Applications are open for the Simons Foundation Pivot Fellowship Program 2025. The fellowship 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.
About Simons Foundation Pivot Fellowship Program
Opportunity Details
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.
Benefits of Simons Foundation Pivot Fellowship Program
Funding
- A Pivot Fellowship provides one year of salary support of the fellow's academic-year salary, whether normally paid over nine 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. Please note that in the event of budgetary or other considerations The Simons Foundation, Inc. reserves the right to refer an application to The Simons Foundation International, Ltd. (SFI) for consideration and funding, in which case SFl's grant policies would apply.
- At the end of the fellowship year, fellows may be eligible to apply for a research award in their new field for up to $1.5 million, plus indirect costs, over five (5) years.
Simons Foundation Pivot Fellowship Program Requirements
- 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.
Application Date and Process
Applications must be submitted via the Simons Award Manager (SAM). Informational videos on how to submit an application through their grants management system can be found here.
Applications for fellows can be created through Pivot Fellowship – Fellow – 2025.
Applications for mentors can be created through Pivot Fellowship – Mentor – 2025.
After logging in to SAM, click the Funding Opportunities icon and navigate to the Pivot Fellowship – Fellow – 2025 call. Click the Create Application button to begin. Applications should be started and submitted under the applicant’s own account in SAM.
- Proposal Tab:
- Applicant Details: Applicant Details: Update your profile using the Edit Profile button. Complete all required fields, including position/title, academic rank and ORCID iD.
- Degrees: Click the Add/Modify Degree(s) button to provide this information.
- Application Details: Complete all required fields, including title, start date and end date. The earliest permitted start date is January 1, 2026.
- Proposal: The following information must be entered/uploaded:
- Mentor Name: Enter your Mentor’s name.
- Scientific Narrative (up to six (6) pages): Note that you are required to use the provided template for the Scientific Narrative. Please download by clicking the link in the field instructions, then upload the completed document using the Upload button. Please describe the work you want to pursue in a new discipline and how it differs from your current work, including:
- What inspired you to pursue changing disciplines?
- What are the questions you hope to be able to understand more deeply and address as a result of this fellowship?
- What do you hope to bring to the new field from your current discipline?
- Explain how and why the new discipline is a big change from your current field. Questions to consider include:
- To what extent is the new discipline a different culture?
- Is there a different approach to publication in the new discipline?
- Is there a different approach to experiment or theory in the new discipline?
- How will this fellowship affect your career development
- Summary of Previous Scientific Accomplishments(up to two (2) pages) Use the provided template. Please download by clicking the link in the field instructions, then upload the completed document using the Upload button.
- Curriculum Vitae: Upload CV.
- Contacts & Personnel Tab:
- Institution contacts are required. You must add at least one Institution Signing Official and Financial Officer to the Institution Administrative Contacts section before you will be able to submit.
- Project personnel who will be named in the budget must be added to the Project Personnel section on this tab before they will display as available options in the budget module. This does not apply to TBD personnel.
- Budget Tab:Click the Edit/Modify button. The budget cannot be completed until project dates are entered in the Proposal tab.
- Add one year of salary support for the fellow, including fringe and IDC.
- The $10,000 Fellow Research Fund may be included in either the Fellow’s or the Mentor’s budget, depending on what best meets their specific needs. Please coordinate with your Mentor to ensure that the fund is included in only one application.
- Letter of Reference Tab:
- Two to three (2–3) confidential letters of recommendation are required from research scientists who are not the applicant’s Mentor. In addition to the standard elements of a letter of recommendation, please ask your letter writers to speak to why you are specially positioned to switch academic disciplines.
- Instructions for navigating this tab are included within SAM. Note that you should enter a date in the Response Date and click Save Draft prior to sending reference invitations so that the email invitation sent by the system contains the due date you have set.
- You will not be able to submit your application until at least two references are uploaded. Please plan accordingly with your references.
