FELLOWSHIPS
What fellowship programs does Apart Research offer?
We run two complementary programs:
Apart Fellowship enables bottom-up exploration of emerging AI safety research areas through a participant-driven model. You bring your own research direction from our monthly hackathons, and we help you develop it into published research.
Partnered Fellowships execute expert-defined research agendas in collaboration with leading AI safety organizations. Partners provide research mentorship while we handle operational infrastructure—recruitment, project management, compute, and publication support.
What is the Apart Studio?
Studio is a program that provides immediate expert support to promising hackathon teams. It begins with a dissemination phase, followed by acceptance into the main 5-week program:
Dissemination (2-3 weeks): Transform your hackathon work into a polished write-up with guidance from experienced researchers
Ideation (~5 weeks): Explore new directions, develop variations of your ideas, and craft proposals that could attract research funding
The Studio is designed to help you quickly determine the best format and scope for your work while building valuable research skills. After the Studio, the best projects are selected to join the Apart Fellowship.
What's the time commitment?
Both programs require a minimum of 10 hours per week, with additional time around submission deadlines. They're designed to be compatible with full-time employment and accessible globally—fully remote and asynchronous.
Apart Fellowship: 12-24 weeks for the Fellowship phase; the full journey from Sprint through Fellowship typically takes 4-8 months.
Partnered Fellowships: Approximately 16 weeks, though this varies by partnership.
How do I join?
Apart Fellowship: Participate in one of our monthly research Sprints (hackathons). The most promising projects (usually top 5-20%) are invited to Studio, and usually ~40% of Studio participants advance to the Fellowship. No separate application—your hackathon output is your application.
Partnered Fellowships: Entry points vary by partnership. Some run through dedicated hackathons (like our Martian collaboration), others recruit directly for predefined projects. Check our Partnered Fellowships page for current opportunities.
Who is this for?
Both programs target top technical talent globally, including: Domain experts from adjacent fields (biology, physics, cybersecurity, economics) applying their expertise to AI safety Busy professionals exploring AI safety part-time without career disruption Promising students interested in research experience Our current participants have a median of 4.3 years of professional experience. 74% are working professionals, 26% students. No formal credentials required, advancement is meritocratic based on research output.
What support do participants receive?
Both programs include:
Collaborative research environment
Support with dissemination and research engineering
Tailored research resources and guidance
API and cloud compute resources (e.g., GPU)
Grant application assistance
The Fellowship additionally provides:
Research project management
Extended project duration
More intensive support structure
Deeper engagement with research advisors
Are stipends or other forms of financial support available?
The default is that we don't offer stipends. We do provide API credits, cloud compute, and travel/conference support. Our Research Managers actively help you apply for external funding for your research project. Our first Partnered Fellowship pilot secured over $70,000 in support for research teams.
Who owns the research?
Participants serve as lead authors on resulting publications. Authorship is shared based on substantial contributions, following standard academic practice. You can list Apart Research as your affiliation on lab-related publications.
What are the primary research areas?
We focus on core AI safety topics including:
Model evaluations
Model interpretability
Multi-agent systems
Technical tooling for AI governance
AI security
And many others!
What research areas do you focus on?
Technical AI safety across diverse domains: model evaluations, interpretability, multi-agent systems, manipulation/deception, CBRN risks, formal methods, cybersecurity, and many more. Specific topics are determined by Sprint themes (Apart Fellowship) or partner organization research agendas (Partnered Fellowships).
What makes Apart Research different from other programs?
What makes our programs different:
Continuous pipeline: Monthly Sprint cadence (vs. cohorts a few times per year elsewhere) with immediate follow-up for strong projects maintains research momentum.
Output-based filtering: Advancement at every stage is based on actual research output, not credentials or application essays.
Scalable model: Apart Fellowship teams are supported primarily by Research Project Managers with low-touch expert involvement, avoiding mentor bottlenecks. Partnered Fellowships leverage our 2+ years of operational expertise so partners can focus on research direction.
Accessibility: Remote-first, flexible commitment, no relocation required, designed for busy professionals and global participation.
Will I collaborate with external researchers?
Yes, Apart supports collaboration and co-authoring with external researchers, subject to relevance and alignment with your research project.
