The applications for postdoctoral-level research fellowships in the Spring 2026 research program on Federated and Collaborative Learning are now closed. 

The Simons Institute is the world's leading center for collaborative research in theoretical computer science and its intersections with related fields. Established in 2012 with a grant from the Simons Foundation, the Institute is housed in Calvin Lab, a dedicated building on the UC Berkeley campus. The fundamental structural unit for the Institute’s research is the semester or summer research program on a particular topic in the field. Run by a small group of organizers, a program typically includes 50+ long-term participants (a mix of senior and junior researchers), with additional short-term visitors attending weeklong program workshops. There are usually two concurrent research programs each semester, and a combination of programs and smaller clusters in the summer. 

Fellowship eligibility: Programmatic research fellowships are intended for exceptional young scientists (within at most five years of the award of their PhD at the start of academic year 2025). Applicants who already hold junior faculty or postdoctoral positions are welcome to apply. In particular, applicants who hold, or expect to hold, postdoctoral appointments at other institutions are encouraged to apply to spend one semester as a Simons Institute research fellow, subject to the approval of the postdoctoral institution. Graduate students will be considered only if the expected PhD completion date is before the start of the program.

The Institute expects to award about eight fellowships for each program in 2025, with one or two appointments for a full academic year. In each semester of residence, each Fellow will normally participate in one of the ongoing programs at the Institute. 

Salaries and benefits are competitive, and assistance with visas and housing will be provided. The Institute particularly encourages applications from women and minority candidates.