Applications are invited for the Digital Policy Hub Fellowship 2025–2026 for UG, PG and PhD students. The application deadline is March 3, 2025!
The new Digital Policy Hub at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) brings together a diverse group of emerging, innovative thinkers from the social, natural, and applied sciences, offering them opportunities to advance their research, analytical, and policy skills. In collaboration with universities, governments, and the private sector, the Hub provides a highly collaborative environment for undergraduate, masters, doctoral, post-doctoral, and visiting fellows.
Fellows spend up to 12 months connecting with CIGI’s extensive network of over 100 fellows and policy experts from around the world. Participants engage in seminars and activities that integrate research, analysis, and policy while enhancing their career development. Full funding for academic fellowships is available, with further details provided in the program FAQ document.
Transformative technologies are rapidly reshaping our world. Many are widely known — although often not well understood (for example, new hyper-connected social media platforms such as TikTok, mRNA vaccines, electric vehicles, blockchain, quantum computing and artificial intelligence large language models). In parallel, the digitalization of almost everything has created a more interdependent, data-driven world.
While broad technological change is nothing new, many current developments are moving at an accelerated pace and on a global scale, outpacing governance frameworks nationally and internationally. There is, therefore, a pressing need for transdisciplinary understanding of governance challenges and opportunities across a wide range of technologies.
The Hub’s research focuses address this need, centering on digital ethics and rights frameworks that assist in identifying and mitigating the gaps between rapid technological disruption and diffusion, as well as the lack of governance frameworks at the national and international levels.
Hub fellows will be part of a diverse community of emerging, innovative thinkers from the social, natural and applied sciences, and will have opportunities to develop their own research, analytical and policy skills.
In partnership with universities, governments and the private sector, the Hub offers a collaborative, policy-relevant experience.
The Hub’s interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary environment will help build broader capacity for a new generation of emerging researchers, including an alumni network.
Hub fellows will benefit from exposure to CIGI’s global research and policy community (with more than 100 experts from around the world).
Participants take part in frequent seminars and professional development sessions tailored to foster policy making, analysis and research mobilization skills.
Fellowships are fully funded (with the exception of visiting fellows) based on 8–12 month commitments depending on fellowship tier (for more information on this, please see our Program FAQ linked below).
Academic fellows — Enrollment at a Canadian post-secondary institution:
Students and post-doctoral applicants must have a supervisor at their academic institution who is willing to supervise them on their proposed project. They must also support their participation in the Hub, act as an applicant and signatory on the funding application, and hold and administer the funding at the academic institution. The supervisor must be eligible to hold a research account at their institution (for example, Tri-Council funding such as NSERC or SSHRC).
All academic disciplines will be considered. The Hub cultivates disciplinary diversity in the cohort.
Government and private sector professionals: Government practitioners and private sector professionals from within Canada are encouraged to apply and will serve as unfunded visiting fellows.
Interested candidates can apply via this link.
The deadline for applications to be considered for the 2025–2026 academic year cohort is Monday, March 3, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. ET.
Supervisors Terms of Refernce – 2025-2026
digitalhubinquiries[at]cigionline.org.
