Information Controls Research Program (ICRP) 2026 by Open Technology Fund, USA [Stipend USD 7,000/Month, 3 to 12 Months]: Apply by 7 September

The Open Technology Fund (OTF) is a United States based internet freedom funder headquartered at 1015 7th Street NW, 3rd Floor, Washington DC 20001. Its Information Controls Research Program (ICRP), formerly called the Information Controls Fellowship Program, supports applied research into how authoritarian governments in the most repressive information environments restrict the free flow of information, cut access to the open internet and implement censorship mechanisms, and into the ways those threats to internet freedom can be countered.

OTF describes the ICRP as supporting "cutting-edge applied research on repressive internet censorship and surveillance". Researchers do not sit inside OTF. They embed full time with a host organisation of their own choosing for the length of the project, and OTF pays them directly through a performance based contract.

The 2026 application window is open from 27 July 2026 until 7 September 2026. Applications are due by 23:59 GMT on the final day.

OTF publishes a non-exhaustive list of areas it would like ICRP projects to work on:

• Improving efforts to monitor internet interference and analysing network interference measures
• Investigating information controls, security and privacy in popular applications such as search engines, social media platforms, instant messaging applications and AI tools
• Advancing new analysis of the types of information controls being carried out, and their targets, in the most repressive environments
• Testing creative methods and new protocols for anti-censorship and shutdown circumvention, including all forms of internet filtering
• Evaluating the impact of internet censorship and use of circumvention tools, including internet shutdowns and shutdown-resilient tools
• Studying collaboration and advances in the internet shutdown-resilient communications ecosystem
• Researching emerging repressive state-sponsored surveillance patterns, and analysis of digital threats against civil society or human rights defenders, such as denial of service attacks, social engineering and phishing attacks including malware, and their mitigations
• Investigating the diffusion of information control technologies, particularly from authoritarian nations to other internet restrictive countries and regions
• Studying the roles of machine learning and artificial intelligence in information control practices in repressive environments
• Investigating quantum computing-assisted threats to internet freedom, and exploring opportunities to employ that computing power to circumvent censorship
• Studying threat intelligence dynamics, such as tools and standards
• Other novel ideas and approaches relating to the study of global and regional information controls

OTF states that "All ages may apply irrespective of nationality, residency, creed, gender, or other factors", with the single exception that OTF cannot support applicants inside countries subject to United States trade restrictions or export sanctions as determined by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control. India is not on that list, so Indian applicants and applicants based in India are eligible.

• The award is "usually offered to postdoctoral and doctoral students, and experienced researchers with demonstrated ability and expertise"
• Applications are open to people from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines, including students at any level and junior to mid-career practitioners who are unassociated with an academic institution
• OTF notes that ICRP researchers typically have extensive experience in computer science, engineering, information security research, software development, social sciences and data visualisation, among others
• OTF encourages applicants from all over the world, particularly people from the majority world and those with experience of living in repressive environments
• Anyone based in the United States must hold or obtain the appropriate work authorisation. A student on an I-20 visa carrying out the project in the United States would need to apply to use Curricular Practical Training

Ineligible: applicants (and their subsidiaries, affiliates, parent organisations or host organisations) engaged in the development, production, sale or marketing of surveillance software, hardware or associated technology; and anyone debarred, sanctioned or otherwise excluded from receiving federal funds under sam.gov, OFAC or any other US or international sanction or debarment system.

Read the scope carefully before investing time in a concept note. OTF does not name law among the disciplines it lists, and it explicitly asks applicants to avoid "a focus on advocacy and policy research". It also requires that "Projects should include a technical component or technical output". A purely doctrinal or policy paper on internet shutdowns is unlikely to clear the bar.

That said, lawyers have been funded before. Past ICRP researchers include Azeenarh Mohammed, a lawyer working as a digital security trainer in sub-Saharan Africa; Nighat Dad of Pakistan's Digital Rights Foundation; Moses Karanja, hosted at the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law at Strathmore University; Ben Zevenbergen at the Oxford Internet Institute, working on the ethical, legal and policy issues of networked systems research; and Karan Saini, who studied DNS-based web censorship in India. The realistic route for a law or policy applicant is a project that pairs legal or human rights framing with measurement, tooling or another concrete technical deliverable.

