Applications for the 2027 Winter intake open on August 25th, 2026 and close on October 31, 2026 (AoE)
MATS has accelerated over 630 AI safety researchers, who have coauthored 215+ papers with 17,000+ citations and founded organizations including Apollo Research and Resolution. We are now launching the MATS Residency.
The Residency provides researchers with 6 to 24 months (depending on the Residency track) of dedicated support to enable Residents in pursuing an ambitious research agenda focused on reducing catastrophic risks from AI. Addressing foundational challenges, including maintaining oversight of systems that outstrip human review, building evaluations and safety cases that make safety decidable, and making agentic and multi-agent systems safe, often requires years of sustained, concentrated effort. To meet this demand, the Residency is structured to allow Residents to take calculated risks without fear of unconventional outcomes. Every Resident leaves the program with a substantial body of reviewable work, four to eight weeks of post-Residency transition support, and continued access to the MATS research community.
The Residency is for experienced researchers with a substantial body of work who want to do ambitious AI safety research with a high degree of independence. Whether you already work in AI safety or are moving into it from an adjacent field such as ML, policy, or governance, we encourage you to apply. We prioritize the quality and seriousness of your work over academic titles, credentials, or formal publications. Many of our strongest candidates include those whose best work is confidential, unpublished, or outside traditional research roles. If you have a serious body of work but lack conventional credentials or publications, we would rather you apply than rule yourself out.
The Residency is built for longer-term projects that do not fit neatly within conventional academic or industry settings and that benefit from sustained operational and research support at key decision points. That support is designed to strengthen your research while preserving your intellectual ownership and research independence.
Feel free to reach out with questions to [email protected].
The Residency runs from 6 to 24 months and offers three parallel tracks (Bridge, Anchor, and Incubation) tailored to different career goals and research trajectories.
Bridge: The Bridge track is for experienced academics, researchers, and industry professionals from adjacent fields who already have research expertise but need a dedicated runway to build a credible AI safety portfolio. This includes ML professors, policy researchers, and senior industry researchers connecting their work to safety-relevant questions; MATS alumni temporarily unable to join a frontier lab; established academics considering a sabbatical or postdoc to redirect their research toward AI safety; and recent PhDs seeking an alternative to a conventional postdoctoral position.
This track is not designed for those who are new to research. It assumes an existing track record that needs redirecting toward AI safety rather than one that is being built from scratch.
Anchor: The Anchor track is for capable researchers who want a two-year staff researcher role rather than a PhD or postdoc, and need an institutional setting to develop an independent research agenda. It’s built for engineers, evaluators, and technical or policy practitioners whose work is fundamentally research, but don’t fit a traditional academic trajectory. This is not a fit for those seeking a conventional academic credential or short-term commitment; the Anchor track is a long-term, staff-level commitment.
Incubation: The Incubation track is for researchers founding new AI safety research agendas or organizations, who need structural support to move from idea to execution. Applicants may apply as an individual or a founding team can submit one application collectively. At least one applicant on a team must demonstrate safety-relevant research experience or evidence of research capability. It is not a fit for those seeking to join or extend an existing research agenda; the Incubation track is specifically for those who are ready to build a new research agenda, or the organization to pursue it, from the ground up.
You can read more about each track on our website.
To apply, you will submit an application form containing the following components:
The program accepts up to 30 Residents per year across three annual intake windows with rolling start dates.
August 25, 2026: Application window opens for the 2027 Winter intake
October 31, 2026 (AoE): Application window closes
Late November 2026: Initial review decisions sent to all applicants
First week of December 2026: Shortlisted candidates are invited to interview or complete a paid work test, depending on the track and research area they applied for
Late December 2026: Final offers extended to selected Residents
Early 2027: Winter intake begins
Upon acceptance, each Resident will collaborate with the MATS team to create an Individual Onboarding Plan outlining the Resident’s research block schedule, track-specific requirements, peer accountability partner (where applicable), support needs, office arrangements, and IRB status where relevant.
The next application window after this opens in March 2027.
Applications are now open. Submissions are due by October 31, 2026 (AoE).
If you have any questions about the program or the application process, contact us at [email protected].
