Open Philanthropy just re-opened applications for our early-career funding for individuals interested in improving the long-term future.
Apply here.
Applications are open until further notice and will be assessed on a rolling basis.
From the description:
This program aims to provide support - primarily in the form of funding for graduate study, but also for other types of one-off career capital-building activities - for early-career individuals who want to pursue careers that help improve the long-term future and who don’t qualify for our existing program focused on careers related to biosecurity and pandemic preparedness.
See the program page for further information about the funding criteria, the application process, and how this opportunity relates to other Open Philanthropy programs.
Please contact longtermfuturescholarship@openphilanthropy.org with any questions/suggestions.
Is there a strong reason to close applications in January?
I'm only familiar with the deadlines for economics graduate school, but for that you get decisions back from graduate school in February-March along with the funding package. Therefore, it would be useful to be able to apply for this depending on the funding package you receive (e.g. if you are fully funded you don't need to apply, but if you are given little or no funding, it would be important to apply) .
The main reason has to do with capacity/turnaround times. Our experience is that a lot of candidates apply very close to the deadline, and prospective grad students typically have to accept their offers in mid-April, so if we had set our deadline in, say, mid-March instead, this would have given us only c.4 weeks to process these applications (which as it happens is already going to be a busy period for the relevant team members for other reasons). The earlier deadline gives us more wiggle room, although it does come at the cost you highlight. Candidates who don’t apply in time for our deadline and find out in February/March that they’ll require funding may want to consider applying to the Long-Term Future Fund.
Update: We (Open Phil) have decided to extend the deadline for this program until June 1st 2022 (from January 21st originally).
We’re currently reviewing our plans for this program and there is some possibility that we’ll eventually switch to a model on which we continue accepting applications indefinitely/until further notice, rather than opening and closing the program for applications at particular times each year. (We’re already evaluating applications on a rolling basis, but are requiring candidates to apply by the abovementioned deadline.)
Another update: We have recently removed the deadline and applications are now open until further notice.
Does Open Phil have any plans to re-open applications for early-career funding for work on biosecurity, as well (sometime in the next 12 months, say)?
We recently re-opened the biosecurity scholarship program for applications (deadline: January 1st 2022) - see here.
See this section of the program page linked in the post:
Great, thanks so much!
Posting this comment as a reminder that applications for this year's round of this program will close on January 21st 2022.