Applied Data Fellowship (ADF)

The UChicago Applied Data Fellowship is a unique opportunity to spend one year working to design and implement high impact programs with government, nonprofits and social enterprises in the United States. Specifically, Fellows will work to help translate data-driven insights into actionable policy recommendations, new programs, and operational changes for the partners they serve.

Fellows will be directly embedded into government, non-profit, and social enterprise host institutions for one year. In addition to hands-on experience implementing data insights and working closely with senior-level stakeholders, Fellows will also receive managerial oversight from experienced development-sector consultants and technical support in the form of data analysis training and oversight. Fellows will also receive one-on-one career support through the year so as to help meet their post-fellowship career goals.

Typical project types are 1) Policy, advocacy, and project management, 2) Data analysis and visualizations, and 3) Data engineering and more complex data science work.

Fellows will be provided with a living stipend of $47,000 for the year and a separate reimbursable health insurance stipend up to $5,000. This amount is scaled up for placements in cities with a higher cost of living than Chicago. Upon selection for the Applied Data Fellowship, there will be an ADF led matching process. The ADF allows partners to drive the final placement of Fellow(s) on their teams as it facilitates additional buy-in from their organization.

Eligibility

• This application is primarily intended for those candidates who are graduating from their respective academic programs in 2026 and/or are already working full-time. This is a full-time commitment for 12 months. If you are graduating in 2027 or you are not available to work full time in 2026, please wait for the next cycle of recruitment.
• Should have a good understanding of public policy, strong data analysis skills, project management, and a deep desire to innovate and operationalize programs within the government, non-profit and social enterprise sectors to achieve impact.
• Only applicants with permanent work authorization in the US, or international students able to use the full 12-months of their OPT work authorization or J-1 Academic Training, are eligible for the program.