Schmidt AI in Science Global Faculty Fellowships at Imperial: 2027 cohort
Imperial's Schmidt AI in Science Global Faculty Fellowship gives faculty from five partner universities a £48,000 stipend for a year in London. Applications open 3 November 2026.
The Eric and Wendy Schmidt AI in Science Global Faculty Fellowship is run by the I-X Centre for AI in Science at Imperial College London and supported by Schmidt Sciences. It helps faculty from partner universities use AI in their science while building skills at their home institution. Applications for the 2027 cohort open on 3 November 2026.
The fellowship lasts two years. The first year is fully funded at Imperial in London, with a tax free stipend of £48,000, help with visa and relocation costs, and a desk at Digital Foundry with access to GPU compute. In the second year Imperial funds the home institution to buy out part of the fellow's time. Each fellow also gets a £30,000 flexi fund for travel, conferences and consumables.
Applicants must be early or mid career faculty at one of five partners: the Indian Institute of Science, the National Centre for Biological Sciences in India, the University of Ghana, the University of São Paulo and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Candidates can come from any department. The project must use AI to advance a particular area of natural science or engineering. Generic AI research, social sciences, humanities and clinical medicine are outside the remit, though epidemiology is included.
You send one file to your home institution with a CV, a note on up to three papers, a research summary and proposal, a training plan, a remit statement and a short kindness statement. You also need letters of support from an Imperial host and your head of department. An Imperial host must be secured before you apply. Each partner ranks its candidates and sends a short list to Imperial.
An information webinar is on 20 November 2026. The application deadline is 24 February 2027, but home institutions may set an earlier internal date. Imperial holds reviews and interviews in the week of 8 March 2027, announces fellows on 1 April 2027, and the fellowship begins on 1 September 2027.
Quick answers
Do I need a background in AI or computing?
No. Most fellows are not from computing departments. You need an appreciation of the need for AI and a willingness to learn it.
Can I use an LLM to write the application?
No. The page says using an LLM in any part of the application makes you ineligible.
Is support offered for my family?
Yes. Imperial pays flights, dependant visas and the UK health surcharge for a partner or children, with extra financial help for dependent children.