GovAI Summer and Winter Fellowships

GovAI’s mission is to help humanity navigate the transition to a world with advanced AI. Our world-class research has helped shape the nascent field of AI governance. Our team and affiliate community possess expertise in a wide variety of domains, including US-China relations, arms race dynamics, EU policy, and AI progress forecasting.

We are looking for early-career individuals or individuals new to the field of AI governance to join our team for three months and learn about the field of AI governance while making connections with other researchers and practitioners. This opportunity will be a particularly good fit for individuals who are excited to use their careers to shape the lasting implications of AI.

About the Fellowship

Summer and Winter Fellows join GovAI to conduct independent research on a topic of their choice, with mentorship from leading experts in the field of AI governance. Fellows will also join a series of Q&A sessions with AI governance experts, research seminars, and researcher work-in-progress meetings. Each Fellow will be paired with a primary mentor from the GovAI team and be introduced to others with relevant interests and expertise, typically from our affiliate and alumni network.

You can read about the topics our previous cohort of Winter Fellows worked on here. 

Past Fellows have gone on to work on AI governance full-time in government or at organisations including GovAI, OpenAI, the AI Now Institute, and RAND. Others have gone on to build relevant expertise at leading universities such as MIT, Stanford University, University College London, and the University of Oxford.‍

2024 Summer Fellowship Cohort

As a Fellow, you will spend the first week or two of the fellowship exploring research topic options before settling on a research proposal with input from your mentors and Ben Garfinkel, GovAI’s Director.

Emma Bluemke, GovAI’s Research Manager, will support you in deciding what project and output will be most valuable for you to work towards, for example, publishing a report, journal article, or blog post. You will also take time to explore the wider AI governance space and discuss follow-on career opportunities in the field of AI governance with our team.‍

Qualifications and Selection Criteria

We strongly encourage you to apply if you have an interest in our work and are considering using your career to study or shape the long-term implications of advanced AI.

Given the multidisciplinary nature of our work, we are interested in candidates from a broad set of disciplines including political science, public policy, history, economics, sociology, law, philosophy, and computer science. We are particularly interested in hosting more researchers with strong technical backgrounds. There are no specific educational requirements for the role, although we expect that the most promising candidates will typically have relevant graduate study or research experience in related areas.

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.

Salary, Duration, and Location

Summer and Winter Fellowships last for three months, and Fellows will receive a stipend of £9,000, plus support for travelling to Oxford. While in Oxford, we provide our Fellows with lunch on weekdays and a desk in our office. This is intended to be a full-time and in-person role, based in Oxford, UK. We are able to sponsor 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. 

Summer Fellows will join for three months, from June to August (precise dates TBC). In exceptional cases, fellows may join us off-season. Please feel free to reach out if you would not be able to join during a standard visiting period.

Applications Process

Applications close 23:59 GMT Sunday 17 December 2023. The application process consists of a written submission in the first round, a remote work test in the second round, and an interview in the final round. The first page of the application form contains a description of the materials required for the first round. We expect to reach out to Summer Fellowship candidates for paid work tests in January, offer interviews in early February, and communicate final decisions to candidates in late February. Please feel free to reach out if you would need a decision communicated earlier than the standard timeline (this may or may not be possible), or have questions about the application process.

We accept applications from anywhere in the world. We are committed to fostering a culture of inclusion, and we encourage individuals with diverse backgrounds and experiences to apply. We especially encourage applications from women, gender minorities, and people of colour who are excited about contributing to our mission. We are an equal opportunity employer. If you are concerned that you’re not the right fit but have a strong interest in the Fellowship, we encourage you to apply anyway.