TLDR
The Brains fellowship is a four-month, part-time, remote intensive that helps talented scientists build the skills, plans, and networks to start coordinated research programs: efforts like Focused Research Organizations, ARPA programs, and other initiatives that are beyond the scope of individual academic labs or startups. This will be the 5th cohort of Brains and will run from January through May 2027.
We welcome ideas from any scientific field. If you’re someone with a deep technical background and an ambitious idea, we encourage you to apply!
Applications close on October 26. For more details, you can read the FAQ, or read on.
Skills for the shifting landscape of 21st century science
Three years ago, we started Brains because many scientists didn’t know that coordinated research programs existed and the process of starting one was opaque and largely driven by luck and connections. To date, we’ve trained 55 fellows, providing them with skills and connections to launch their programs. Our alumni are now running more than $73M of ambitious research programs that are changing everything from deciphering the brain, to protecting the climate, to transforming how we explore the stars or construct the built world.
Now, the paths to launching a coordinated research program are multiplying, and the lines that were always fuzzy are blurring further. For example, an ARPA-like research program - one pursuing multiple approaches to a hard technology problem in parallel by partnering with external teams - can now run at a nonprofit like Blueprint Biosecurity, a thesis-driven philanthropic fund such as Coefficient Giving’s Launchpad Funds, or a prize competition with philanthropic backing. The NSF’s $1.5B X-Labs initiative goes further, letting teams choose or create their own institutional structure. Even the more-defined models such as ARPA programs or FROs vary widely and continue to evolve.
To succeed as scientific institutions are rebuilt for the 21st century, coordinated research leaders need to know more than how to fit their idea into the current version of a particular research or organization model. They need to be able to adapt to new types of institutions and new ways of doing science. They need the skills we teach in Brains: how to scope, design and structure a clearly defined, ambitious research program, how to recognize which new or existing models might be a good fit for their idea, and how to sell that idea to a variety of stakeholders.
What fellows get out of Brains
It’s hard to blaze new pathways alone. Fellows join an incredible community of peers, alumni and mentors – people who are figuring everything out right along with you and people who’ve been in your shoes.
Brains is a part-time, remote program that is designed to let fellows start pursuing their ideas without needing to quit their day job. Brains provides training and one-on-one mentorship to help fellows choose the right scope and level of ambition, develop their ideas into a coordinated research program, and help them communicate their ideas persuasively to potential donors, collaborators, and end-users. The program culminates in an in-person Showcase, where fellows will have the opportunity to present their ideas to an audience of potential funders and employers.
Check out our website for more details on what to expect from the program and for profiles of past fellows.
Who should apply
If you have a deep technical background and an ambitious idea, we encourage you to apply!
An ideal fellow:
Has a deep technical background, has done the equivalent of PhD-level research, and has several years of work experience.
Has one or more ambitious but precise ideas that don’t fit into existing institutions.
Has worked both inside and outside of academia.
Has a strong bias toward action.
Is comfortable with acting under uncertainty.
Of course, there are exceptions to every rule, so people who don’t exactly fit this profile should still apply if they think they can crush it!
We’re excited to help make your awesome ideas a reality!
The 2027 Brains cohort will run from January through May 2027.
If you or anybody you know has what it takes — you can find the application here.
If you have more questions, you have several options:
You can check out the FAQ here.
We’re going to be doing online info sessions on October 14 at 8pm ET and October 20 at 12:30pm ET.
You can email questions to brains@spec.tech.
If you want to get involved outside of being a fellow — please do reach out at brains@spec.tech.