2026 Mozilla Fellows Request for Nominations

About the Program

For over a decade, Mozilla Fellows have been at the forefront of the most critical conversations about technology and society, from debunking AI myths to exposing disinformation campaigns. We've supported over 200 changemaking Fellows who share our belief that a better tech future is not only possible - it's ours to create. Whether embedded with civil society organizations or pursuing independent innovation, Fellows turn defiant optimism about technology's future into action.

These changemaking technologists, researchers, creators, and advocates are the kinds of tech leaders a better future demands. When the media needs tech voices that aren't billionaire CEOs, when communities need allies who understand their needs, when the next generation needs role models who prove technology can be a force for good - Fellows are those people.

Our 2026 Fellowship program will support up to 10 visionary leaders who aren’t just imagining better technology futures - they’re building them.

The Fellowship Model

Our fellowship is built on shared commitment to building better technology futures. Here's how we work together to make that vision real:

What Mozilla Provides

  • Financial Backing: Funding to focus on your most important work without compromise (details by track below)
  • A Global Network: Connection to an inspiring cohort of technology leaders, policymakers, and advocates, plus ongoing access to Mozilla Foundation's broader community of alumni and partners
  • Professional Development: Specialized coaching, workshops, and peer learning opportunities designed for technology leaders building better futures
  • Platforms to Amplify Your Impact: Access to Mozilla's global platforms like Mozilla Festival, Mozilla Education, and Nothing Personal to share your work and reach new audiences

What Fellows Commit To

  • Lead an Impactful Project: Create concrete demonstrations of what better technology futures look like - tools, platforms, creative works, or innovations that others can build upon
  • Join a Global Cohort Actively participate in the Fellowship cohort, workshops and other offerings, and the broader Mozilla community.
  • Share Your Knowledge: Share your expertise through speaking, writing, and collaboration to inspire the next generation of tech leaders. Develop content and resources through Mozilla Education and other platforms, contributing to the collective knowledge that helps innovators worldwide build better technology futures.

Fellowship Focus Areas

Mozilla Fellows aren't waiting for permission or responding to crises—they're creating the alternatives, proving new models work, and showing what's possible when technology serves people. We're seeking Fellows building better on issues like:

  1. Protecting User Privacy: Fellows working on this issue will strengthen encryption and create tools that put security in the hands of those who need it most—through technical contributions, educational initiatives, policy development, and community organizing.
  2. Auditing AI Systems: Fellows working on this issue will make AI systems transparent and accountable to the people they affect—through technical auditing tools, policy frameworks, industry benchmarks, community advocacy, or educational approaches.
  3. Advancing Climate Justice: Fellows working on this issue will reduce technology's environmental impact and strengthen communities organizing for climate justice—through research, digital tools, advocacy campaigns, or work that guides industry and policymakers toward systemic change.
  4. Protecting Creators: Fellows working on this issue will ensure creators control and benefit from their work—through systems for consent, attribution, and compensation, or through creative contributions like art, organizing, and advocacy that reshape norms and standards.
  5. Democratizing Data: Fellows working on this issue will put data and AI development in community hands—through community-owned datasets, personal AI systems, small language models, or organizing frameworks that serve people rather than concentrate corporate power.
  6. Building Open Infrastructure: Fellows working on this issue will create internet infrastructure that's open and interoperable—through protocols, standards, decentralized systems, educational resources, or advocacy that keeps the internet open and accessible to all.

Working on something outside these areas? We know that building better technology futures takes many forms. If you're doing work that embodies Mozilla Foundation's vision for a better tech future built with care, powered by people, fueled by imagination, but doesn't fit neatly into these categories, we still want to hear from you. Feel free to submit a nomination even if the nominee’s work doesn’t fit neatly into one of these categories.

Fellowship Tracks

We offer two fellowship tracks designed to meet technologists at different stages of their careers. Track I provides rising leaders with the structure, mentorship, and community connections of embedded collaboration with civil society organizations. Track II gives established innovators the autonomy and resources to pursue ambitious, field-defining work independently. Both tracks share the same core commitment to developing Fellows as the kind of technology leaders a better technology future demands.

