Start your impactful research before college

Join the youngest researchers tackling the world’s most pressing problems. Online programs with mentorship, a $2,000 scholarship, and zero fees.

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Applications closed For 2025 cohorts
August 25, 2024

Over half of university-admitted alums received top 10 or Ivy League offers

[1]

* 2024 survey: n=87 alums who had been accepted to a university. Based on Times Higher Education rankings.

Launch your impactful research career

1. Research Foundations

Choose your research direction

CERTIFICATE
2. Research Fellows

Start your impactful research

$2,000 Scholarship
3. Research Scholars

Work with a leading researcher

$10,000 Scholarship
View programs
NOn-Trivial Alums

At age 16, Aritro presented at the United Nations

Aritro's research was on environmental conservation and sustainable development. As a result, he was invited to speak at the Youth Parliament of the United Nations General Assembly in New York and was inspired to start a podcast on climate change, which led to him being recognized as a Rise Global Winner.

“The community is unlike any other I've been in - insightful, interesting, and truly supportive.”

Aritro, Non-Trivial ‘23
OUR COMMUNITY

Join a world-class community

Connect with hundreds of passionate fellows to help you improve and implement your ideas.

The Non-Trivial Fellowship is definitely the most useful thing I have done all year.

EloCOMPOS Oxford

Non-Trivial is truly an inspiring and eye-opening program.

TonyCoca-Cola Scholar

Non-Trivial was a great experience to learn new tools to create change.

CyraRise Global Winner

The fellowship supported me through weekly guidance, provided me with resources, and connected me with collaborators.

Ervin2x IMO Medalist

I've learned how fun it is to have a cool, academic, independent project to work on.

ElianaLIVE With Po-Shen Loh Tutor

I had meaningful discussions with friends whom I will cherish for life!

HuyenEGMO Medalist

Non-Trivial is the place to be for teenagers who want to have an impact on the world.

EgeIEO Medalist

An amazing opportunity to work on a project which could have a real impact in the world.

Grace
Apply now
EXAMPLE projects

Do research that makes a difference

Browse projects from Non-Trivial alums.

Mathematics

BIOSECURITY

An Improved Epidemic Model for Interconnected Networks

Improving decision making

Democratic Reform via Mathematical Analysis

NUCLEAR WAR

Location Modelling for Post-Nuclear Refuge Bunkers

Global Health & Wellbeing

Developing the First Mechanistic Forecast for Future Dengue Prevalence

Computer Science

Neurodegenerative Disease

Kinematic Integrated Gait Analysis for Alzheimer’s Diagnosis

Climate Change

Modelling to Maximise the Carbon Sequestration Potential of Seagrass

Global Health & Wellbeing

A Novel Self-Supervised Deep-Learning Approach to Efficiently Detect Diseases in Plants

Artificial Intelligence

Understanding In-Context Learning: Unraveling Affine Recurrences in GPT-style Models

Misinformation

An Anti-Misinformation Content Recommendation Algorithm

Bias

Combating Bias in LLMs with Activation Addition

Physics

Climate ChangE

Greenhouse Effect for Good in Industrial Production

Climate ChangE

Stratospheric Aerosol Removal Technology

Atomically Precise Manufacturing

A Comprehensive Analysis of the Future of Atomically Precise Manufacturing

Space Governance

Proposal to Amend the OST for Autonomous Satellites

Biology

Biosecurity

Proposal: siRNA Design Workflow

Biosecurity

Accelerating Platform Technology Development for Pandemic Preparedness

Animal Welfare

Mapping Determinants of Zoonotic Spillover

Global Health & Wellbeing

Maternal mortality: where can resources go farthest?

