and Human Rights Fellowship — Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights Policy, Harvard Kennedy School https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/carr-ryan/opportunities/fellowship-opportunities/technology-and-human-rights-fellowship
Set a reminder for December 2026. The cohort is small, the theme is specific, and the people who get in are usually the ones who started thinking about the proposal before the portal opened.