The Racial Justice Fellowship was established in collaboration with the Ada Lovelace Institute, with support from the AHRC, and in response to the peripheral position of racial-justice aspects in data and AI ethics research. The Fellowship was designed to connect and fund individuals locating and filling this gap in ethical thinking. 

An open invitation was made to anyone with relevant research, policy experience, or applicable creative skills, who wanted to explore the interlocking and contested issues of data, AI, Blackness, and racial justice through a research or creative project. 

Applicants were asked to propose work that would develop anti-racist and decolonial perspectives on data and AI, address structural and systemic inequalities, and shape the field by investigating ethics in new ways while foregrounding overlooked scholars and perspectives. They additionally submitted a CV that evidenced their relevant experience and expertise without any minimum academic requirements. 

The request for submissions inspired 98 project proposals from academic and policy researchers and creative practitioners. The Commissioning Board, composed of a diverse group of members, including leading BIPOC scholars and practitioners in academia, industry, and the arts, met to review the quality of the applications and the potential impact of applicants’ work during the course of their six-month fellowship. The selection process sought to balance an assessment of the qualities of the proposed project and the qualities of the person applying, reward potential and emerging talent (rather than previous recipients of funding or recognition), and help redress historical imbalances resulting in the underrepresentation of people from racialized communities and backgrounds in public-facing research, creative, and policy roles.  

Four fellowships were appointed to the programme’s first cohort of five fellows each awarded up to £10,000. The fellows chosen were selected based on the commission criteria which also considered how the synergies between their projects would build capacity for interdisciplinary work addressing racial justice in the field of data and AI ethics.

The JUST AI team supported the fellows in designing and delivering their projects by structuring regular conversations with their peers and advisors. The fellows also gained affiliation with the Ada Lovelace Institute for the duration of the program, which provided additional opportunities for interdisciplinary research, policy, and practice.