Cybersecurity Awareness Grant

The AI Safety Policy Entrepreneurship Fellowship is FAS's route for turning technical and domain expertise into frontier AI safety policy that actually moves. It is a part-time hybrid programme running 30 September 2026 to 28 February 2027, with applications due 7 September 2026, and it pays a USD 5,000 stipend plus up to USD 1,000 as a merit award. Fellows commit roughly five hours a week to developing a policy memo on a specific AI safety challenge, attend training sessions, join an in-person retreat in California from 4 to 7 November 2026, and present at a capstone event in Washington DC during the week of 22 February 2027. The design target is explicit and unusual: it recruits early- to mid-career professionals who have limited direct public policy experience but deep expertise elsewhere - technical AI research, academia, think tanks, civil society, industry, law, cybersecurity and national security - and teaches them the mechanics of getting an idea adopted. Selection weighs clear understanding of AI governance challenges, concrete implementation-oriented solutions rather than broad principles, awareness of which stakeholders must be moved, and a credible commitment to translating expertise into policy outcomes. Because the stipend is modest and the time commitment part-time, this is designed to sit alongside an existing job rather than replace one.