Fellowship, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University

Description:

The Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University seeks an extraordinary full-time, salaried employee fellow to join the Center’s Lumen project.  The fellowship provides the opportunity to develop substantive and scholarly work on the global takedown and intermediary liability landscape, especially as it relates to the major challenges of the current moment.

Lumen is a research project collecting and studying requests and demands of all kinds --both legitimate and questionable-- to remove material from online, including copyright takedown notices, government requests and court orders.  The project’s goals are to encourage and facilitate both research and transparency about the different kinds of complaints and requests for removal that are being sent to Internet publishers and service providers, and to provide as much information as possible about such notices -- of which Lumen’s database contains over twelve million, referencing the removal of approximately 4.5 billion URLs --  in terms of who is sending them and why, and to what effect.

The fellow will be a core member of the Lumen team along with Lumen’s Project Manager, Lead Software Engineer, and Principal Investigator, as well as a member of the broader Berkman Klein academic community. The fellow’s primary responsibility will be to incubate and support the program’s internal research efforts by conducting scholarly or policy-oriented research relying on the information in Lumen’s database.  Additionally, the fellow will work where appropriate with external researchers working with Lumen data; join the project team as a thought partner regarding Lumen’s efforts to work with data providers, help develop researcher tools, manage data in the database; and contribute to the organization and hosting of a planned series of multi-stakeholder convenings (most saliently regarding best practices for online takedown transparency and research). The fellow will have an opportunity to write, speak, and engage with the media on topics relevant to Lumen’s work.

In these various capacities, the fellow will cultivate and support relationships among Harvard faculty and experts in related fields, and engage with a range of stakeholders in broader research and policy circles; plan, communicate, and execute internal and external meetings and events; produce internal updates and reports; conduct research and contribute to program publications; coordinate public-facing communications in conjunction with the Berkman Klein Center’s communications manager; provide additional support to project and Center activities as needed; and potentially supervise research assistants and summer interns involved in the program.

The fellowship is a full-time position based in Cambridge, MA through June 30, 2021, with possible extension based on funding and business needs.

Qualifications:

Required:

Advanced degree in a relevant field of study, such as law, the social sciences, media, or computation.

Additional:

Previous experience working in the substantive area of online content regulation and removal, intermediary liability, or a developing expertise in a related area is strongly preferred.

Excellent writing and verbal skills, sound judgment, exceptional ethical standards, and proven ability in interpersonal communication, supervision, and team building are essential. The ideal candidate must be proactive and accountable, and be equipped to manage multiple commitments, competing deadlines, and shifting priorities. Flexibility, adaptability, and the ability to multitask while in a team environment are critical. The fellow must be capable of balancing the many goals of the program, including communications, research, networking, and community building. A successful candidate will be a highly motivated self-starter in order to contribute to Lumen’s ambitious objectives.

Application:

Interested applicants can view the posting here.

Applicants should email a cover letter that explains interest and motivation in the role, CV, and relevant writing sample to apply@cyber.harvard.edu. All offers are made by the Harvard Law School Human Resources Office.