July 2026

July 2026




Academy updates

Academy 2026 is a wrap!!! Wow!
2026 Academy
  • By the numbers:
  • 109 TAs
  • 1257 students
  • 111 countries represented
  • Artist Palette We reached out to our volunteer community on Slack to vote for this year's overall Academy Art Contest Winner! Check out the winners  here . We'll be adding some new t-shirts to the Neuromatch store!
  • A HUGE thank you to all of our volunteers, course leadership, department chairs, mentors, and everyone who helped make this year possible.
  • We'll be sharing more data in the next several weeks!

New Neuromatch Computational Behaviour Course: Neuromatch, in partnership with and generously supported by  Connected Minds , is developing a new two-week Computational Behaviour Course to launch for the 2027 Neuromatch Academy! In May we  launched a webpage for the new course,  did external communications, and have started recruiting for a  New Course Creation Committee.  Please join #a-27-behaviour-course-creation if you're interested.
NeuroAI for High Schoolers: In collaboration with ARNI, the program will bring a six-module NeuroAI curriculum to NYC high school students in Grades 11–12, connecting core principles of neuroscience and artificial intelligence with critical AI literacy and ethical reasoning. We will be hiring a Curriculum Specialist for this role in the coming months.

General Updates

Congratulations to Neuromatch's President and Board Chair, Megan Peters for being selected into the  FENS-Kavli Network of Excellence FKNE 2026 cohort ! What an incredible and well-deserved recognition!

AISS Program: This is a 6-month, part-time, fully remote mentored research program for 10 early-career researchers. The program brings together researchers working at the intersection of AI, consciousness, and society, combining mentored research projects, workshops, seminars, an in-person convening, publication opportunities, and a stipend with research funding.
In July, we hosted the program's first two  workshops  for the scholars: Foundations of AI Sentience Research, delivered by Cambridge Digital Minds, introducing key concepts and research frameworks for studying AI sentience, and Neuroethics for AI Sentience, delivered by the Institute of Neuroethics (IoNx), exploring the ethical implications of digital sentience.
We also launched our  public seminar series , with Kim Stachenfeld from Google DeepMind and Columbia University. You can watch the recording of 'Discovering Interpretable Symbolic Models of Human and Animal Behavior with LLMs'  here . The next public seminar will be 19 August. Please join #ai-sentience-scolars program if you are interested in this work.
MEXA: Neuromatch will be  supporting research teams over two years  as they do fundamental research on generative AI and mental health. The goal is to improve measurement or treatment of anxiety, depression and psychosis. In July, we held the  kick-off meeting for this Funded Cohort Support Program , bringing together the 14 funded research teams for the first time. The program will not only support each team's individual research project but also foster a collaborative community that accelerates learning, knowledge sharing, and real-world impact across the entire portfolio.
Impact Scholars Program: In July, we introduced the 2026 Academy Cohort to Impact Scholars Program through two  support webinars . Dizzy We also launched our campaign to get  volunteers to review submissions — sign up to volunteer . Please join # impact-scholars-program if you are interested in helping with this work.
Conferences: In July at the  FENS Forum,  Neuromatch partnered with ALBA Network (supported by IBRO) for  a joint interactive event  with a focused on equitable global participation in neuroscience training. We also had a poster about Neuromatch up in the Community Hall. Joana Guedes, Science Program Manager, was also able to meet up with partners and a AISS Mentor! Also in July, the  Annual Organization for Computational Neurosciences Meeting  happened with Computational Behaviour Course Director, Gunnar Blohm attending. A  poster from an Impact Scholar Project  was also presented. In August, Neuromatch will host a  Mindmatching event  at  CCN2026 . In November, Neuromatch will have a booth at the Society for Neuroscience (SfN). We're looking forward to connecting with our community in person and introducing our programs to new audiences — mark your calendars and stay tuned for more details as each event approaches!

Staffing Updates

  • Manisha Sinha will be joining Neuromatch long-term as the Senior Program Manager, Careers & Field Building, starting September 14! Manisha will lead our Impact Scholars Program while helping shape and grow Neuromatch's broader careers and field-building initiatives. She'll also continue supporting evaluation and Theory of Change work across all our programs, helping us build an even stronger evidence base for the impact we create. We are so excited to have Manisha on our team!!
  • Congratulations to Joana for being promoted to Program Director, Careers & Field Building, overseeing our Career Development and Field Building pillars starting 1 August!! Joana has been with us for over a year and has done a tremendous job leading our MEXA program and supporting the development and expansion of our other career and field-building efforts, including launching our AI Sentience Scholars program!
  • In the coming weeks, we will open the Academy Support and Data Analysis role — more to come!

Fundraising

Newly Confirmed Funding:
  • Dana Foundation Pilot Proposal: NeuroAI: Intelligence in Brains and Machines High School Course ($180,000 total; $95,000 allocated to Neuromatch): A high school program developed in partnership with ARNI.
Unsuccessful Applications:
  • NIH BRAIN R25 Supplement: $60,000 supplement award to our existing grant supporting the Computational Neuroscience course, to fund annual Neuromatch team travel to SfN with an exhibitor booth to advertise our programs.
  • Dana Foundation Pilot Proposal: NeuroAI & Society ($180,000 total; $115,000 allocated to Neuromatch): Supports workshops, scholar-led projects, and hackathons exploring the ethical and societal implications of NeuroAI. Developed in partnership with the Institute of Neuroethics, the Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator (GESDA), and the Institute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society at Georgia Tech.
  • Coefficient Giving (Effective Careers): $330,000 over two years to integrate enhanced career mentorship into our existing programs.
  • Coefficient Giving (AI Sentience Scholars): $1,237,039 over two years to expand the AI Sentience Scholars Program.
  • Gatsby Charitable Foundation: Not moving forward with preparing a full proposal for the Impact Scholars Program due to a strategic change in Gatsby's neuroscience funding priorities, which are no longer aligned with capacity-building initiatives.
  • Effective Altruism Long-Term Futures Fund - AI Sentience Scholars: $500,000 for one year to expand the AISS Program
Pending Applications:
  • Survival and Flourishing Fund (SFF): $1,000,000 over two years (Fairness Track) for unrestricted funding to support core organisational infrastructure and the expansion of key program initiatives.
In Conversation/Drafting:
  • Allen Institute: In talks with senior leadership about regular funding support for the Academy and Impact Scholars program, and how to strengthen our partnership with Allen, including using more of Allen's data in our programming.
  • AWS Imagine Grant (Momentum to Modernize): Up to $50,000 in unrestricted financial support and up to $20,000 in AWS Promotional Credit. We are planning to submit an application to help us modernise our portal, including using it for better long-term impact tracking of our alumni.
  • Longview Philanthropy: Digital Minds RFP for an expansion of the AI Sentience Scholars Program
  • Google DeepMind Sponsorship: $25,000 to support the delivery of Neuromatch Academy

Financial Snapshot

  • Financial Runway: As of 31 July 2026, Neuromatch Inc. held $1,285,748 in the bank. Based on current projections and not accounting for pending or future fundraising, Neuromatch will exhaust available and committed funds in February 2028. This provides a conservative financial runway of approximately 19 months.