What is an AI fellowship?
An AI fellowship is a fixed-term, usually funded programme that pays or supports you to work on AI-related research, policy, journalism or building, typically with mentorship and a cohort of other fellows. Most run for a few weeks to a year and have a single application deadline per cohort.
A residency is a close relative: the emphasis is on being somewhere in person (an office, a lab, a city) for a set period, often with housing or travel support. Many organisers use the two words interchangeably, so judge a programme by what it offers rather than what it is called.
On advance.to the category also includes funded PhD studentships and postdoctoral fellowships, because they follow the same pattern: a fixed deadline, a competitive application and funding attached to a defined period.
The main types you will see
Fellowship, residency, PhD, internship or grant?
These overlap, and the label matters less than the terms. As a rough guide:
| Type | Typical length | How you're paid | What you're expected to produce |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fellowship | Weeks to a year | Stipend or salary, sometimes plus housing, travel or compute | A project, paper, report or published work |
| Residency | Weeks to months, in person | Varies: stipend, housing, or free space and support only | Progress on your own research or company |
| Funded PhD (studentship) | 3 to 4+ years | Fees plus a stipend | A doctoral thesis |
| Internship | Weeks to months | Usually a wage, as an employee or worker | Work for the employer |
| Grant | Set by the funder | Money for a project, often paid to an organisation | The funded project and reports |
Employment status and tax treatment depend on the programme's contract and your country, not on its name.
What do AI fellowships pay?
Pay varies more than almost anything else, and some programmes don't publish a figure at all. Examples from listings we have checked against the organisers' own pages:
- GovAI DC Summer Fellowship 2027: $24,500 stipend.
- Talos Fellowship, Spring 2027 (EU AI policy): €3,000/month stipend for Brussels placements.
- Tarbell Fellowship 2027–28 (AI journalism): Salaries $75,000–$120,000 during newsroom placement.
- Iliad Fellowship: Fully funded; $6,000/month travel-and-housing allowance.
- LawAI Summer Fellowship (US): Weekly subsidy: $2,000.
- AI Safety Camp Virtual 2027 (team members): No stipend (except a few projects with matched donations).
For UK funded PhDs, UKRI sets a minimum stipend for the studentships it funds: £21,805 a year from 1 October 2026 (£23,805 with London weighting), according to UKRI's studentship page [source]. Some centres pay more than the minimum: UKRI AI CDT in Decision Making for Complex Systems (PhD, 2027 entry) lists Tax-free stipend £30,000 (home fee status) in 2027–28; ~£22,000 for international fee status.
Beyond the stipend, look for housing, travel, compute budgets, visa support and whether the role is an employment contract, as with the IMPRS-IS doctoral program (2027 hiring round).
Who can apply?
Eligibility is set by each organiser, and the details are where most applications go wrong. The common conditions are:
- Right to work or study. Some programmes require existing work authorisation, e.g. GovAI DC Summer Fellowship 2027 requires US work authorisation. Others welcome international applicants.
- Fee status for PhDs. UK studentships often pay differently for home and international fee status, as UKRI AI CDT in Decision Making for Complex Systems (PhD, 2027 entry) shows. Some are open regardless of nationality, e.g. UKRI AI CDT in Biomedical Innovation (PhD, 2027 entry).
- Career stage. Postdoctoral schemes usually set a window since your PhD. EPFL AI Center & Swiss AI Initiative Postdoctoral Fellowships asks for a PhD within the last two years (or final-year PhD students).
- Professional background. Some want a specific profession or experience: NHS Fellowship in Clinical AI, Cohort 6 is for registered health and care professionals, and AI Security Bootcamp (AISB) San Francisco 2027 asks for 5+ years of hands-on security experience but no ML background.
- Where you are. Some are regional, e.g. AI Safety Essentials Fellowship (GAIN SSA) is for African researchers, engineers and students.
You don't always need a PhD or prior AI work. Many research and policy fellowships are aimed at early-career people and career switchers, but the organiser's eligibility page is the only authority.
When are the deadlines?
Most fellowships run in cohorts, so each has one deadline per round and closes for months afterwards. Patterns in our current listings:
- Summer programmes close in the winter before. Several summer 2027 fellowships close between November 2026 and January 2027, such as GovAI UK Summer Fellowship 2027 (Research and Applied tracks) and LawAI Summer Research Fellowship (Legal Frontiers).
- UK funded PhDs for autumn entry mostly close between December and February, sometimes in several rounds, e.g. UKRI CDT in Practice-Oriented AI (PhD, 2027 entry, round 2).
- Some are rolling, reviewing applications as they arrive, e.g. Anthropic Fellows Program. Earlier is usually better.
Check the time zone. Deadlines are set in the organiser's own time: "UK time", US Eastern, CET, or "AoE" (Anywhere on Earth, UTC−12, the last time zone where that date still exists). An AoE deadline is 11:59am the next day in the UK in winter (GMT), but a US Eastern midnight deadline is 4:59am UK time the next day. When in doubt, submit a day early.
How to apply
- Shortlist from a list sorted by deadline. Our fellowships list shows what's open, soonest first, with filters for who it's for and where.
- Read the organiser's page in full. Note eligibility, time commitment, dates you must be available, location and visa conditions.
- Add the deadline to your calendar. Every dated listing on advance.to has an .ics file with reminders 7 days and 1 day before.
- Prepare the usual materials. Expect some mix of a CV, a short statement on why you and why this programme, a project idea or research proposal, writing samples, and references. Research programmes may add a work test or interview.
- Tailor, don't copy. Answer the programme's own questions and show how your plan fits its focus.
- Submit early and keep a copy. Forms can time out close to a deadline.
Is a fellowship stipend taxed?
It depends on the programme and your circumstances, so treat this as a starting point, not advice.
- UK: income from a scholarship held by someone in full-time education at a university, college or other educational establishment is exempt from income tax under section 776 of the Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005 [source]. A fellowship paid as a salary under an employment contract is normally taxed as employment income.
- US: the IRS says a scholarship or fellowship grant is tax-free only if you are a candidate for a degree, and only up to qualified education expenses; amounts for things like room and board are taxable [source].
If the amount matters to your decision, ask the organiser how they pay fellows and check with HMRC, the IRS or a tax adviser.
How we check these listings
Every fellowship on advance.to links to the organiser's own page and shows the date we last checked it. We quote amounts and deadlines as the organiser states them, and if something isn't published we say so rather than guess. An automated check re-reads every official page regularly, and closed opportunities are removed. Examples in this guide come from those same listings, so they update when we re-check them. Read more on our about page.