Deadline: 11-Dec-22

Open Climate seeks seven (7) mid career professionals for the 2023 Open Climate Fellowship Program.

Open Climate seeks to create this space of exchange to bring together climate action and movement builders, and to fully connect them to the open movement people, tools and approaches. Since 2020, Open Climate has been coordinating this space through monthly calls and collaborative writing. They seek to identify opportunities for free and open source communities to support climate action and solutions.

Building on the insights from this journey, the Open Climate Fellowship will create a space for transdisciplinary collaboration, peer learning and community building. They expect to develop a network of Open Climate practitioners working across all facets of the open and climate movement who can advance climate justice with an open lens. This program will encourage fellows to share the skills and experience gained from their fellowship with the communities and organizations that they are a part of, to ultimately develop a culture that translates the principles of open practices into the climate action movement.

They welcome applicants from backgrounds across the open and climate movements such as researchers, activists, developers, and educators who are excited to:

• Explore the intersections between open technology projects and the climate crisis.
• Connect with new people working with open technologies and/or climate and environmental justice, coordinating with their team to put ideas, projects and partnerships out into the world. Network development, community building, and sharing ideas are always at the top of your mind.
• Center the expansion of the knowledge commons for addressing climate change in your work.

Priorities for 2023

• Since their first community call, Open Climate has hosted conversations with people who bring insights about how open practices can strengthen climate action. Over the course of 12 community calls, They identified five issues where the open movement could become a key actor to pursue a sustainable future:
  • their information environment is polluted by companies and governments who deny or delay climate action. This can be countered by a robust knowledge commons.
  • Openness can help address the environmental impact of digital infrastructures.
  • Downscale climate science to local levels and work for the “smallest possible policy-maker.”
  • Freeing access to climate information can be done by growing the socio-technical capacity of community spaces.
  • The open movement is a cultural movement in principle, and it can offer value to other movements by operating intersectionally.

Benefits

• Mentorship and network building: Fellows will have access to experienced open movement organizers and practitioners during the duration of the fellowship, which will also offer opportunities for direct engagement with leaders across the open movement and climate action initiatives over digital platforms.
• Professional Development: The Open Climate Fellowship will lead to new learnings and relationships that will help the Fellow further their career objectives. Open Climate will assist Fellows in their future endeavors by facilitating new connections, sharing information about funding opportunities and emerging opportunities in the field, as well as offering continued mentorship.
• Stipend: $2,500 (paid in two installments over the fellowship period).

Eligibility Criteria

• Fellows are expected to come from various disciplinary and cultural backgrounds to engage in exchanges with other open climate practitioners alongside activists, researchers, emerging leaders and other individuals working at the intersection of the open movement and the climate crisis, to support new and existing initiatives and ongoing research and pilots. Fellows will also help develop an Open Climate Agenda for 2030, and community-engagement activities to deliver on mission and core values.
• Open Climate seeks seven (7) mid career professionals for the 2023 Open Climate Fellowship Program. They welcome applicants from backgrounds across the open and climate movements such as researchers, activists, developers, and educators who are excited to:
  • Explore the intersections between open technology projects and the climate crisis.
  • Connect with new people working with open technologies and/or climate and environmental justice, coordinating with their  team to put ideas, projects and partnerships out into the world. Network development, community building, and sharing ideas are always at the top of your mind.
  • Center the expansion of the knowledge commons for addressing climate change in your work.
• In addition, They ask that candidates have some of the following:
  • Practical experience with free and open source development practices and communities.
  • Relevant experience working with grassroots movements and/or community led programs.
  • Knowledge about open community projects (for instance in FOSS, Open Hardware, or Wikipedia)
  • Knowledge about climate justice, climate change, and/or the environmental crisis.
  • Experience communicating in a multicultural, diverse environment, with ability to communicate in English for an international audience.
• And a few practicalities:
  • Applicants should have proficiency in English to engage with the fellowship program. Fellowship outputs are able to be created in other languages.
  • Some availability to meet and participate in activities between 1-4PM UTC
  • An initial idea to explore, which will evolve and materialize over the course of the fellowship.
  • They welcome application material in different formats that will best help to distill your idea – video and audio in addition to text are acceptable.
  • They encourage people who identify as Most Affected People and Areas to apply.

For more information, visit Open Climate Fellowship.