A science or research policy fellowship is a fundamentally different instrument from a bench-research fellowship. Where an F32 or a Research Fellowship funds a scientist to keep doing research at a host institution, a policy fellowship places a scientist inside a government office, congressional committee, or agency for a fixed term, paying them to apply their technical expertise to policymaking rather than to laboratory work. The output isn’t a publication or a dataset; it’s informed input into legislation, regulation, or agency program design. This guide covers what distinguishes the category, the flagship AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellowships (STPF) program in detail, and other notable placement fellowships that follow the same model.
What makes a fellowship a "policy fellowship"
Three features distinguish a policy fellowship from a standard postdoctoral or research fellowship:
- Placement, not project funding. The fellow is embedded in a host office — a federal agency, a congressional personal or committee office, a state legislature, or a nonprofit/NGO policy shop — rather than funded to pursue a self-directed research agenda.
- A career-transition purpose. The explicit goal, stated by essentially every program in this category, is to give scientists and engineers direct, first-hand experience of how policy is actually made, and to build a pipeline of technically literate people into public service and policy careers — not to advance a specific research question.
- Fixed, typically short-to-medium term. Most run one year (renewable in some tracks) or, for early-career/graduate variants, as short as a single semester (12 weeks).
This makes policy fellowships a distinct line item for research administrators and career-development offices to track separately from research training awards: they don’t carry indirect costs the way a sponsored research fellowship does, eligibility is framed around policy interest and communication skills alongside the terminal degree, and the "deliverable" institutions should expect is professional development and network-building for the fellow, not a grant report.
The AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellowships (STPF)
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) runs the largest and best-known program in this category. STPF was founded in 1973 and marked its 50th anniversary in 2023, making it the longest-running program of its kind. It places PhD-level scientists and engineers into one-year assignments across the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the US federal government in Washington, DC.
Eligibility
Applicants must hold a PhD (or an equivalent doctoral-level degree) by the application deadline; the one standard exception is for engineers, who may qualify with a master’s degree plus at least three years of relevant postgraduate professional experience. Programs across the STPF portfolio are generally open to applicants across career stages, from recent doctoral graduates to more senior scientists and engineers looking to pivot into a policy career.
Structure and placement
STPF fellows are placed across three branches of government, though the distribution is heavily weighted toward the executive branch:
- Executive branch — the large majority of fellows (roughly 140 of the approximately 170 new fellows who start each year) are placed inside federal agencies (e.g., NIH, NSF, EPA, State Department, USAID and others), working directly on agency science and technology policy, program design, or international science diplomacy.
- Legislative branch (Congress) — a smaller cohort (roughly 30 per year) serve in congressional personal offices or committee staff positions, often through the umbrella AAAS Congressional Fellowships track, under which a number of scientific and engineering societies (for example professional associations in chemistry, physics, geosciences, and related fields) co-sponsor individual fellows who join the same congressional cohort and orientation.
- Judicial branch — a single fellow per year is typically placed within the federal judiciary, supporting judges and court staff on matters involving scientific and technical evidence.
Duration, funding, and support
Executive-branch AAAS-sponsored fellowships run for an initial one-year term, with the possibility of renewing for a second year in the same office. Fellows administered directly by AAAS receive a stipend (reported in the roughly $101,000–$132,000/year range as of the current cycle, varying by fellowship track, sponsor, and years of relevant postdoctoral/professional experience), employer-sponsored health coverage, a professional development and travel allowance (reported at $6,000+), and relocation reimbursement for fellows moving to the Washington, DC area from outside it. The program also runs a structured onboarding and professional-development track — orientation, monthly workshops, and career/leadership summits — that is itself part of what distinguishes a policy fellowship’s value proposition from a standard research appointment.
Because compensation, benefits, and program administration for AAAS-sponsored fellows generally run through AAAS itself rather than the host federal agency, sponsored-programs offices should not expect to administer STPF placements the way they would a standard extramural award; the fellow’s home institution role, if any, is typically limited to the period before the fellowship begins.
