Apply as a Fellow

This is a serious ask. Read first.

A fellowship is not a job. It is not a residency. It is a standing invitation to do the work you would do anyway — within a peer group whose standards are higher than yours, and under a compact whose terms are the same for everyone.

§ Before you apply

You should probably not apply if —

You are looking primarily for compensation, and the 60/40 compact strikes you as unfair before you have read the reasoning behind it.

You want a title, a résumé line, or institutional cover — and the work itself is secondary.

You need an employer. We are not one. Fellows remain independent; we hold no W-2, grant no salary.

You cannot bring yourself to write five paragraphs about a problem you have been thinking about for years. The application is mostly writing.

None of this is a boast. We have rejected applications from credentialed researchers at prestigious institutions and admitted fellows without PhDs. The filter is not pedigree; it is fit.

§ The application

Four questions. Write as if for the fellow who will read them.

Name *

Contact *

Primary lab

Secondary lab (optional)

Bio — for your Fellow card

Two or three sentences in the voice you want on the public /fellows page. This is what visitors read about you.

Question 1

The problem you would pursue, whether or not we admit you. Five paragraphs is a good target.

Question 2

A single piece of work you are proud of — paper, code, artifact — and what you learned from making it.

Question 3

An opinion you hold about your field that other researchers in it disagree with.

Question 4

Why a 60/40 compact is (or isn't) the right structure for your work.

Submissions are read by at least three current Fellows before a first-round decision. We aim to reply within six weeks.

§ What happens after you apply

Nothing is rushed. Nothing is performative.

01
Read
Three current Fellows independently read and score your submission.
02
Discuss
The cohort discusses shortlisted applications in open session.
03
Converse
One long, unhurried conversation. Not an interview — a working discussion.
04
Decide
The cohort votes. Admission is by consensus, not majority.

We do not publish admission statistics. We admit a small number of fellows a year, across all labs combined, and we admit none rather than stretch the standard.