- NOTE: References will not have access to any portion of your application during the upload process. References who are also an approved Institution Official at your institution, or who are added as an Institution Administrative Contact in the Contacts & Personnel section, will be able to see the application via their regular system login. If your references do not have either of these roles, they will not have access to your application.
- Communications Tab: Nothing is required in this tab.
- Check Application Progress: Click the Check Application Progress button to check for any missing required information or files. All missing required information will be listed at the top of the screen and must be corrected before the application can be submitted.
- Send for Sign-off: When the application is complete, click the Send for Sign-off button to send to your Signing Official for signature. You will receive a notification when the application is signed.
- Submit Application: When the full proposal application is complete and signed, click the Submit Application button. A confirmation page will appear once the application is successfully submitted. It will appear in the Submitted tab of the Applications in Progress table. Please note that you will not be able to submit an application if the deadline has passed.
Mentor’s Application:
After logging in to SAM, click the Funding Opportunities icon and navigate to the Pivot Fellowship – Mentor – 2025 call. Click the Create Application button to begin. Applications should be started and submitted under the applicant’s own account in SAM.
- Proposal Tab:
- Applicant Details: Update your profile using the Edit Profile button. Complete all required fields, including position/title, academic rank and ORCID iD.
- Degrees: Click the Add/Modify Degree(s) button to provide this information.
- Application Details: Complete all required fields, including title, start date and end date. The earliest permitted start date is January 1, 2026.
- Proposal: The following information must be entered/uploaded:
- Fellow Name: Enter the name of the Fellow.
- Fellowship Mentor Plan (two (2) pages): Note that you are required to use the provided template for the Fellowship Mentor Plan. Please download by clicking the link in the field instructions, then upload the completed document using the Upload button. An invested and committed mentor is the key to learning a new discipline. A statement of mentorship should address:
- Mentor’s willingness and availability to host applicant for the fellowship
- Applicant qualifications
- Plan for how the applicant will be trained in the new discipline, including:
- What are the most important aspects of the scientific culture of the new field?
- What questions in the new field are important, and why?
- What details and ways of looking at those questions are indispensable for making an impact on the new field?
- Perspective on how bringing the applicant into the new discipline will benefit the field.
- Mentorship History (up to two (2) pages): Note that you are required to use the provided template for the Mentorship History. Please download by clicking the link in the field instructions, then upload the completed document using the Upload button. Please provide brief descriptions of up to 10 past mentees, including their scientific accomplishments under your mentorship, current position and current scientific field.
- Curriculum Vitae: Upload CV.
- Contacts & Personnel Tab:Institution contacts are required.
- You must add at least one Institution Signing Official and Financial Officer to the Institution Administrative Contacts section before you will be able to submit.
- Project personnel who will be named in the budget must be added to the Project Personnel section on this tab before they will display as available options in the budget module. This does not apply to TBD personnel.
- Budget Tab: Click the Edit/Modify button. The budget cannot be completed until project dates are entered in the Proposal tab.
- Add the Mentor’s $50,000 research fund and IDC. Research funds do not need to be itemized in the application budget. Enter this as a single line item in the Other Expenses section labeled “Mentor research fund”.
- The $10,000 Fellow Research Fund may be included in either the Fellow’s or the Mentor’s budget, depending on what best meets their specific needs. Please coordinate with your Fellow to ensure that the fund is included in only one application.
- Communications Tab: Nothing is required in this tab.
- Check Application Progress: Click the Check Application Progress button to check for any missing required information or files. All missing required information will be listed at the top of the screen and must be corrected before the application can be submitted.
- Send for Sign-off: When the application is complete, click the Send for Sign-off button to send to your Signing Official for signature. You will receive a notification when the application is signed.
- Submit Application: When the full proposal application is complete and signed, click the Submit Application button. A confirmation page will appear once the application is successfully submitted. It will appear in the Submitted tab of the Applications in Progress table. Please note that you will not be able to submit an application if the deadline has passed.
Application Deadline
15 May, 2025
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