Other notable science policy placement fellowships
STPF is the largest program in this space, but it isn’t the only one. Institutions and career-development offices advising researchers on this pathway should be aware of at least:
- The Christine Mirzayan Science & Technology Policy Graduate Fellowship Program, run by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. This is a shorter, 12-week, full-time (37.5 hours/week) in-person placement at the National Academies’ Washington, DC offices, run in cohorts several times a year. It’s aimed at a slightly earlier career stage than STPF — late-stage graduate and professional students, and those who completed a graduate degree within roughly the last five years — and functions more as an intensive, structured introduction to how policy advice gets produced (through National Academies consensus study committees and program units) than as a full career-transition placement. Eligibility extends to US citizens, US permanent residents, DACA recipients, and holders of certain other visa categories, not only citizens.
- Discipline-specific congressional fellowships sponsored by individual scientific and professional societies, many of which place fellows through the AAAS Congressional Fellowships umbrella described above rather than running fully independent placement infrastructure. Institutions should check the specific sponsoring society’s own eligibility and stipend terms, since these can differ from the core AAAS-administered terms even when the fellow joins the same congressional cohort.
- UK and other national equivalents. Placement-model policy fellowships aren’t a US-only phenomenon; UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), for example, has run “Policy Fellowship” opportunities that place researchers into government or policy organisations for a defined term, funded through UKRI’s research councils rather than through a US-style host-agency stipend model. Terms, funding levels, and eligibility for these vary by call and should be checked against the current live opportunity rather than assumed to mirror the AAAS structure.
Why this is a distinct pathway from standard research fellowships
The distinction matters administratively, not just semantically. A standard research fellowship (see CASRAI’s Research fellowship and Postdoctoral fellowship definitions, or a specific mechanism like the NIH F32) is bench-research funding: the fellow proposes and executes a research project, typically at or affiliated with a host institution, under a faculty sponsor, with the institution administering the award, tracking effort, and often handling indirect costs and compliance reporting. A policy fellowship inverts that model: the fellow leaves the research bench (temporarily or permanently), the institution’s administrative role largely ends once the fellow departs for the host office, and the fellowship’s core currency is placement, exposure, and network-building inside the policymaking process rather than research output. For research administrators and career-development advisors, the practical upshot is that policy fellowships belong in career-pathway and professional-development conversations with researchers, not in the same operational bucket as sponsored research awards — the proposal, budget, and reporting mechanics that apply to a grant or a bench fellowship largely don’t apply here.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need a PhD to apply for a science policy fellowship?
For the flagship AAAS STPF program, yes, with one common exception: engineers may qualify with a master’s degree plus at least three years of relevant postgraduate professional experience. Earlier-career and shorter placement programs, such as the National Academies’ Mirzayan Fellowship, are open to late-stage graduate students and recent graduate-degree recipients, not only doctorate holders.
Are science policy fellowships funded like research grants?
No. They function as a salaried, fixed-term placement rather than a research grant with a budget, indirect costs, and a scope of work. AAAS-administered fellows are paid a stipend directly by AAAS (with benefits and allowances) rather than through a sponsored-research award mechanism administered by the fellow’s home institution.
Can international researchers apply for these fellowships?
It depends on the program. AAAS STPF federal-branch placements generally require US citizenship, since fellows are working inside federal government offices. Some other programs in this category, including the National Academies’ Mirzayan Fellowship, extend eligibility to US permanent residents, DACA recipients, and holders of certain other visa categories, not only citizens — always check the specific program’s current eligibility page rather than assuming.
How long do science policy fellowships typically last?
It varies by program. AAAS STPF executive-branch placements are a one-year initial term with an option to renew for a second year. The National Academies’ Mirzayan Fellowship is a much shorter, 12-week, full-time placement. UKRI-style policy fellowships vary by call.