Track I: Embedded Fellows

Who thrives here: Rising technologists with demonstrated technical excellence who have already built meaningful projects or conducted important research within their local contexts, but haven't yet achieved field-wide recognition. You're ready for the credibility, connections, and professional development the Fellowship provides and will benefit from the structured support of a civil society host organization.

What Mozilla provides: $100,000 total investment including a $75,000 stipend and a $25,000 project budget

What you’ll work on: Embedded Fellows tackle specific community challenges identified by host organizations, bringing technical expertise to issues these organizations have prioritized. You’ll design a project to address an issue identified by the host organization - whether building privacy tools for human rights defenders, developing accessible technology training for community organizers, or creating data governance systems for advocacy groups. Your host provides mentorship, collaboration, and community connections to advance your work. This partnership creates mutual value: you gain real-world experience translating technical skills into community impact while your host organization benefits from your expertise to move their mission forward.

We’re seeking embedded Fellows to collaborate with the following host organizations:

  • Arab Reform Initiative, an independent think tank dedicated to advancing inclusive democracy and social justice in the MENA region, seeks to collaborate with a fellow to investigate surveillance infrastructure in MENA—who owns it, who profits, and how opacity around these systems prevents communities from seeking accountability for privacy violations. This fellow should be located in the EU or the MENA region. Arabic would be an asset.
  • Baraza Media Lab, a nonprofit committed to creating a strong and collective media voice through experimentation, knowledge sharing, and networking, seeks to collaborate with a fellow to develop a technical resource or intervention focused on how AI and emerging technologies impact African storytelling and journalism—examining risks of bias, misinformation, and inequity while developing resources for responsible AI adoption. This fellow should be located in Kenya.
  • Bellingcat, an independent investigative collective of researchers and citizen journalists, seeks to collaborate with a fellow to investigate security and safety risks in open source investigation tools—helping journalists and researchers worldwide understand vulnerabilities before using tools that could compromise their work or safety. This fellow should be located in the EU, Kenya, UK, US, or South Africa.
  • Instituto Fogo Cruzado, a non-profit organization working to make cities safer through open and collaborative technologies to tackle armed violence, seeks to collaborate with a fellow to develop automated data pipelines for tracking police violence across Brazil—scaling monitoring from 4 to 27 state capitals through web scraping and NLP to strengthen accountability and human rights advocacy. This fellow should be located in Brazil. Spanish or Portuguese fluency is a plus.
  • Open Supply Hub, a non-profit powering the transition to safe and sustainable production with the world's most complete open global supply chain map, seeks to collaborate with a fellow to explore what data systems and tools grassroots trade unions need to become more powerful stakeholders in supply chain accountability—addressing chronic underfunding and marginalization of unions in the Global South. This fellow should be located in the MENA region, South Africa, or Kenya.
  • Social Media Exchange (SMEX), advancing digital rights in West Asia and North Africa (WANA), seeks to collaborate with a fellow to investigate control over digital infrastructure, data, and online actors in the WANA region - where dependencies on foreign platforms expose civil society to surveillance, censorship, and exclusion -and develop actionable strategies for strengthening digital sovereignty in the region. This fellow should be located in any of the UK, EU, or WANA region. Working proficiency in Arabic is required.
  • Unitary Foundation, an organization working to create a quantum technology ecosystem that benefits the most people, seeks to collaborate with a fellow on developing high-impact open source quantum computing tools that benefit the growing user and developer community, with a preferred focus on benchmarking, compilation, and error-resilience. This fellow should be located in the US, EU, UK, Kenya, or South Africa.

Applicants to the Embedded Fellows Track are invited to submit a suggested project that responds to one of the issue areas outlined above. Your application should describe how your project would address the Host Organization’s identified challenge. Successful applicants will then refine their project in coordination with their Host Organization during the first weeks of their fellowship.

