Future of Scientific Discovery Emerging Scholars

Salary: $80,000 - $150,000 annually. Applications are now being accepted for two Future of Scientific Discovery Emerging Scholar positions at the Mercatus Center. These are full-time, one-year positions, based in Arlington, Virginia, running from September 8, 2026, through September 8, 2027. The two scholars will join Mercatus’s Emerging Scholars Program and will work alongside the broader cohort while focusing on questions related to science, scientific institutions, and technological change. The Emerging Scholars Program is designed to identify rising classical liberal thinkers and help them become stronger public communicators and contributors to major policy and cultural debates. For this track, Mercatus is seeking candidates who can examine the future of scientific discovery through the lens of institutional design, incentives, governance, and human flourishing. Possible areas of focus include AI and emerging technology policy, science funding structures, regulatory design, innovation ecosystems, and discipline-specific scientific domains. As a Future of Scientific Discovery Emerging Scholar, you will be embedded in Mercatus’s interdisciplinary research community and participate fully in the Emerging Scholars Program. All Scholars are based full-time in Arlington. You will develop a substantial research project and produce regular public-facing writing or multimedia content during the year. You will participate in a weekly work-in-progress seminar, a policy discussion group, and regular one-on-one meetings with program leadership. You will also complete an intensive ten-week communications training sequence covering writing, branding, public speaking, media skills, podcasting, design, and related forms of public communication. Each scholar is assigned two mentors and is encouraged to seek additional mentorship as their work develops. The program is led by Rebecca Lowe, Director of Emerging Scholars. Scholars also benefit from the wider intellectual community and from opportunities to engage with research working groups relevant to their interests. This position is designed for candidates with real subject-matter depth. Mercatus expects Future of Scientific Discovery scholars to arrive with substantial expertise in the area they plan to study, along with the background needed to speak credibly to technical and policy audiences. The program is meant to deepen and amplify that expertise through mentorship, critique, and public engagement.