August 3 to October 2, 2026 in London | Applications close June 2 (AoE)

TL;DR: We're running our first Frontier Biodefense Fellowship at pivotal. Nine weeks, fully funded, 1:1 mentorship from Blueprint, SecureBio, SynX, Coefficient Giving, CLTR and more. Open to applicants from a wide range of backgrounds, including those without prior bio experience. Apply at fellowship.bio.

This post is the short version. For the longer argument about why we are running the fellowship, we will be posting our companion post soon.

Key info

• Dates: 3 August to 2 October 2026 (9 weeks)
• Location: In-person at LISA (London Initiative for Safe AI).
• Extensions: Up to 2 months of continued funding, mentorship, and workspace for strong projects.
• Funding: £6,000-£8,000 stipend, plus travel and accommodation support
• Mentorship: 1:1 with mentors from Blueprint, SecureBio, SynX, Coefficient Giving, CLTR, and more.
• Project areas: AIxBio, Biohardening, Detection, Governance/Policy, MCMs, Mirror Life, PPE, and Strategic Response Planning.
• Eligibility: Anyone 18+ serious about contributing to biodefenses.
• Apply: fellowship.bio by 2 June (AoE)

The fellowship

Pivotal is best known for our AI safety fellowships, which cover technical safety, technical governance, governance & policy, AIxBio, and more. This year, we're branching into the defense-in-depth agenda in biosecurity with the launch of our first Frontier Biodefense Fellowship.

For 9 weeks, fellows work in person at LISA on a research project with an external mentor. Each fellow gets weekly 1:1s with their mentor, weekly support from a Pivotal Research Manager who helps with scoping, blockers, and career planning, and a cohort of at least 20 peers working on biodefense problems. Group projects are possible and often encouraged.

The goal is to produce a research or practical output, typically a paper or policy brief, with blog posts and other formats also common. Fellows retain ownership of their research.

For strong projects, we offer up to 2 months of extension funding, mentorship, and workspace after the fellowship. In our last AI safety cohort, the extensions had an acceptance of ~90%, and it has become a substantial part of what we offer.

Browse the mentor list to see whether there's research you'd be excited to work on. In our experience, a strong match with a specific mentor can often matter more than your overall background.

The mentors

Our mentors are researchers in leading labs working on bio defense-in-depth and adjacent areas. They are Jacob Swett, Victoria Slaughter, Richard Williamson, & Brian Renda (Blueprint Biosecurity), Cassidy Nelson (CLTR), Chris Doering (SecureBio), Aman Patel (Coefficient Giving), Lennart Justen (MIT/Broad Institute), Sebastian Oehm & Askar Kleefeldt (SynX Therapeutics), Annabella Wheatley (Amodo Design), Skandan Ananthasekar (BU Pandemic Center), Anemone Franz (American Enterprise Institute), Sofya Lebedeva (Oxford) & Maximilian Görlitz (Blueprint Biosecurity), Chris Stamper, and Aaron Maiwald (Oxford/SecureBio).

Each mentor's profile lists their project ideas, what they're looking for in a mentee, what they're like to work with, and a short bio. You can check them out here.

The fellows

We're looking for people committed to working on biodefense. Our target audience is deliberately broad and includes strong undergraduates, early-career professionals, PhD candidates, experienced engineers, founders, policy researchers, and people moving into biosecurity from adjacent fields are all in scope. 

Prior biosecurity experience is welcome but not required. We’re looking for both researchers and operators, because much of the work needed to strengthen global biodefense will not be research.

The support

We provide a strong support system & infrastructure to help fellows focus on your project. Fellows receive a stipend of £6,000-£8,000, travel to and from London, accommodation support, and weekday lunch and dinner. Pivotal's research managers help with the research process, and with considerations around career planning.

The FAQ (Frequently Anticipated Questions)

How is biodefense different from biosecurity?

The terms overlap, and are used in varied ways. We see biosecurity/GCBR as the overarching category, where prevention (e.g. through lab safety, pathogen access, safeguards) is often emphasised.

Biodefense concentrates on the systems that protect us when that prevention fails (e.g. detection, protection, or response). Our fellowship primarily focuses on this, and we encourage you to explore the list of projects from our mentors to learn more about research directions.

Why is Pivotal running this? Why biodefense?

Our upcoming companion post will go into this question in more detail. In short, we think biorisk is one of the most pressing xrisk sources & we're likely to enter a transitional period soon where risks are increased due to AI capability increases. We expect our AI safety fellowship model to translate well, and the talent gap in biodefense to be so large that even a single cohort matters a lot.

Do I need a bio or biosecurity background?

No! We (and many of the mentors) are definitely looking for people from a wide range of backgrounds. The fellowship is also a place for motivated people with expertise in policy, engineering, economics, and many other adjacent fields. Each mentor has a ‘What I'm looking for in a Mentee’ section on our website. In our experience, a great match with a specific mentor can often matter more than your overall background.

What matters most is that you take catastrophic biological risk seriously, are motivated & self-directed, and are ready to dig into some really tough & novel problems.

How can I help?

If you know great candidates, recommend them and we’ll pay you $1,000 if we accept them based on your recommendation.

If you’re interested to mentor or work with us in the future, fill in this form or reach out at team@pivotal-research.org

If you have access to specific platforms and groups you think would be interested, feel free to spread the word (you can share a short message).