In 2020 we welcomed our first cohort of research fellows, supporting scholars from academia and industry to research topics relevant to our mission. The success of our initial cohort of fellows encouraged us to continue the programme, and in 2021 and 2022 we welcomed further cohorts to help us widen our networks and build rich ties with academia, industry, governments and civil society. The research has explored a wide range of topics, including data institutions in China, anonymised personal data, economic models for valuing data, privacy-enhancing technologies and more.
Research fellowships offer researchers the opportunity to work with the ODI team, connect with our networks and draw on our expertise. This helps them to widen their influence beyond traditional academic or industrial settings with help from the ODI’s peer support and impact-focused outreach.
Join our fellowship programme
The ODI continues to extend an invitation to more PhD-level researchers and similar to join our ever-expanding community of fellows and help us further explore our emerging areas of interest. ODI Research Fellowships are unpaid, and are therefore primarily open to individual researchers from across the world who have existing research funding or are otherwise supported by their employer/ academic institution.
The value of an ODI research fellowship comes from gaining access to the ODI’s expertise as well as the opportunity to connect with our expanding network of current and former researcher fellows and our vibrant network of ODI members. Fellows also benefit from the potential for collaboration and overlap with research conducted by us and our partners in academia, industry, government and civil society. Research conducted through an ODI fellowship is richer as a result, and can create impact well beyond a researcher’s primary circle.
We welcome applications on an ongoing basis. To apply, please fill in our application form. As well as your basic details, you will need to provide:
- Your CV.
- Details about how you intend to use the fellowship – including a plan of the research you want to carry out and your suggested start date.
- Details about expenses you would require the ODI to cover to make your fellowship a success
- For senior scholars and independent researchers: references of published work in professional publications
- For researchers in academia: a letter of recommendation from an academic supervisor
Fill out the ODI research fellowship application
Work by our fellows
Over the last few years, ODI Fellows, work placements and secondments have produced an impressive body of work, ranging from blogposts, think pieces, lectures and applied tools to research articles published by academic journals and NGOs. Below is a sampling of those outputs to demonstrate the range of outcomes and outputs that a collaboration with the ODI can lead to.
A survey of data quality requirements that matter in ML development pipelines
