Applications for the government-funded AI Metascience Fellowship Programme are now open. Metascience is the study of how science works and explores how research practices, funding models, and how institutions carry out research can be engineered to produce maximum impact from scientific reserach.

The AI Metascience Fellowship Programme will fund research into areas such as how AI is shaping the research landscape and the benefits and challenges it poses to scientists, like ethical concerns and economic impacts. This new fellowship builds on the rising interest following the AI Action Summit, where global leaders collaborated on how best to ensure the development of AI benefits society.

Funding will go towards researcher applying their knowledge in exploring AI’s effects on scientific research projects. Alongside the £4 million programme in the UK, a US programme will run funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, creating a transatlantic research effort to examine AI’s impact on science.

Applications for the programme are welcomed from projects exploring the impact of AI on research jobs and skills, how it affects the rate of scientific progress, and the challenges of ensuring AI-driven research remains reliable and explainable.

Science minister, Lord Vallance, said: “AI presents new opportunities in a range of sectors, and if researchers can demonstrate its potential to increase transparency, robustness and trust in science then this could pave the way to freeing the up from mundane paperwork tasks while driving growth.

“Supporting researchers to explore how AI can change the way we conduct reproach and through our joint support with Open Philanthropy for 23 projects exploring wide research and innovation, we will build a better understanding of what works in research — maximising impact, driving discoveries and improving lives”

Alongside the fellowship, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) have provided £4.8 million investment across 23 new research projects, which will also tackle key questions about how to improve research and innovation, such as AI’s impact on science, research integrity, and new models for funding and publishing research.