Funding

Fully Funded

Program dates

TBA

Fellowship•USA · Berkeley

Constellation Astra Fellowship

Constellation Institute

Application Deadline

Closed · May 3, 2026

Expected to reopen

Official Page

Astra is the flagship fellowship of Constellation Institute, a non-profit AI safety research center in Berkeley, California. It is a fully funded, five-month, in-person program in which fellows pursue frontier AI safety projects alongside expert mentors, with research management and career support from Constellation staff. Fellows join one of two streams. The Empirical Stream covers machine learning research in AI alignment, AI control, model evaluations and scalable oversight. The Strategy and Governance Stream covers AI macrostrategy, prevention of concentration of power, better-futures scenarios, and work to implement AI strategy inside governments or frontier AI companies. Mentors come from organizations such as Redwood Research, OpenAI, Anthropic, Truthful AI, RAND, IAPS, Coefficient Giving, the AI Futures Project and the Safe AI Forum. Constellation reports that more than 80 percent of Astra’s first cohort now hold full-time AI safety roles, and states that prior AI safety experience is not required.

Benefits & funding

  • Monthly stipend of $8,400 for the duration of the program.
  • Empirical Stream fellows receive a compute and project budget of up to $15,000 per month.
  • Strategy and Governance Stream fellows receive a $2,000 travel budget for relevant workshops and conferences.
  • A workspace at the Berkeley research center, which draws more than 300 visits a week, with shared daily meals, weekly seminars, workshops, table-top exercises and conferences.
  • Weekly meetings with a senior mentor and weekly meetings with a research manager.
  • Placement support. Many fellows join the organizations taking part in Astra, and others are introduced to roles across the Constellation network.
  • Incubation support for fellows launching new projects, covering business operations, communications, hiring and fundraising.
  • Visa support for international fellows on J-1, on F-1 with full-time CPT, or on OPT with approval from the applicant’s designated school official.
  • UK-based fellows can work from a secondary hub at the London Initiative for Safe AI (LISA).

Eligibility

  • Open to applicants of any nationality. International applicants are supported through the visa process.
  • No degree level, age limit or minimum years of experience is published.
  • Applicants should be motivated to reduce catastrophic risks from advanced AI and bring technical or domain experience relevant to one of the two streams.
  • Applicants should want to move into a full-time AI safety role or to start their own AI safety organization.
  • Empirical Stream: strong coding proficiency in Python, basic knowledge of machine learning, basic knowledge of AI safety, agency and proactivity, and the ability to learn and iterate quickly.
  • Strategy and Governance Stream: deep familiarity with catastrophic risks from AI, clear communication, sound reasoning on complex questions, and the ability to work autonomously.
  • For the Strategy and Governance Stream, experience in macrostrategy research, grantmaking or cause prioritization is preferred, as is a working understanding of frontier AI companies, governments or investors. These are preferences, not requirements.
  • Prior AI safety experience is not required. Constellation encourages people from adjacent fields to apply even when they do not meet every qualification.
  • The fellowship is full-time and in person. Remote participation is considered only in rare cases.

Can you apply?

Open to all applicants

No nationality, residency, education, or experience limits are listed.

We only check the criteria we have data for. Always confirm full eligibility on the official page before applying.

Application process

  1. 1
    Choose the stream that fits your background, Empirical or Strategy and Governance.
  2. 2
    Prepare a resume and at least two references. Constellation encourages references from within its own network. Links to written work such as blog posts or published papers are strongly recommended for the Strategy and Governance Stream and optional for the Empirical Stream.
  3. 3
    Submit the online application before the cohort deadline.
  4. 4
    Empirical Stream applicants go through an initial application screen, then a coding test and referral check, then work tests, then an interview.
  5. 5
    Strategy and Governance applicants go through an initial application screen, then a mentor-specific screen and referral check, then an interview.
  6. 6
    Between cohorts, complete the expression-of-interest form on the program page to be notified when applications reopen.

Program timeline

  1. Constellation opens the call for the Strategy and Governance Stream of the September 2026 cohort

    Apr 28, 2026

  2. Application deadline for the September 2026 to February 2027 cohort, 11:59 pm Anywhere on Earth

    May 3, 2026

  3. Cohort begins in Berkeley

    September 2026

  4. Cohort ends

    February 2027

  5. Next cycle

    not announced. The program page carries an expression-of-interest form for the next launch. The previous cohort ran 5 January to 31 March 2026, with an optional extension into June.