ICDE Fellowship for PhD Students and Postdocs in Digital Economy, AI, and Cooperative Studies The New School in United States

The Institute for the Cooperative Digital Economy (ICDE) at The New School is inviting applications for its 2026–2027 Fellowship Program. This global research fellowship is designed for PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, and early-career faculty interested in the intersection of digital systems, artificial intelligence, and cooperative or solidarity-economy organizations. The program supports empirically grounded, comparative, and theoretically robust research on digital infrastructures, including platforms, AI systems, data regimes, and algorithmic management, as they evolve across diverse institutional and social contexts.

ICDE encourages interdisciplinary inquiry, welcoming perspectives from social sciences, law, media studies, science and technology studies, and organizational research. Priority research themes include Worker-Led AI and Cooperative AI Systems, AI Systems Within Cooperative Platform Economies, Inactive or Failed Platform Cooperatives, State-Facilitated and Public-Interest Platform Cooperatives, Measuring Impact and Viability, Rethinking Digital Solidarity in the Global South, and Imagining the Solidarity Stack. The fellowship is particularly interested in research that addresses governance, institutional design, and inequality in digital economies, with a focus on real-world practices and constraints.

The fellowship is non-residential and remote, but all fellows are required to attend and present at the Platform Cooperativism Consortium Conference, which will be held November 12–15, 2026, at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand. The program offers mentorship from ICDE faculty and senior researchers, access to global networks, and travel support for the conference. Fellows are expected to produce a substantial research output and at least one public-facing contribution, engaging with practitioners, organizations, and academic communities.

Applicants should be PhD candidates, post-docs, or junior/early-career faculty, or have equivalent research experience. They must demonstrate engagement with cooperatives, unions, or collective initiatives, present a clear research question grounded in real-world cases, and show capacity for collaborative work. Familiarity with cooperative, labor, or solidarity-economy contexts is expected. Collaborative or paired applications are also welcome.

ICDE is based at The New School in New York City, a university with a strong tradition of social justice and interdisciplinary research. The Platform Cooperativism Consortium (PCC) convenes a global network of scholars, cooperators, policymakers, and organizers, and the annual conference serves as the intellectual anchor of the fellowship. Research outputs are expected to be accessible and relevant to practitioners and organizations in the cooperative and solidarity-economy sectors.

Applications are due by January 20, 2026. For more information and to apply, visit the provided links.