Call for Proposals: Feminist Internet Research Network
Deadline: 24-Feb-22
The Association for Progressive Communications Women’s Rights Programme (APC WRP) is inviting applications for the Feminist Internet Research Network for an organization to submit a research proposal as part of the growing network of researchers, scholars, and activists who are part of the Feminist Internet Research Network (FIRN).
This cycle of the FIRN project will undertake data-driven research on critical and emerging issues related to internet policy discussions and decision making, specifically in Africa and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, with a thematic focus on gender-based violence.
Objective
The following few objectives are indicative of this intention:
To better understand gender-based violence online.
To establish survivor-centered research and responses that take into account the descriptions of violence, harm, and trauma that don’t necessarily fit within existing legal categories or even popular or feminist discourse.
To explore the role of the private sector and social media companies as an important component of the de/escalation of violence in online platforms.
To propose a feminist policy advocacy framework with a particular focus on institutional, behavioral, societal, and individual responses against online GBV with recommendations for safe and violence-free use of digital platforms.
Research Questions
What forms of discrimination and exclusion do women and gender-diverse and LGBTIQ people encounter because of social, economic, and political changes driven by the internet, and what are how this is addressed or challenged by infrastructure they build, and the movements, spaces, and networks that they occupy?
What are the challenges and opportunities in policy and infrastructure about the making of a feminist internet? And what are the learnings and insights from feminist and queer movements and spaces that could critically address geopolitical contexts and transnational dynamics towards making the policy and infrastructure needed for a feminist internet?
Funding Information
The research budget is USD 25,000 per project, which includes all costs related to the research for its entire duration.
Eligibility Criteria
They will accept applications from individuals and organizations
You can also apply as a research team.
All applications should identify a lead researcher and host institution.
Any type of legal entity, including universities, research centers, and civil society organizations, can host the lead researcher.
The lead researcher does not necessarily need to be working at the host institution at the time when the proposal is submitted.
Selection Process and Criteria
The FIRN network aims to support the implementation of up to four research projects to be completed within one year. Selection will be made in consultation with a group of peer network advisors made up of four individuals who have different experience, knowledge, and expertise in the field, based on the following criteria:
Relevance to the thematic priority and project aims, in particular, to meet knowledge gaps.
Integration of feminist research methodology and theory. They welcome innovative approaches in this respect, particularly on feminist digital research methodology and theory.
Integration of a feminist and intersectional approach.
Potential impact on and contribution to the realization of a feminist internet and policy advocacy from the specific area of the research.
Feasibility.
Regional, thematic and methodological balance.
For more information, visit https://www.apc.org/en/news/feminist-internet-research-network-call-research-proposals-0