Pivot Fellowship

About this funding opportunity

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Simons Foundation Home Simons Foundation Application available:

March 2, 2026 Application deadline: 12 p.m. ET

May 14, 2026 Applicants notified of funding decisions:

Fall 2026 Program inquiries:

pivotfellowship@simonsfoundation.org Administrative inquiries:

sfgrants@simonsfoundation.org Technical assistance:

samsupport@simonsfoundation.org Opportunity

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 the 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 that will support researchers with 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 talents 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. Eligibility

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 subdisciplines therein, and be faculty at an academic institution or hold an equivalent position. 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 subdisciplines therein. In order to receive the fellowship, fellows must be approved by their institution for a full year of leave. Fellows must not hold any other fellowship that will provide them with salary support during the training year of the Pivot Fellowship.

Simons Foundation employees who receive a W-2 (Wage and Tax Statement) from the Simons Foundation, including employees of the Flatiron Institute, may not apply as a principal investigator (PI) to any Simons Foundation or Simons Foundation International Requests for Applications (RFAs) released by…

Topic areas: General and Cross-cutting R&D.

Funding amount

This grant provides Varies in funding.

Deadline

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis; there is no single fixed deadline.

Who can apply

This opportunity is open to the following applicant types:

• Not specified by the program.

Eligibility

The program did not publish a separate eligibility statement. See the official opportunity page for the full eligibility criteria.

Agency

Pivot Fellowship is administered by Simons Foundation (Simons), listed via Simons Foundation.