Global Health & Wellbeing

Outline for Establishing and Maintaining Phage Banks to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance in Impoverished Nations

Social Science

Improving decision making

Developing a Psychological Scale to Measure Scout Mindset

Global Health & Wellbeing

Designing a Clean Cookstove Intervention Template

Improving Decision-making

Economic Discounting Evaluation Model

Animal Welfare

The Impact of Ethical Argument on Moral Attitudes towards Animals

Philosophy

Artificial Intelligence

Proposals for Quantitative Measures of Consciousness in AI Systems

Space Governance

A Foundation for Ethical Space Expansion

Animal Welfare

The Impact of Ethical Argument on Moral Attitudes

Policy

Artificial Intelligence

Establishing a Risk-Based Licensing System for Public Release and Export of Frontier AI Models

Global Health & Wellbeing

Revolutionising the Data Landscape for Global Disease Modeling

Climate change

Environmental Impacts of Cultivated and Conventional Seafood

Nuclear war

New Technologies and the Future of Nuclear Deterrence

Biosecurity

A New Model For DNA Synthesis Screening: Policy Proposal

our partners

We support organizations for talented youth

Highlighted SPEAKERS

Learn from world-class experts

Portrait of Peter Singer

Peter Singer

One of the most influential living philosophers, often credited with sparking the modern animal rights movement.

Rachel Glennerster

Associate Professor of Economics and faculty director of the Market Shaping Accelerator.

Portrait of Yoshua Bengio

Yoshua Bengio

Turing Award winner and a leading expert in artificial intelligence, known for his pioneering work in deep learning.

Portrait of Matt Clifford

Matt Clifford

Co-founder of Entrepreneur First, the world’s leading startup talent investor and the Chair of ARIA.

Solve the first puzzle

Start your application

You and four others are in a race to develop valuable technology. Each of you submits a number. We add the numbers, subtract the total from 50 (representing potential harm from rushing), and multiply that result by your number to calculate your score.

Your goal is to maximize your score. What number do you submit?

Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

View example

We can write the problem like this:

Example: Alice submits 3. Bob submits 2. Claire submits 2. Darius submits 1. Elaine submits 0.

Result: Alice scores 126. Bob scores 84. Claire scores 84. Darius scores 42. Elaine scores 0.

“This fellowship is an excellent catalyst for helping young people get beyond that stagnant idea phase toward real progress. I enjoyed being able to conduct literature reviews and research my subject with the guidance of the weekly worksheets.”

Ariaana, 16, Non-Trivial ‘23
Project: A New Model for DNA Synthesis Screening
Prize: $15,000
FAQs

Frequently asked questions

Who is eligible for the Fellowship?

Applicants are eligible if they:
• Are aged 14-20
• Have not started university
• Are on earth

What do you look for?

We look for applicants who demonstrate:
• Curiosity: The desire to understand how the world works.
‍• Critical thinking: The ability to think deeply and analytically about complex problems.
‍• Drive to make a difference: The motivation to solve important problems.

How long does the application take?

The takes applicants about 45 minverage. We encourage rough answers and bullet points – we want to see how you think, not how well you write!

When should I apply?

Applications are closed for our 2025 cohorts. Subscribe to get notified about future cohorts.

Who is funding the Fellowship?

Since our founding in 2022, we’ve awarded more than $400,000 in scholarships and prizes to talented young people and other programs and competitions that support them. The largest funder of our work has been Open Philanthropy. No funder makes decisions about our curriculum, selection of fellows, judging of projects, or anything else that we do.

Do I have to pay to apply?

No, it's 100% free to apply. Our program is 100% free, too.

View all FAQs

Don't wait to
change the world

Start your impactful research this summer.

Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Subscribe for updates
August 25, 2024
Applications closed for 2025 cohorts
$2,000 scholarship
Solve pressing problems
Online

Flexible Hours
expert MENTORSHIP
Ages 14-20
Application Process

Apply in under an hour

01

Quick questions about you

⏱️
20 minutes

List your impressive achievements and describe an unpopular belief you hold. Rough answers and bullet points are encouraged.

02

Solve tricky puzzles

⏱️
20 minutes

Test your problem-solving skills with our challenging game theory puzzles and brainteasers!

Thank you!
Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Get notified when applications open
August 25, 2024
Non-trivial

We empower bright young people to start solving the world's most pressing problems.

Non-Trivial is a project of the Effective Ventures group, the umbrella term for Effective Ventures Foundation (England and Wales registered charity number 1149828, registered company number 07962181, and also a Netherlands registered tax-deductible entity ANBI 825776867) and Effective Ventures Foundation USA, Inc. (a section 501(c)(3) public charity in the USA, EIN 47-1988398).
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