Call for experts for short-term assignment on discrimination in algorithmic hiring from an intersectional perspective

Outline

FINDHR, a multidisciplinary project funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe (grant agreement 101070212), is seeking proposals to complete a short-term consultancy on discrimination affecting marginalized groups in the European labor market in the context of algorithmic hiring. FINDHR is seeking proposals for three expert reports, which should be completed by the end of November 2023.

What is algorithmic hiring? We understand algorithmic hiring to include all job-seeking and recruitment activities through digital platforms that use data analysis methods, including but not limited to machine learning and/or artificial intelligence (AI). 

Experts can be academic researchers, or other professionals with research experience (understood in a broad sense), including civil society activists and policymakers. We seek experts who have a deep understanding and experience of workingwith marginalized and/or underrepresented group(s) in Europe and who are used to working with an intersectional perspective. 

We expect an element of fieldwork in any kind of format to be part of the proposal. This fieldwork could be (among other things), participatory action research, focus groups, surveys, and/or interviews, online and face-to-face.

The reports are meant to inform FINDHR consortium partners and a larger audience involved in anti-discrimination efforts, policies and practices related to algorithmic hiring, such as researchers on fairness, accountability, transparency, regulation, and ethics of algorithms, product managers and technical development staff in recruitment companies and job search portals, human resources experts, policymakers, worker representatives, and civil society actors. This means that reports can help formulate recommendations relevant to stakeholders. 

FINDHR consortium partners will use the reports as inputs to work on three key outputs of the project: (1) an impact assessment and auditing framework; (2) an equality monitoring protocol; (3) a software development guide for AI-driven hiring software. Further Information about the FINDHR project can be found at www.findhr.eu

A wide spectrum of proposals will be considered. We will expect experts who have both creativity and interest to present innovative ideas: 

• One example could be focusing on researching a particular intersection in the type of discrimination people face in the (online) hiring practices of the labor market when belonging to a particular group, such as migrant and refugee women.
• Another example could be a proposal that includes interviews in focus groups with relevant experts from discriminated groups to develop and propose an intersectional feminist approach to online hiring.

We expect communication with FINDHR throughout the research, with at least one online meeting with FINDHR representatives per month during the execution of the proposal (execution will be during August-November 2023).

Authors are strongly encouraged to use a Creative Commons Attribution license (CC-BY) in their work, and remain free to post their report or an extended version of it on their websites, on a pre-print repository, and/or as a formal publication, acknowledging the funding received from FINDHR using acknowledgment text provided by the Horizon Europe program.

Authors retain the copyright for their work and grant FINDHR a non-exclusive, royalty-free perpetual license to publish the final report, which will be posted on the www.findhr.eu website, crediting authors.

Eligibility

Who can apply?

Mandatory requirements:

• Individual researchers or experts working as professionals in Europe, with or without affiliation (e.g. in the civil society sector, an academic field, public body, private company and/ or independently). An expert can form a team of people to implement the assignment, though the contract is only with the individual.
• Fluency in written English is required (B2-C2 level), as the report will be delivered in English.
• Documented research experience in the topic described in the proposal.
• Applicants must be eligible to participate in public contracting according to the legislation of their country.

Desired requirements:

• We strongly encourage applications from experts who have extensive experience with marginalized groups in Europe facing intersected discrimination, for example through their community connections, activism, collaboration with groups through research or policy work, and/or any other relevant experiences.

Application template and documents

Please complete the application form [online] before 23.59 CET, 7 June 2023, including:

• The name and contact information of the expert
• The title of the proposal
• The expert acknowledgment that the expert is eligible to participate in public contracting according to the legislation of their country; this includes having a tax id number, being able to sign a contract and responsible declaration with UPF to accept this assignment, and being able to produce an invoice for UPF after delivering the work.
• The four following documents in PDF format, ideally formatted in 11 points font, single-spaced, with margins of 2 cm. or more:

(1) Proposal, with a total length not exceeding 1,800 words plus unlimited space for the bibliography, including a title, research goals, methodology/plan, timeline, and bibliography.

(2) Budget (total length of 2 pages), detailing expenses to a maximum of €20,000 (gross). All expenses in the budget must be appropriately justified. Please note that the compensations are indicated as gross compensation, which means that the employer´s (UPF) taxes will be applied.

(3) A cover letter of one page introducing the expert and summarizing the proposal. 

(4) An up-to-date CV of the expert.

Selection Criteria

• The cover letter and experience outlined in the CV will be reviewed in terms of the requirements set out above.
• The proposal will be assessed based on its quality, addition to existing knowledge, practice and theory, and relevance to the description above. 
• The committee aims to select a diverse set of proposals.

Selection Process 

• A selection committee made up of the staff of WIDE+ (www.wideplus.org) and Praksis (www.praksis.gr) will facilitate the first steps of the selection process and select the qualifying proposals fulfilling the minimum mandatory criteria.
• Qualifying proposals will be reviewed by the selection committee, formed by representatives of FINDHR's advisory board, together with one representative of WIDE+ and Praksis.
• A maximum of 6 to 9 applicants will be selected for an interview with the selection committee.
• Selected applicants will sign a contract and a responsible declaration with UPF which will include specific requirements following UPF’s practices regarding contracts.
• All applicants will be notified of the committee’s decision in July.

Benefits

Each expert will receive a gross financial compensation of a maximum of €20,000. The amount of nominal payment is expected to be paid at the final delivery. Please note that the compensations are indicated as GROSS compensation, which means that the employer´s (UPF) taxes will be applied.

Duration

Time Frame

• 9 May 2023 -- call opens
• 7 June 2023 at 23:59:00 – deadline for submission of applications
• 19-30 June 2023 – interviews 
• July 2023 -- the signing of contracts and responsible declarations
• August-November 2023 -- implementation of work
• 30 November 2023 -- deadline for a report delivered to FINDHR

Questions about this call can be directed to the coordinator of FINDHR's project Tamara Vorobyeva at findhr@upf.edu, who will forward them to Gea Meijers from WIDE+.