Metascience and AI Postdoctoral Fellowships

Overview

What we are looking for

This is a postdoctoral fellowship program for grants of up to $250,000 USD to support early career researchers in the social sciences and humanities (with particular emphasis on philosophy, sociology of science, and metascience) who are interested in building a career in understanding the implications of AI for the science and research ecosystem.

AI (currently understood as a set of technologies including machine learning, deep learning, and foundation models) could accelerate scientific discovery, whether through narrow applications like DeepMind’s AlphaFold, or general applications such as advances in AI-enabled lab robotics, evidence synthesis, or statistical inference. There are many practical and technical challenges to solve before society has fully-fledged autonomous ‘AI scientists’. Nevertheless, it seems inevitable that over the coming years public and private R&D funders will make significant investments both to diffuse and adopt AI technologies, and to solve technical challenges, in the direction of a more heavily AI-mediated research.

This program will support a cohort of postdoctoral researchers to deepen their understanding of AI technology and pursue career paths which evaluate the phenomenon of AI-mediated science and guide its pursuit, covering one or more of the following objectives:

* building our understanding of how the growing adoption of AI is changing the research landscape and the day-to-day work of researchers; 
* building our understanding of the epistemic, metascientific, ethical and/or socioeconomic implications of these changes; and 
* building understanding of how governments, industry, and/or funding organizations should respond to improve our research landscape.

The following are some indicative examples of topic areas of interest:

* The impact of AI on the topics and methods of scientific research, and how this varies across disciplines  
* AI and the pace of scientific progress   
* Explainability and alignment in scientific AI 
* The skills and training implications of scientific AI 
* The role of humans in AI-driven science 
* Epistemic and ethical considerations concerning the application of AI in the production of research outputs and the assessment of research

This program will not fund fellows whose primary research focus is the direct development of scientific AI tools. However, given the rapidly evolving landscape of AI technology and the importance of understanding its actual nature when practically engaging with the topics above, applicants are strongly encouraged to identify research organizations and/or industry-based opportunities for technical training and mentorship (either at the host institution or elsewhere) and note these in their application. Applicants including such opportunities in their proposal must obtain the consent of any named individual or organization before submitting their application. We will also support and encourage our fellows to deeply engage with those at the technological frontier through our summer school and other opportunities.

This program aims to support researchers uniquely interested in AI’s impact on science and the research ecosystem, rather than general AI ethics, safety and society-related topics; not because these general topics are not important within and beyond science, but because they are covered much more substantially elsewhere. Topics that might be considered too general include broad examinations of data and algorithmic bias; AI-generated disinformation; dual use of AI tech; environmental costs of AI; or applications of AI to other industries like clinical medicine, law or fintech rather than to the activities uniquely undertaken in scientific research. Existing funding opportunities are available for general research in AI across a broad range of public and philanthropic funding bodies.

Partnership with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada

The Sloan Foundation is pleased to be partnering with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada, which will support up to four additional Canadian postdoctoral fellows at eligible Canadian institutions with awards of CAD $140,000 over two years. Canadians are asked to submit their application to the Sloan Foundation, which will undertake the peer review process and make recommendations to SSHRC for funding.

Eligibility

_You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website._

* Who is eligible to apply
* The funding opportunity is open to early career researchers who will have completed their PhD by the start date of the fellowship or who can demonstrate equivalent research or innovation experience, and who do not yet hold a permanent or tenure-track academic position. 
* This fellowship program is intended for researchers who are uniquely interested in AI’s impact on science, rather than general AI ethics, safety and society-related topics (as these are covered substantially elsewhere).

Ineligibility

* Who is not eligible to apply
* This program will not fund fellows whose primary research objective involves working directly on scientific AI tool development. 
* UK-based applicants should apply through UKRI, who is funding a parallel cohort of fellows to be funded by the UK Metascience Unit. We will not be accepting UK-based applicants through the Sloan Foundation.
* Eligible host institutions include non-profit two-and four-year institutions, institutional systems or consortia of institutions, university-affiliated research centers or laboratories, and independent nonprofit research organizations.