Win4AISafety - Open Research Summer Challenge

Can you uncover the next crucial direction in AI Safety? Welcome to the first multi-disciplinary summer challenge organized by SAIN Utrecht. You can participate individually or with a team. You will showcase your passion, ideas, and talent by crafting a short study over 6 weeks. The challenge is about shedding light on underexplored areas of AI Safety, replicating existing studies to perform new analysis, or producing surveys to raise awareness inside and outside the field. Just like professional researchers, you will be working under uncertainty. This is your chance to narrow down broad, general questions into a highly actionable study. What you'll do: You can choose any area of AI Safety, including Technical AISF and Governance. We are providing no strict theme or step-by-step guidelines on how to proceed, racking your brain is the only way to go. You will spend 6 weeks defining your scope, conducting your research, and synthesizing your findings. Working hard for these two months is for committed individuals eager to show what they are made of. Therefore, your final submission must be a comprehensive essay published as a Substack post. This widely accepted format will not only showcase your strategic clarity but will also act as an "evaluation in the wild.". The best ideas may be integrated into our 2026/2027 curriculum, and top authors may be considered by SAIN Mentors for scouting opportunities at the SAIN Research Hub This is an individual challenge What we'll provide: Technical Support to resolve any blockers and relevant study material. Time and deadline: Monday, 6 July 2026 - Kicks-off event with Challenge Introduction and Jury Panel Discussion on SAIN Research Hub. Friday, 10 July 2026 - Team Roster Finalization & Networking Drinks. Monday, 17 August 2026, Anywhere on Earth - Substack post submission. Late entries will not be considered, so plan your scope accordingly: a tightly focused, rigorous exploration of one specific problem is always better than a rushed attempt to solve the entire alignment landscape. The event will conclude with an Award Night and Dinner on the 28th of August, where we will celebrate and award the top 3 projects. All winners will also receive exclusive SAIN Merch, the opportunity to pitch at our New Academic Year Kick-off Ceremony, and be scouted for a position in the SAIN Research Hub for the next academic year!

Google meet: https://meet.google.com/mnb-emgn-mrq