Nataraja LabsResearch FoundationMandates ↗Founding Fellowships
The Foundation invites students, researchers, builders and field practitioners whose questions require uncommon range, sustained attention and a contribution that can enter the public record.
Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. There is no application fee. Each appointment is constituted separately, with its duration, expected record, supervision, publication terms and any financial support stated in writing before work begins.
THE PROPOSITION
The Foundation intends to select for judgement, originality, technical competence, evidentiary discipline and the ability to remain with a problem after its first obvious explanation fails.
A fellowship is not an ornamental affiliation. It should confer time, access, critical examination and a duty to leave behind a durable contribution.
FELLOWSHIP TRACKS
Applicants may identify a track, but the Foundation will shape the final appointment around the question, the person and the record the work should leave behind.
For advanced undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral students capable of developing a consequential question beyond the limits of a conventional academic submission.
Research note · evidence record · supervised study · publishable contributionFor researchers, engineers, designers and data builders creating datasets, maps, models, archives or public technology that materially improves how a field can be studied.
Technical design · provenance · documentation · usable releaseFor practitioners, correspondents and independent investigators able to reconstruct realities that cannot be understood from documents and datasets alone.
Field record · source discipline · institutional analysis · public accountFor an established thinker, maker or practitioner entering the Foundation for a bounded period of concentrated exchange, research or construction.
Defined question · institutional contribution · preserved proceeding
THE FELLOWSHIP RECORD
Depending on the track, that record may be a study, dataset, technical instrument, map, preserved archive, proceeding, working method or new institutional capability. The form follows the question; the obligation to produce a reviewable contribution does not.
SELECTION PRINCIPLES
The enquiry must matter beyond personal advancement and be precise enough to discipline the work.
Selection should recognise demonstrated judgement, technical ability, originality or field knowledge—not credentials alone.
Ambition must be matched by a willingness to expose sources, assumptions, uncertainty and error.
The fellowship should leave behind knowledge, an instrument, a method, a public record or strengthened institutional capability.
APPLICATION RECORD
A research note of roughly 500–800 words stating the question, its consequence and the field of evidence it requires.
A concise CV or biography and one serious work sample: a paper, repository, field note, dataset, design or other relevant contribution.
Your preferred track, availability, intended duration and what you believe the appointment should make possible.
Any current institutional affiliation, material constraints, required access and whether financial support is necessary for participation.
WHAT AN APPOINTMENT MAY PROVIDE
Fellows may receive research and editorial direction, access to active enquiries and evidence frameworks, collaboration with other contributors, and named attribution on work accepted into the Foundation's public record.
Some appointments may carry a stipend, honorarium or commissioned budget where funding exists. Financial support is not universal or implied; where offered, it will be disclosed before appointment. A fellowship does not constitute an offer of employment.
Expressions of interest are open
Shortlisted applicants will be invited to a conversation. A defined scope, duration, expected output, attribution terms and any support will then be recorded in a written appointment.
Apply to the founding fellowships ↗Enter the research architecture ↗