Pivotal Research Fellowship applications are open (deadline May 3)

Tobias H
Mon, 20 Apr 2026 13:12:52 GMT

AI may be the most consequential technology humanity builds, and whether it goes well depends in large part on how many talented people are working seriously on making it go well. The Pivotal Research Fellowship (a 9-week in-person research program in London) is our attempt to grow that group.

Our 2026 Q3 cohort runs June 29 – August 28. Applications close May 3. Apply here.

Quick facts

Dates: June 29 – August 28, 2026 (9 weeks).

Location: In-person at LISA (London Initiative for Safe AI).

Extensions: Up to 6 months of continued funding, mentorship, and workspace for strong projects.

Mentors: Researchers from UK AISI, Google DeepMind, Redwood Research, SecureBio, GovAI, Apollo, and more. Full list.

Stipend: £6,000 (Fellow) or £8,000 (Senior Fellow), plus travel, £2,000 towards housing if you're not in London, weekday meals, and compute.

Eligibility: Anyone 18+ serious about contributing to AI going well. Past fellows have ranged from first-year undergraduates to PhDs to experienced professionals without university degrees.

Deadline: May 3, 2026. Decisions by May 22.

Our lovely 2026 Q1 cohort

What the fellowship is

For 9 weeks, fellows work in person at LISA on a research project with an external mentor. Each fellow gets weekly 1:1s with their mentor, weekly support from a Pivotal Research Manager who helps with scoping, blockers, and career planning, and a cohort of ~25 peers working on adjacent problems.

For strong projects, we offer up to 6 months of extension funding, mentorship, and workspace after the core program. In our last cohort the extensions had an acceptance of ~90% of, and it has become a substantial part of what the fellowship offers.

Outputs are typically a paper or policy brief, with blog posts and other formats also common. Fellows retain ownership of their research. You can see projects from our last cohort and a selection of past research outputs.

Browse the mentor list to see whether there's research you'd be excited to work on. In our experience, a strong match with a specific mentor can often matter more than your overall background.

What has happened so far

Across seven cohorts and 129 alumni, fellows have gone on to work at UK AISI, GovAI, SaferAI, IAPS, AI Futures Project, Anthropic's Fellowship, Timaeus, DeepMind, Cooperative AI Foundation, and elsewhere. A handful have founded organizations (PRISM Evals, Catalyze Impact, Moirai). Others have started PhDs at Oxford, Stanford, EPFL, and Max Planck.

Fellows rate the program highly (8.8/10 for quality, and 9.1/10 on peer recommendation with a NPS of 64). We take this seriously but not too seriously, as satisfaction scores could be easily gamed and they're not the same as research impact.

Should you apply?

If you're reading this and want to do a research or policy career in AI safety, probably yes.

Acceptance rates at programs like ours are in the 1–5% range (ours is typically around 3%), which sounds intimidating but shouldn't do most of the work in your decision. If your interests and background seem like a plausible fit, applying is usually worth it. We've written a short post with a simple EV calculator that's worth a look if you're unsure.

We've shortened the application this round: the main form should take most people under an hour, and each mentor-specific section should take 15–30 minutes. One of the things the EV calculator made clear is that application time is a meaningful part of the cost for many applicants, so we've tried to cut it where we could without losing signal. Shortlisted candidates then do a short video interview, a mentor-specific work task, and a personal interview.

Apply

Apply by May 3. If you know someone who'd be a great fit, recommending them earns you $1,000 if we accept them.

We are also currently looking for Research Managers in AI safety and Biodefense, if you are excited in playing an active role in shaping our fellowship!

Happy to answer questions in the comments.

Discuss