ICRP researchers embed with a host organisation for the duration of their research.

• Applicants may name a host organisation of their choosing, provided that organisation is not ineligible under the solicitation. OTF encourages applicants to pick a host they are not already affiliated with
• Each applicant must justify the choice of host organisation against the proposed project and their own expertise
• Non-academic host organisations are welcome, as are hosts based outside the United States
• Applicants without a confirmed host may still apply. If the application is reviewed favourably, OTF will work with the applicant to identify a suitable host
• The researcher is expected to work full time with the host organisation, and the host must conduct oversight of the researcher's work and progress
• Researchers ideally work locally within the host organisation, but applicants may propose to work remotely provided a strategy for remote communication is established
• Organisations interested in serving as a host can write to icrphost@opentech.fund

• Monthly stipend of USD 7,000
• Stipend period of three, six, nine or twelve months
• Travel stipend of up to USD 5,000 depending on the project
• Equipment stipend of up to USD 5,000 depending on the project

Both the travel and equipment stipends carry substantial limitations and need written OTF approval under the agreement offered. Researchers receive performance based contracts and payment is released monthly, subject to approval each month by the OTF program manager and the supporting host organisation.

Monitoring is by brief monthly reports to OTF, the host organisation and the OTF community, plus calls or meetings as needed. The host organisation gives OTF a "traffic light" report on progress: green releases funds, yellow releases funds but flags concerns, and red recommends a stop payment while OTF, the host and the researcher discuss remedial steps or termination.

OTF reserves the right to award less or more than the amounts described, and the contract period of performance may run longer than the stipend period subject to funds and satisfactory progress.

Expected outputs and impact:

• Proposals should show originality, substance, precision and relevance to OTF's mission of advancing global internet freedom in the most information restricted environments
• Research objectives should be ambitious yet measurable and achievable, with activities and milestones listed month by month, and goals that reach beyond traditional audiences
• Projects should include a technical component or technical output. OTF gives the example of a researcher who built a dashboard of internet shutdown data and analysis

Things OTF asks applicants to avoid:

• A focus on countries with minimal information controls
• Working with a host organisation you are already affiliated with
• Unethical testing of end-user connections or use of potential personal information
• Reverse engineering individual apps that are not directly used by state actors to carry out mass surveillance or targeted attacks
• A focus on advocacy and policy research

• ICRP requires full time effort, but doctoral students are not required to suspend their studies if the project is in line with those studies
• Depending on departmental requirements, doctoral students are encouraged to consider a summer, three month period if the project can be completed in that window
• Full time student applicants must provide evidence of departmental support, such as an email from their academic supervisor, or a justification for opting out of that requirement. OTF retains discretion over whether a justification overrides the requirement

OTF accepts ICRP applications once a year. The 2026 window runs from 27 July 2026 to 7 September 2026, with applications due by 23:59 GMT on 7 September 2026. There is no application fee, and OTF will not compensate or reimburse applicants for preparing a response.

Stage 1: concept note. By 7 September 2026, submit a concept note through OTF's online application system at apply.opentech.fund. The application must contain a completed concept note form and the applicant's CV or resume uploaded in the attachment section. Full time PhD student applicants must also attach evidence of departmental support, or provide a justification in the form for opting out.

Stage 2: proposal review. Notices of determination on concept notes are expected by 31 October 2026. From 1 November 2026, selected applicants are invited to submit a full proposal together with the proposed host organisation through the same system. All applications are reviewed by the OTF team, and the independent ICRP Advisory Council of internet freedom experts conducts a final review of competitive proposals. Approved proposals then go through OTF's executive, legal and financial review before a contract is issued.

The estimated earliest project start date is 1 March 2027. All dates are OTF estimates and subject to change.

Questions must be emailed to icrp@opentech.fund by 15 August 2026, and OTF will post the answers on the ICRP page by 20 August 2026. Applicants should also read OTF's Terms of Service, including the Privacy and Information Sharing Policy and the Data Use Policy for Applicants, and must certify that the project falls within section 2(b) of OTF's congressional remit.