Pivot Fellowship Grant

Pivot Fellowship Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Simons Foundation Inc.
Last Updated: March 30, 2026

Summary

The Pivot Fellowship, offered by the Simons Foundation, supports researchers transitioning to new disciplines. With a focus on mentorship, this program provides one year of salary support and a $10,000 allowance for research and development. Ideal candidates hold advanced degrees in the sciences and demonstrate a commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration. At the fellowship's conclusion, participants may apply for a significant research award, fostering innovative scientific exploration and discovery.

Overview

NOTE: Fellows and mentors will each submit a unique application in SAM (Simons Award Manager) independently of each other. Mission and Model The Simons Foundation’s mission is to advance the frontiers of research in mathematics and the basic sciences. Since its founding in 1994 by Jim and Marilyn Simons, the foundation has been a champion of basic science through grant funding, support for research and public engagement. We believe in asking big questions and providing sustained support to researchers working to unravel the mysteries of the universe. Through our work we make space for scientific discovery. Pivot Fellowship Science benefits from an exchange of ideas, knowledge and approaches across disciplines. Some of the most impactful work in history has come from individuals who studied across fields. Marie Curie was a physicist and a chemist, winning a Nobel prize in both categories. Her contributions to physics were recognized for the discovery of radium, and her isolation of the element earned the prize for chemistry. Louis Pasteur was a chemist whose doctoral thesis focused on arrangement of atoms in solids using crystallography. Following an interest in the molecular asymmetry of biological molecules of microorganisms, he made his famous discovery that microorganisms cause disease. These extraordinary individuals brought knowledge and insight from one field to another and made an outsized impact on the pursuit of scientific understanding. In this spirit, we invite applications for the Pivot Fellowship program which will support researchers who have a strong track record of success and achievement in their current field, and a deep interest, curiosity and drive to make contributions to a new discipline. The fellowship will enable today’s brightest minds to apply their talent and expertise to a new field and will consist of one training year where the fellow will be embedded in a lab of a mentor to learn the new discipline and its culture. Mentorship and support are essential for learning a new discipline and culture. In addition to the qualifications and potential of the applicant, the suitability of the mentor and the environment for mentorship will be strongly considered in the application process. Funding A Pivot Fellowship provides one year of salary support of the fellow’s academic-year salary, whether normally paid over 9 or 12 months and a $10,000 research, travel and professional development allowance during the fellowship training year. Mentors will receive a $50,000 research fund during the fellowship year. The mentor’s research funds may be used for salary support for the mentor and lab personnel, small and large equipment (including major research instrumentation), supplies, travel, publication, tuition and other research expenses. Indirect costs are limited to 20 percent of the modified total direct costs. Funding for fellowships must be activated within 18 months of award notification. At the end of the fellowship year, fellows will be invited to apply for a research award in their new field for up to $1.5 million, including indirect costs, over five (5) years.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. Fellows and mentors must hold a Ph.D., M.D. or equivalent degree in the natural sciences (astronomy, biology, chemistry, earth sciences, neuroscience and physics), engineering, mathematics, data science or computer science — and all sub-disciplines therein — and be faculty at an academic institution or hold an equivalent position.  Those with tenured and tenure-track positions are eligible for the fellowship.Fellows must demonstrate that the fellowship will take place in a new discipline, distinct from their current field of study, within astronomy, biology, chemistry, earth sciences, neuroscience, physics or mathematics — and all sub-disciplines therein. In order to receive the fellowship, fellows must be approved by their institution for a full year of leave. Foreign institutions may apply.Pivot Fellows can be mentored anywhere, including their home institution.

Ineligibility

Fellows must not hold any other fellowship that will provide them with salary support during the training year of the Pivot Fellowship.