The Director’s Fellows Program at the Digital Ethics Center (DEC) supports Yale undergraduate, graduate, and professional school student research efforts. Each fellow completes a semester-long research project, participates in regular cohort meetings, and receives a $3,000 award per semester, disbursed monthly.
The fellowship is renewable for a second semester, with a potential for transitioning into a postdoc or postgrad position, depending on relevant qualifications and contingent on progress made in the second semester. Fellows are expected to work onsite, between 6 to 8 hours weekly at the DEC office, at 85 Trumbull St.
The program is structured around regular meetings during semester, led by Professor Floridi and other researchers at the DEC. These meetings enable fellows to discuss current topics in digital ethics, exchange feedback on their research projects as a cohort, and acquire research skills practically. The goal is for each fellow to research, write, and revise an original paper of publishable quality by the end of the semester, on a topic relevant to the activities of the Center, with the support of Professor Floridi and usually in collaboration with other researchers. The fellowship can complement the work that students may be doing through their coursework at Yale. For example, a fellow’s paper may be based on or evolve into a portion of a bachelor’s thesis, master’s thesis, or a doctoral dissertation chapter.
The Director’s Fellows program is interdisciplinary and inclusive of students from all backgrounds. The only requirement is a demonstrated interest in researching the governance, ethical, legal, and social implications (GELSI) of digital innovation and technologies. Applications from all disciplines are encouraged, with special priority given to applications from graduate students and individuals with prior research experience.
Applications should include:
- A cover letter (preferably 1 page) indicating your interest in the fellowship;
- A short CV (max 2 pages) containing information about school affiliation, previous research experience, if any, publications, if any, and stage of studies, e.g., year of PhD, or graduation year;
- A research proposal (max 2 pages) for the project you would like to develop as a fellow.
Research proposal should follow this structure:
- What’s the specific question addressed by the research?
- Why is it important? Or, if you prefer, why does it matter to address it?
- What’s the working hypothesis about the specific answer?
- How do you support or justify it?
- What are the objections or criticisms that can be raised and yet overcome?
- What’s the methodology?
- What’s the timeline? (add a Gannt chart)
- Why you?
- Why this institution/supervisor/research group?
- Have you considered funding and other resources needed by the project?
- How are you going to balance the fellowship with your other academic commitments?
Additionally, please check https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4730258 on how to structure your proposal.
Application submissions for the fellowship in Spring 2025 has closed, Submissions for the Fall 2025 cohort will open in January