Deadline:
July 12, 2026
Program Starts: January 18, 2027
Program Ends: April 09, 2027
Location(s)
United Kingdom
Winter Fellows will join us in London from 18 January to 9 April 2027.
Overview
Details
We welcome a wide range of applicants, from early-career individuals to experienced researchers or policy professionals with established track records in adjacent fields. We think this track would be an especially good fit for candidates interested in contributing to AI governance in roles in which producing or consuming research or policy analysis is one of the main duties.
About the Team
GovAI was founded to help decision-makers navigate the transition to a world with advanced AI, by producing rigorous research and fostering talent. Our researchers have published in top venues, including Science and Nature, and work closely with decision-makers across government, industry, and civil society. Our alumni have gone on to influential roles in government (US, UK, EU), leading AI companies (e.g. Anthropic, DeepMind, OpenAI), top think tanks (e.g. CSET,RAND), and leading universities (e.g. Oxford, Cambridge).
Our team and affiliate community possess expertise across risk management, threat modelling, frontier AI regulation, technical governance, agent governance, AI economics, international cooperation, US-China relations, and AI forecasting. Since publishing our first research agenda in 2018, we have helped define and shape the field of AI governance.
About the Fellowship
Seasonal Fellows on the Research Track join GovAI to conduct independent research on a topic of their choice, with mentorship from leading experts in the field. Each fellow is paired with a supervisor from the GovAI team or network. They spend the first two weeks of the fellowship exploring the AI governance landscape, before settling on a research proposal with input from their supervisors. Their research could result in a report, white paper, journal article, op-ed, or blog post targeted at an audience relevant to AI governance. The Research Managers and our broader team will offer additional support in deciding what project and output would be most valuable for the fellow to work toward.
Alongside their projects, fellows will also invest time in upskilling on AI governance and widening their professional network. GovAI will organize a series of Q&A sessions with AI governance experts, weekly seminars aimed at developing subject-matter knowledge, workshops for building relevant skills, work-in-progress meetings that facilitate peer-to-peer feedback, and social events. Fellows will also be encouraged to discuss follow-on career opportunities with our team and network.
Opportunity is About
Eligibility
Candidates should be from:
Description of Ideal Candidate
Qualifications and Selection Criteria
We strongly encourage you to apply if you are interested in using your career to help decision-makers navigate the transition to a world with advanced AI.
We are interested in candidates from a broad set of professional backgrounds, including those with experience in government, academia, industry, or civil society. There are no specific requirements for the role, although we expect that the most promising candidates will typically have relevant graduate study, research experience, or professional experience in policy or related areas. Relevant areas of expertise include – but are by no means limited to – public policy, political science, computer science, economics, biosecurity, cybersecurity, China studies, and risk management (e.g. assurance and auditing).
When assessing applications, we will be looking for candidates who have the following strengths or show positive signs of being able to develop them:
- Quality of work: The ability to produce clearly written, insightful, and even-handed research. We are particularly excited about strong reasoning ability, and clear and concise writing.
- Relevant expertise: Skills or knowledge that are likely to be helpful for work on AI governance. We think that relevant expertise can take many different forms. Note that we also do not have any strict degree requirements.
- Judgement: The ability to prioritise between different research directions, and good intuitions about the feasibility of different research directions.
- Team fit: Openness to feedback, commitment to intellectual honesty and rigour, comfort in expressing uncertainty, and a serious interest in using your career to contribute to AI governance.
Dates
Deadline: July 12, 2026
Program starts:
January 18, 2027
Program ends:
April 09, 2027
Program Starts: January 18, 2027
Program Ends: April 09, 2027
Cost/funding for participants
Salary, Duration, and Location
Winter Fellows will join for three months, between 18 January and 9 April, in our office in London, UK. Fellows will receive a salary of £12,000, plus support for travelling to London. While in London, we provide our Fellows with lunch on weekdays and a desk in our London office. This is intended to be a full-time and in-person role. We are able to sponsor 3-month temporary work visas. For successful applicants who require a visa, note that you will need to remain in your country of visa application for some time while the visa application is underway.
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