Eligibility Criteria

Applicants should have a minimum of 3 years of professional experience.
Fellows can choose to participate in the Fellowship either individually or in teams. Each Fellowship project must possess the following skillsets:
1. data science skills
2. deep social sector understanding

These skills can either be held by a single Fellow or shared among multiple Fellows within a project team.

**For Fellows applying in teams:

The Fellow possessing data science skills must have a minimum of 3 years of experience and hold a Bachelor's degree in STEM/social science with a quantitative focus.
The Fellow with a deep understanding of the social sector must have a minimum of 3 years of professional experience in the social sector

Application Requirements

The ISDM CDSSI Fellowship 2024-25: Digital Open Solutions (DOS) for Social Impact commences on 15^th March 2024 with an orientation.
The deadline for submitting applications is 29^th January, 2024.
Fellows who opt to work in teams will need to submit their applications collectively as a team.

The applications should include the following:

Resume: Applicants must submit a professional resume detailing their academic background, technical skills, and relevant work experience. Fellows intending to work in teams should submit separate resumes for each team member. Fellows must:
- Highlight contributions to projects relevant to the Fellowship, such as the development of applications, AI models, open-source tools, dashboards.
- Provide details of any work experience in the social impact domain (social, public, or private sector).
Project Proposal: Applicants must submit a detailed project proposal that includes:
- Description of the DOS: Include details on features, functionalities, the technology stack employed, UI/UX considerations, integration with other systems, and compatibility.
- Benefits for stakeholders: Clearly articulate the specific problem or opportunity that the DOS aims to address and outline the benefits that stakeholders in the social sector will derive from its use.
- Development approach and methodology: Elaborate on the approach to be adopted for understanding user needs, data preparation, algorithm development, prototyping, development iterations, testing, user feedback incorporation, documentation plan, and deployment and release.
- Phase-wise work plan: Provide a detailed phase-wise work plan for an 11-month timeline. Allocate at least one month for closing activities, encompassing the development of the final report, product launch, and presentation of the DOS at a symposium.
Mentors: Applicants must provide a professional bio of their intended mentor.
- Mentors should be experienced individuals who have worked in the field of data science, including senior professionals from the social/public/ private sector, and academics.
- Fellows must ensure beforehand that their mentors are willing to devote time for periodic check-ins and monitoring project progress.
Datasets: Applicants must provide a summary of the dataset they will utilise for developing the DOS.
- The DOS can be crafted using open/public data or data owned by a social purpose organisation (NGO, non-profit organisation, social enterprise, etc.).
- If the DOS project is based on data from an SPO, Fellows are expected to obtain the datasets directly from the SPO.
- If the DOS project is based on open/public data, please provide a link to the data source.