Applications now being accepted for OPRAmachine Pro access for public-interest & scholarly research

Back in February, we announced plans to accept applications from the community for a new public-interest initiative, the OPRAmachine Research Fellowship.

We planned to start moving forward with this in March, but the world rapidly changed when COVID-19 struck. Given the well-documented delays in responses to OPRA requests at the height of the pandemic, we felt that it wouldn’t be prudent to award the fellowships in the spring as originally planned.

Despite the challenges of COVID-19, OPRAmachine has continued to process thousands of public records requests and is maturing into a robust research platform, as catalogued by the publication of a peer-reviewed journal article describing our data and infrastructure.

Applications now open

Since New Jersey is beginning to gradually reopen, we feel that now is a good time to resume the program, so we are pleased to share that we are once again accepting applications.

We will be awarding a limited number of free accounts on the OPRAmachine Pro platform to support the development of public-interest research regarding public policy issues in New Jersey.

5 fellows that are competitively selected will receive 1 year of free access to OPRAmachine Pro, with the expectation that they publish and share their findings with the public for the topic that they propose.

Pro access allows for the batch submission of an unlimited number of OPRA requests, enabling comparative research across municipal, state and county government agencies in New Jersey using data obtained via a batch of OPRA requests. This feature is not available to free users to prevent abuse.

How to apply

Click here to access the application form

Please note: if you previously applied when applications were first opened, no further action is required on your part. We will consider your original application, or you may revise your existing proposal.

Timeline:

• 9/13/2020 Application window reopened

• 10/01/2020 Deadline to apply

• 10/09/2020 Winners announced