The Centre for the Governance of AI Winter Fellowship 2025
The deadline for applications is 23:59 BST Sunday 11 August 2024
Centre for the Governance of AI (GovAI)
We are building a global research community, dedicated to helping humanity navigate the transition to a world with advanced AI. AI has the potential to be a radically transformative technology. Continued progress could bring profoundly important benefits, including major scientific advances and reductions in illness and poverty. However, this progress could also bring substantial risks. Research is urgently needed to understand the implications of advanced AI. Ultimately, we believe, positive outcomes may require the development of new global norms, policies, and institutions. Our research community is guided by our Research Agenda and Theory of Impact, drawing on Political Science, Computer Science, Economics, Law, and Philosophy. Our work aims to define and map the field of AI governance, and address the most important and neglected research questions. Our fellowships and prizes support promising early-career researchers working on AI governance. We run seminars and conferences to better connect the field of AI governance and build a thriving global research community. You can read more about our work at www.governance.ai
Summer and Winter Fellowships provide an opportunity for early-career individuals or established professionals new to the field of AI governance to spend three months working on an AI governance research project, learning about the field, and making connections with other researchers and practitioners. We are looking for candidates who are strongly considering using their careers to study or shape the long-term implications of AI.
About the Team
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 established professionals 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 supervisor from the GovAI team or affiliate network.
You can read about the topics our previous cohorts of Summer and Winter Fellows worked on here and 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.
Fellowship Details
- Duration: Three months of intensive engagement
- Stipend: £9,000, plus support for travelling to Oxford
- Location: Oxford, UK (in-person, full-time role)
- Application Deadline: 23:59 BST on Sunday, 11 August 2024
Fellowship Experience
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.
Valerie Belu, GovAI’s Research Management Associate, 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.
If you are an experienced professional or established academic considering transitioning into the field of AI governance, we might be open to tailoring the fellowship experience to your needs. This could include only attending parts of the fellowship or teaching buy-outs, if necessary. Please reach out to our Research Management Associate Valerie Belu (valerie.belu@governance.ai) if you would like to discuss specifics before applying.
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.
Winter Fellows will join for three months, between January and April (precise dates TBC).
How to Apply and What to Expect
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. We expect to reach out to Winter Fellowship candidates for paid work tests in August, offer interviews in September, and communicate final decisions to candidates in October. Please feel free to reach out to recruitment@governance.ai 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.
