Deadline: 15 June 2019
Yoti has announced its 2019 Fellowship Programme aimed at scholars, practitioners, journalists, technologists, social changemakers, policy makers and other public intellectuals interested in tackling an identity, or digital identity, challenge or issue within their country or community.
Fellows conduct research, or develop solutions or policy recommendations, while interacting with other Fellows, Yoti staff and other members of the wider global digital identity community.
Outputs from the Fellow’s activities can be anything from a technical platform, a report, a book, a policy paper, a website, a film or any other medium relevant to the proposal.
Thematic Areas
They are primarily interested in issues, challenges and opportunities for digital identity in a local context. They invite applications which focus on any of the following four thematic areas.
- Unlocking the challenges of providing and managing identity solutions among refugee, migrant, marginalised or economically exploited communities or individuals.
- Study of the difficulty experienced by indigenous communities in establishing and proving identity and claiming any state benefits they may be eligible for.
- Unpicking what ‘digital identity’ and identity more broadly means to communities in developing countries, including those living in or close to the last-mile, and the NGOs and local organisations providing services to them.
- Any other issues which warrant investigation which are not yet part of the wider digital identity debate.
Financial Support
To give Fellows the financial freedom to focus all their time and energy on their project over 12 months, Yoti will provide the Fellow the sum of £30,000 (approximately US$38,000) paid in quarterly installments and subject to Fellows successfully providing brief progress reports. They will also make available £5,000 (approximately US$8,000) for local travel and other project-related expenses, subject to advance approval by Yoti.
Length of Fellowship
Applicants must develop and deliver the work set out in their proposal within 12 months. They will share their progress through quarterly updates. On completion of their Fellowship they will present their final research (or other deliverable) to Yoti, either remotely or in person. If Yoti request them to come to their London or India office Yoti will cover their travel costs.
Eligibility Criteria
Fellows need to meet, and agree to, the following in order to be eligible for the Programme.
- Applicants will carry out their Fellowships from their home countries. However, holding a passport – or being able to get one if needed – would be an advantage in case applicants need to travel.
- Proficiency in written and spoken English is essential. Applicants must also produce any written materials in English.
- Applicants must be able to provide evidence that they can deliver on their Fellowship proposal, either through a strong CV and / or links to previous (related) work.
- Applicants must be able to provide at least one reference – ideally two – from a qualified person such as a teacher, professor or former employer confirming that, in their opinion, the Fellow is able to carry out the activities proposed.
- The proposal must fit in with one or more of the thematic areas of the Fellowship Programme. Ideally, Fellows should be able to demonstrate a strong connection to the problem, opportunity or issue their proposal addresses.
- Applicants must have a bank account that can accept their quarterly payments using electronic transfer.
- Applicants must be able to work full time on their Fellowship over the course of the year.
Ineligibility
- Applicants working on a degree or any other Fellowship or award programme.
- Applicants with a full-time or part-time job who have not received permission from their employer to take a year off (through a sabbatical, for example), or who – for any other reason – are unable to commit to the Fellowship for the full year.
- Applicants without any kind of online presence which might make it hard for us to evaluate their ability to deliver on their proposal, and to verify their credentials.
Selection Process and Criteria
Applicants must satisfy the eligibility requirements set out in this pack. They will review applications in several stages which includes both internal and external evaluations by Yoti and external experts. Yoti senior management will approve the final decision for all Fellowship awards. The basic criteria for selection are as follows:
- The proposal meets at least one of the thematic areas of the Fellowship defined in this application pack.
- Evidence of relevant achievement and qualities of the individual as an independent researcher, policy maker, thought leader or solutions developer.
- The quality and originality of the proposed activity or set of activities.
- The relevance and impact that the work will have in the community where the activities will take place.
- Quality of the proposal in terms of definition, organisation, clarity and scope. A clear description on what Fellows will learn from their activities. The hypothesis must be clear and summarise any methodology that will be used.
- Capability and achievements of the applicant and the likelihood that the Fellow will accomplish their proposed project. The proposal should demonstrate that applicants have the skills and know-how to drive this project and to reach a conclusion, which is not preconceived. The proposal should convince the reviewers that there is a real value and that the project will bring interesting and relevant results.
- Potential of the Fellow to actively contribute to society, environment and Yoti’s social impact mission.
Yoti welcomes all candidates that are passionate about identity and/or digital identity and are motivated to address key identity-related issues in their countries and communities. Activities must be human- and problem-centric. Fellows are encouraged to interact with the Yoti community, other Fellows, and any other stakeholders working on similar issues.
Outputs from the Fellow’s activities can be anything from a technical platform, a report, a book, a policy paper, a film or any other medium relevant to the proposal. Whatever the output, Fellows must make the case that they are able and qualified to deliver on it.
The Project Proposal
Applicants’ proposal should be clearly written in English and both understandable and accessible to individuals working outside of their own field. The proposal should be a PDF and be no more than three pages. They can include a cover page and a maximum of two further pages if they contain supporting photographs, images or graphs. They can include links to other material but only to support their application. Do not assume the selection panel members will have the time to read through significant other pieces of work. Their proposal should include the following elements, in any order:
- A summary of the main topic, challenge or opportunity – including its implications for those affected or impacted.
- Their personal connection or interest in the problem, and why it is important to them.
- The originality of the topic. They will consider areas yet to receive significant attention as stronger than those tackling something already well documented.
- What the Fellowship will deliver, for example, a research paper, policy document, a piece of technology, a book, a film, website, and so on.
- The methodology to be used. An overview of specific key activities and objectives.
- A brief explanation about why they want to be a Fellow.
- The names, positions and email addresses of their referee(s). Send in PDFs of the actual references with their application. See below for more details.
- How this Fellowship might contribute to any future work or career ambitions.
- Anything else they’d like to add in support of their application.
How to Apply
- Applicants before submitting their application, please check that they have included the following.
- A PDF of their project proposal (see section above for requirements).
- A PDF of an up-to-date CV (no more than three pages).
- PDFs of their reference(s).
- Please email these as attachments in an email, and send them at the address given on the website with the subject ‘Fellowship Programme application’.
For more information, please visit https://www.yoti.com/blog/announcing-our-new-fellowship-programme/