Track II: Independent Fellows

Who thrives here: Recognized innovators with proven track records of independent leadership. You have exceptional technical ability and are ready to pursue ambitious, field-defining work that will set the agenda for public interest technology's next decade.

What Mozilla provides: $125,000 total investment including a $100,000 stipend and a $25,000 project budget

What you’ll work on: Independent Fellows pursue their most ambitious ideas, defining projects based on one of the core issue areas listed above that have the potential for broad impact across communities and the broader field. You’ll translate your vision into products, working systems, and other innovations that tangibly advance better technology futures, with the freedom to pursue the approaches you believe will be most impactful, whether building platforms that demonstrate alternative models, conducting research that shifts policy conversations, or creating tools that enable other technologists to build better systems.

Applicant Eligibility

We welcome nominations for candidates from all countries where we can legally make grants, with particular focus on recruiting Fellows from the Global Majority. All Fellows should be able to receive stipend disbursements in the form of ACH or wire transfer payments originating from the United States. All Fellows should be legally able to enter into a grant agreement with Mozilla Foundation, a US-based 501c3 organization.

Track I Embedded Fellows must be located in Kenya, South Africa, Brazil, the MENA region, Mexico, UK, US, or the EU.

All copyright, patent, and other proprietary interests in materials produced by selected Fellows in the course of the fellowship shall be owned by the Fellow. To ensure the widest possible distribution of such materials and ensure that they remain generally available to the public, selected Mozilla Fellows agree to release code and non-confidential content created during the fellowship under open licenses determined in consultation with Mozilla. Selected Fellows are expected to work in the open, regularly sharing and documenting their work.

Expected Impact

Your projects will become compelling proof points that demonstrate people-centered, open technology isn't just possible - it's being built right now. The tools, platforms, and innovations you create will be cited, replicated, and built upon by technologists worldwide who are choosing to build with care, powered by people, and open by design. Your work will reach thousands of people annually through the content and resources you develop, multiplying your impact far beyond any single project.

But the Fellowship's greatest value is positioning you as the kind of technology leader the field desperately needs. Mozilla Fellows become the voices policymakers reference when seeking alternatives to extractive technology, the experts journalists quote when covering ethical innovation, and the role models the next generation follows when choosing how to build their careers. Most importantly, you'll join a network of over 200 alumni who continue advancing these values throughout their careers. When the world asks whether better technology futures are possible, your work - and your voice - will provide the answer.

Review Criteria

We evaluate candidates across five key areas:

  • Fit: Does your experience match the track you're choosing? Are you ready for this opportunity?
  • Project: Do you outline a compelling project that advances a better tech future and that you can realistically execute in 12 months? For Embedded Fellows, does your project compellingly address the Host Organization’s identified issue?
  • Values: Does your approach embody technology "built with care, powered by people, and fueled by imagination"?
  • Impact: Will your work serve communities and help others build better technology futures?
  • Leadership: Are you someone who will influence the field and can inspire the next generation of technology leaders?

Application Process

  • Nominations Open: November 9, 2025
  • Nominations Close: January 30, 2026
  • Letter of Intent Deadline: February 13, 2026
  • Full Application Deadline: March 20, 2026
  • Fellowship Begins: May 18, 2026
  • Fellowship Duration: 12 months beginning May 2026

Nominated individuals meeting eligibility criteria will be contacted via email with more details about the Letter Intent and Full Application process.

How to Nominate a Fellow

Know someone who embodies this vision? Nominate them.

We're seeking nominations from our global community to identify the next generation of technology leaders. Whether they're rising star innovators ready to scale their impact or senior leaders ready to pursue field-defining work, we want to hear about individuals whose work is building a better technology future - powered by people, open by design, and fueled by imagination.

Self-nominations are welcome. We believe in the power of community recognition, but we also know that sometimes the best candidates are those bold enough to step forward themselves.

Ready to nominate someone who's building the tech future we all deserve?

Questions? Please contact fellowships@mozillafoundation.org.

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