The Foundation is in its first year. We are actively pursuing external funding, recruiting across both arms — Research and the Catch-22 Project — and welcoming interns into the work.
Partners we are pursuing
A foundation funds the research it cannot do alone.
The Walker Conway Foundation is actively applying for external grants and entering partnerships to scale the Catch-22 Project, Cognisom, Cogs, and the AI Watch Lab beyond what its founders can support directly. Every funding relationship we enter is structured to protect the Foundation’s independence: published outputs remain open, research direction stays with the investigator panel, and donor influence ends at the moment of the gift.
Competitive grants from research-funding agencies whose remit overlaps with biological systems, applied robotics, and the public oversight of advanced AI. The Foundation is preparing letters of intent and full proposals across these programs.
Multi-year program grants from philanthropies whose missions touch on emerging technology, public-interest science, and ethics infrastructure. The Foundation accepts no funding that conditions a research outcome.
Sponsored research engagements, compute credits, and joint appointments with universities — accepted only when the published outputs remain unrestricted and the Foundation retains scientific direction.
Across the next eighteen months the Foundation is recruiting across both arms — Research and the Catch-22 Project — for program leads, principal investigators, research scientists, advocates, and postdoctoral fellows. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
IV
Our lead initiative for autistic young adults aging out of foster care. Recruiting a program lead, transition-advocacy and benefits-policy researchers, a neuro-inclusive housing designer, and partnerships staff to manage direct grants. Lived experience and self-advocacy backgrounds are explicitly valued.
I
Building out a multi-disciplinary group at the intersection of computational neuroscience, systems biology, and machine learning. We are recruiting a principal investigator, two research scientists, and a postdoctoral fellow over the next eighteen months.
II
A working group studying the affective signals that humanoid systems should attend to, withhold, or disclose — and the assistive, affect-aware tools that follow. Recruiting a principal investigator in human–robot interaction, plus research engineers across perception and dialog.
III
A public-facing safety institution maintaining an incident registry, evaluating frontier systems, and studying how AI enters the workforce — and what a humane transition owes the workers it displaces. Recruiting safety researchers, an evaluations lead, and counsel for the liability docket.
Owns the scientific direction of one of the Foundation’s research programs. Sets the research agenda within the Foundation’s charter, recruits and mentors the working group, and represents the program in publication and policy venues.
Senior individual contributor (3–7+ years post-PhD) leading a substantive line of inquiry within a pillar. Publishes first-author work, mentors junior staff, and contributes to grant applications.
Two-year appointment for early-career researchers (PhD in hand) advancing a defined project under a pillar PI. Supported time and budget for first-author publication and conference travel.
The Foundation operates an internship program at three career stages. Each intern is matched with a working-group mentor, contributes to a real slice of an active project, and presents at the Foundation’s internal seminar before departing.
For students in their junior or senior year of an undergraduate program in a relevant discipline. Each intern is paired with a research scientist or postdoc and contributes to a defined slice of an active project. Stipend, travel, and housing assistance provided.
For PhD students whose dissertation work intersects with a Foundation pillar. Co-supervision with the student’s home advisor, a clear publication path, and a Foundation seminar contribution. Stipend, compute, and travel covered.
A bridge appointment for recent graduates considering a research-focused PhD. Embedded in a working group with mentorship from a PI and a publication target. Salary and benefits provided.
A short note is enough. Tell us which pillar your work touches, what role you are interested in, and what you would want to be working on six months from now. Every note is read by a member of the leadership team.