10 U.S. based institutions of higher education will be awarded up to $150,000

(SAN FRANCISCO, CA | WEDNESDAY, FEB 1) — The academic siloing of computing as discrete from the humanities, library and information sciences, social sciences, or a myriad of other disciplines, has graduated generations of people who then go on to build, design, and engineer the very technologies which have become ubiquitous in nearly every aspect of our lives. Too often these silos are reproduced in their work. We can herald the exponential advancements in tech which we have experienced in the last decades. But we are equally aware of the harms and shortcomings often mirroring society's analog ills. The Responsible Computing Challenge Team seeks to upend the segregation of talent and the creative solutions they can produce.

A proponent of advancing computing education, the Responsible Computing Challenge (RCC), is today proud to open applications for 2023 (Apply Here). Launched in 2018, the RCC (formerly known as the Responsible Computer Science Challenge) was started to spotlight and award promising approaches to developing more socially responsible undergraduate curricula and pedagogy in computing and technology-related fields. Just over four years later, the RCC has impacted 50,000 students and 60 faculty members from across 19 universities and colleges across the US with 100 distinct new courses being developed.

Building on what we learned during the first phase of the US challenge, this second call prioritizes this interdisciplinary approach by supporting a new wave of technologists who will be educated, by combining expertise from academic and industry practitioners in computing, humanities, library and information science, and social science.

The goal is to support technologists who will: 1) understand social and historical context, 2) think more critically about the design and use of technology, 3) deploy cultural sensitivity to recognize when and how technology work may perpetuate or deepen inequality, and 4) create visions for more equitable systems across the technology sector and in related fields to ultimately build more responsible and ethical tools, applications, platforms, policies, and social norms.

Says Steve Azeka, Program Lead for the Responsible Computing Challenge:

“It is important that we move towards more intersectional technology education. For too long the industry has looked solely at those trained exclusively in computing. Having people who have also critically engaged with culture and society through the humanities, for example, can help us imagine a different future.”

“It is important that we move towards more intersectional technology education. For too long the industry has looked solely at those trained exclusively in computing. Having people who have also critically engaged with culture and society through the humanities, for example, can help us imagine a different future.”

Steve Azeka, Program Lead for the Responsible Computing Challenge

Supported by the Mellon Foundation, Omidyar Network, Schmidt Futures, Craig Newmark Philanthropies, and Mozilla, RCC has two funding tracks available:

  • Track I (up to $100,000): Track I awards up to $100,000 to a single institution for one year to support the conceptualization, development, and piloting of approaches that integrate responsible computing into existing undergraduate courses in the Humanities, Library and Information Science, Social Sciences, Computer Science, or closely related disciplines. This might look like the integration of computing topics into an existing undergraduate humanities course in ways that address the social-justice implications of relevant tech, or the integration of humanities topics into existing computing courses to highlight the kinds of knowledge needed to make responsible computing choices. Prioritized projects will broaden the diversity of perspectives in technology and represent those groups disproportionately impacted by technological harms. 

  • Track II (up to $150,000): Track II awards up to $150,000 to partnerships across departments or universities/ colleges for one year to support the interdisciplinary conceptualization, development, and piloting of a scaled approach to integrating responsible computing into existing undergraduate courses across the Humanities, Library and Information Sciences, Social Sciences, and Computational fields. This might look, for instance, like computer science and gender and sexuality studies faculty coming together to revise multiple courses and/or allow cross-listing across departments for courses that integrate their approach to responsible computing.

To see technology change, it is important for the next generation of practitioners to be trained and comfortable with thinking about the societal impacts of technology as they are developing it.

To apply for the Responsible Computing Challenge, follow this link. For questions specific to the Responsible Computing Challenge, please attend an optional applicant informational webinar in February (sign up here) or contact Steven Azeka at [email protected]. For questions about the Fluxx application platform, please contact [email protected]. 

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Press contact: Shandukani Mulaudzi, [email protected]