Selection Update
Our 2024 Cohort Selection Process is in its final stages and we will be announcing the 2024 Schmidt Science Fellows in April 2024.
We are now excited to be opening nominations for our 2025 Cohort.
2025 Cohort Selection Process
The Schmidt Science Fellows program works in partnership with a select group of the world’s leading science and engineering institutions to identify candidates to apply for each year’s Fellowship cohort. Our annual process follows these steps:
Each of the selected institutions is invited to nominate a small number of their most exceptional PhD students. Institutions will use their own internal processes to choose nominees who will then be issued with a unique authorization code to access our application portal to register their intent to apply.
Nominated individuals will then complete a full application. Applications will consist of a candidate’s academic history, including transcripts, current CV with details of relevant publications, at least three (but no more than five) letters of recommendation, a personal statement outlining their motivations, a brief description of their PhD research, a proposal outlining their future research plans, and three short outlines of potential labs in which they may carry out this research.
Application packages will then undergo an Academic Review by discipline-specific panels of senior researchers to determine which candidates should progress to the final stage.
Finalists will be invited to an online panel interview with senior figures from academia, business, and society.
For details of the candidate selection criteria for Schmidt Science Fellows please see here.
2025 Schedule
Nominating Partners are invited to select and nominate candidates from February 2024 ahead of the applications process opening on May 9, 2024.
May 9, 2024
Application portal opens and candidates are asked to submit their preliminary information by May 30, 2024.
May 9 – July 10, 2024
Following submission of preliminary information, candidates complete the remaining sections of the application form and submit their full application by July 10, 2024.
August 2024
Multi-stage review of applications begins, as described above.
April 2025
The 2025 cohort of Schmidt Science Fellows is selected and candidates are informed of the decisions, followed by a formal announcement.
Following selection, Fellows will work with the Program team to identify, consider, and finalize postdoctoral placement opportunities before the Fellowship Year begins. Most 2025 Fellows are expected to begin their Fellowship Research Placements in July or October 2025, with July 1, 2025 being the earliest start date.
