Beijing AI Safety Residency FAQs
The default is around two months from mid-October 2026 — but longer visits are also possible for the right candidates. If you can only come for a short period, please apply for a short-term visit here. We are also planning Spring and Summer 2027 cohorts next year.
It's largely self-directed — you bring your own research agenda, worked out in discussion with the residency manager. The hub provides community, infrastructure, and access to counterparts in China.
This is a residency rather than a structured mentorship programme. You bring your own research agenda and collaborators; the hub provides community, infrastructure, and access to counterparts in China. The team works closely with each resident to shape their residency.
As part of your residency, you can choose to work with and mentor some junior AI safety researchers — the exact number may depend on demand for your research area and your capacity.
We would expect most researchers to use their time in China to collaborate on papers that are submitted to conferences or journals. You would be asked to acknowledge the grants you are given as part of this programme for that research. These will not be given by Tsinghua but by a US/UK-based non-profit. We will require at least one public output published at some point either during or after the residency (not required for short visits) and a talk summarising the research you did at the end of your residency.
The hub is led by Chief Scientist Professor Andrew Yao, China's only Turing Award Winner, and co-directed by Professor Xu Wei and Dr. Soren Mindermann, working with a range of Chinese AI safety experts and safety teams of AI companies.
If you work on alignment, evaluations, scalable oversight, control, or other typical frontier AI safety areas and have publications or comparable outputs (such as open-source projects or technical reports), you're exactly who we're looking for.
Governance researchers are very welcome to apply. We have only a small number of governance slots for this cohort, so even if we can't place you this time, we would consider you for future cohorts.
No. We are open to non-traditional backgrounds. What matters is a substantive body of work in AI safety we can evaluate — publications, technical reports, open-source projects, or comparable outputs.
It could be — a PhD is not required. PhD students, depending on their prior research experience, can be a great fit.
At the moment we don't anticipate any particular citizenship restrictions, provided you are generally able to visit China.
No — the residency is in person. If you would like to visit for a shorter period, please apply for a short-term visit here.
No. Mandarin is welcome but not required.
Yes — flights and housing are covered.
You'll be on an F visa (for academic research exchange). The university / local partner provides the relevant invitation letter and we will provide guidance and support on the process. You'll likely pay the visa fees yourself and then be reimbursed. We are glad to find ways to provide support if this is a challenge for you.
Stipends are paid in USD, to a bank account outside of China.
You'll be on an F visa (academic research exchange).
We provide guidance on export-control and legal/regulatory compliance for residents, focused mainly on US compliance regulations. As this is the inaugural cohort, we'll work with each resident to identify needs and provide support accordingly. Please feel free to reach out to us over email and we can set up time to discuss this with you.
If necessary, residents can be provided with a set of devices to use for the residency and return to the organisers at the end.
We're happy to give you information about the residency, but we largely won't mediate between you and your home institution. That said, do ask us for specific support — our team is glad to help where we can.
We'll work with each resident, depending on how familiar you are with China, to provide settling-in support and navigation — including device setup, local payment rails, getting around on the ground, and key contacts.
Yes — housing is provided.
Yes — travel insurance is provided.
There is no dedicated support for dependents except in exceptional cases — if that's your situation, please get in touch.
You'll have a university community around you, and we'll also connect you to other programmes in China so you can engage with a community of both Chinese experts and international researchers based in Beijing.
The residency is supported by leading AI safety foundations.
Offers are issued from Tsinghua, but your stipend is administered by a US non-profit and paid in USD to an account outside of China — not routed through a Chinese institution.
After interviews we ask for some additional information for standard checks, followed by Tsinghua confirming it can host you.
Applications open 5 June and close 30 June. We interview through late June, with offers issued by mid-July; the residency begins mid-October. We review on a rolling basis, so earlier is better.