Vista Institute AI Policy Fellowship for AI Governance and Policy Research

The Vista Institute for AI Policy Fellowship, fiscally sponsored by Rethink Priorities, supports students and recent graduates conducting independent research at the intersection of AI policy, AI law, and AI governance. Most fellows are selected through Vista's courses and the AI Law and Policy Workshop pipeline, though unsolicited applications from candidates with strong project proposals are accepted. Fellows conduct independent research with mentor support or work as research assistants alongside law professors and AI policy experts. Research areas include AI regulation and legislation, comparative AI governance frameworks, liability for AI harms, AI safety institute design, frontier model oversight, international AI policy coordination, and the legal implications of agentic AI systems. The program offers a structured pathway for early-career researchers to develop AI policy expertise alongside experienced practitioners.

Vista Institute AI Policy Fellowship for AI Governance and Policy Research is sponsored by Vista Institute for AI Policy (fiscally sponsored by Rethink Priorities). The Vista Institute AI Policy Fellowship supports students and recent graduates in conducting independent research or serving as research assistants with law professors and AI policy experts. Fellows work on critical AI governance, AI law, and AI policy questions.

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.

The Climate Change AI Innovation Grants program supports projects that address research and deployment challenges in climate change mitigation, adaptation, and climate science by leveraging AI and machine learning, while also creating publicly available datasets and tools to catalyze further work. The program enables key partnerships that accelerate the research-to-deployment cycle, creating synergies between academic researchers, nonprofits, startups and other companies, and governmental or intergovernmental organizations. Funded by the Quadrature Climate Foundation, Schmidt Futures, and Google DeepMind, with Future Earth serving as fiscal sponsor, this is one of the few dedicated grant programs specifically targeting the intersection of AI/ML and climate change. Projects typically involve climate modeling, weather prediction, emissions monitoring, energy optimization, biodiversity monitoring, and other environmental applications of machine learning. The 2026 competition opens with a full proposal deadline of September 15, 2026. The program has grown steadily since its inception, funding 23 projects to date across diverse climate domains and geographies.

The Climate Change AI Innovation Grants program supports catalytic projects using AI and machine learning for climate action, funding research and deployment challenges in climate change mitigation, adaptation, and climate science. Projects must create publicly available datasets and tools as digital public goods, and release open-source code. The program builds partnerships between academic researchers, non-profits, startups, companies, and governmental organizations to accelerate the research-to-deployment cycle. Past funded projects span climate modeling, emissions monitoring, renewable energy optimization, and disaster prediction across all continents.