BITSS Catalysts are academic faculty, graduate students, and other researchers across the quantitative social sciences—including economics, political science, and psychology— who are energized to improve standards of transparency, reproducibility, and ethics in research through infrastructure development, training, and advocacy. While the past two decades have seen exciting advancements in the adoption and effective use of open science tools, we have a long way to go before transparency and reproducibility are the norm. The goal of this program is to connect and empower individuals to make changes in their own classrooms, institutions, and networks, thereby catalyzing large-scale and durable change.
This call for proposals is to join the Catalyst program and to develop a workshop, training, curricula, guidelines, or other open science materials. Examples of suggested activities that the Catalyst program will fund include:
- Training students/colleagues on research transparency and reproducibility
- Integrating research transparency topics into existing curricula/courses, seminars, and workshops
- Conducting meta-research
- Pre-registering your studies
- Writing and publishing Pre-Analysis Plans
- Conducting computational reproductions, ideally logging them in the Social Science Reproduction Platform!
- Making your study materials, data, and code publicly available
- Advocating for better standards and policies around transparency, reproducibility, and ethics in research
More information about the proposal requirements are available in the application form. Proposals will be evaluated by the BITSS committee for innovation, feasibility, alignment with the program goals, and potential impact. Here is a summary of the scope:
- This call for proposals is international in scope.
- Applicants may apply as an individual, or as a consortium of researchers. There are no organizational or career stage requirements.
- Proposed projects should take place between January 1, 2026 - June 30, 2026. Final reports will be due by August 31, 2026.
- Typical project awards are from $1,000 - $3,000 USD. Please begin the application form for more information about the funding available and budget guidance.
- All materials (including curricula, agendas, and training slides) must be made publicly available upon conclusion of the project.
To see information about previously funded Catalyst grants, please see the BITSS website.
Project proposals are due on Tuesday, September 30, 2025. Selected Catalysts will be notified by November 1, 2025. If you have any questions about the proposal form, please contact jweech@berkeley.edu.
Location: Fully remote, with the option to work from our offices in Berkeley, CA
Duration: 3 months (through December 2025)
Position Type: Paid, Part-time, 10 hours/week (25% FTE)
Start Date: ASAP
CEGA is seeking a highly motivated undergraduate intern to support its Data Science for Development (DS4D) and Conflict & Governance research portfolios for Fall 2025. The recruited intern will report to Sr. Program Manager Sean Luna McAdams. This is an opportunity to contribute to research and policy work at the intersection of data science, global development, and political economy.
Background
The Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA) is a hub for research, training and innovation headquartered at the University of California, Berkeley. We generate insights that decision-makers can use to improve policies, programs, and people’s lives. Our best-in-class academic network includes nearly 200 faculty, 78 scholars from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)—primarily from East and West Africa, and hundreds of graduate students from diverse academic disciplines who produce rigorous evidence about what works to expand education, health, and economic opportunities for people living in poverty. Our business model involves curating policy-relevant research agendas in collaboration with development leaders, overseeing competitive grant-making to answer critical questions, investing in research capacity, and strategically connecting research and ideas to inform decision-making by governments, NGOs, and the private sector.
CEGA’s DS4D program supports the use of machine learning, remote sensing, and administrative data to address development challenges in low- and middle-income countries. Our flagship effort, the Togo Data Lab, is building a data science center of excellence within the Ministry of Digital Economy and Transformation of the Republic of Togo. It seeks to empower the government, and the broader Togolese innovation ecosystem, to apply AI tools to improve service delivery, policy design, and social impact more broadly. CEGA’s Conflict & Governance program supports research on two core themes: how to strengthen public institutions and accountability in low-capacity settings, and how conflict dynamics shape development outcomes. Through initiatives like Security Networks and Contested Orders, CEGA investigates how local and international actors interact to shape security governance both across regions and within countries.
Primary responsibilities will include:
- Supporting the administration of grant and fellowship programs (e.g., sending acceptance letters, assisting with fellowship disbursements, tracking timelines)
- Scheduling, coordinating, and note-taking for meetings with research teams and collaborators
- Drafting technical and non-technical content to help disseminate research findings, including blog posts, project summaries, and internal memos
- Assisting with other programmatic tasks as needed, based on weekly priorities and the intern’s interests and strengths
Required Qualifications:
- Undergraduate student at UC Berkeley studying global development, social science, public policy, or other relevant fields. Familiarity with data science and computational methods is a plus.
- Strong attention to detail
- Excellent written and oral communication skills
- Strong ability to anticipate, plan, prioritize, and meet deadlines
Desired Qualifications:
- Pell grant (work-study) recipient
- Experience with social media, communications, and design
- Experience with Salesforce
- Experience working with cross-functional and multicultural teams
- Excellent attention to detail
- Self-directed and intrinsically motivated worker with a proven capacity to support multiple projects at once, and be responsive to time-sensitive deadlines
- Knowledge of WordPress and Mailchimp
- Commitment to scientific, evidence-led international development policy and capacity building in low-income countries
Hours and Compensation
CEGA compensates undergraduate student interns at $23/hour. We anticipate the intern working 10 hours per week (25% FTE).
Duration
Approximate dates: Tuesday, September 2nd, 2025 through Friday, December 19th.
Appointment Details and How to Apply
Please submit a one-page cover letter and CV as one PDF with the naming convention “LastName_FirstName_DS4DInternFall25” via our Submittable portal.
The first review of applications will occur from August 4-6, after which applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.
A minimum of $50,000 will be available to alumni of the CEGA fellowship network and all PhD Students and Faculty Affiliates at CEGA-Affiliated campuses. We offer two types of awards to support original research in East Africa related to the topics above:
(1) travel grants up to $5,000 for scoping and/or short-term fieldwork;
(2) seed grants up to $20,000 for extensive, longer-term projects.
The Pharo Foundation has generously provided funds to support original research relevant to Somaliland and Western Ethiopia. Preference will be given to proposals examining research ideas that directly connect to existing Pharo Foundation programs or initiatives. Specifically, CEGA and the Pharo Foundation are eager to support evaluations examining the following:
- Rainwater harvesting and water access in Somaliland
- Vocational skills training in Somaliland and Ethiopia
- Farmer outgrower programs for crop processing in Ethiopia
- Educational technology in East Africa
- Workforce skills transformation in the context of AI in East Africa
Deadline: August 24, 2025 at 11:59 PM Pacific Time
Eligibility: Alumni of the CEGA fellowship program, doctoral students, and CEGA Faculty Affiliates can apply. We encourage collaborative proposals across the three eligibility groups as well. For doctoral students and fellows, each application must include a nomination from a CEGA faculty affiliate sponsor. The nomination must be emailed to Sam Bordia (bordia@berkeley.edu) by the submission deadline (simply stating, "I have reviewed the proposed research and agree to nominate the applicant for this award" is adequate).
Application Process: Please complete the Application Form. Applications must include a proposal describing the research (no more than 2 pages) and a budget. All materials must be submitted in a single PDF file.
Please email Sam Bordia (bordia@berkeley.edu) with any inquiries.