Open Science Entrepreneur-in-Residence

Upgrading Scientific Dialogue

Note that the application deadline for this round has been extended to July 25, 2024.

Astera is committed to accelerating scientific progress by tackling bottlenecks in scientific publishing. Toward that end, we support experimentation with new information tools that will transform scientific dialogue.

We are looking for creative, high-agency entrepreneurs who can innovate through technical challenges to more open and interactive information exchange in the life sciences. We will prioritize strategies that leverage cutting-edge technologies to address limitations in scaling and user experience.

Opportunity

To explore new solutions, we need the most talented builders and entrepreneurs to lead. Astera’s Open Science Resident program supports innovators who urgently want to unlock new tools for scientific publishing.

Selected Residents will carry out the first phase of their work in one-year residency at Astera. We will consider a proposed budget of up to $500,000 to cover compensation and resources for the Resident, including other potential teammates. Open science Residents will be eligible to pitch a spin-out organization or company at the end of the year.

In addition to financial support, Astera’s Resident program will also provide guidance for builders as they envision and test actionable, out-of-the-box ideas. We will pair open science Residents with scientists and other advisors who are embedded in research and open science. We believe that learning and building together with these partners will be critical for understanding user needs and incorporating historical lessons.

Who are we looking for?

Ideal candidates are high-agency builders with a sense of urgency. Astera is looking for ambitious entrepreneurs with a product mindset and a strong drive to optimize for user experience. We want to identify collaborative candidates who are eager to tackle the technical challenges of improving and scaling scientific dialogue beyond traditional academic communities. We encourage candidates who bring a unique technological skillset and are willing to rapidly iterate on the basis of key constraints and user needs.

Examples of people who would be qualified to be an Open Science Resident:

• Product designers who have an idea for a technical innovation that will catalyze a new era in scientific information exchange
• Software engineers or platform builders who want to open up new possibilities for innovation by reinventing the underlying infrastructure for sharing data and other scientific information
• Entrepreneurs with deep user experience and ideas for tools that would lower the barrier to entry and make open science practices easier to adopt
• Scientists who have technical skills, a bespoke tool, and a viable plan to scale, but need time and resources to work on it
  
  
  

To apply to be an Open Science Resident:

• Please attach your resume or CV
• Include a cover letter that describes your professional background, a problem in publishing and your proposed solution, and your timeline and budget (including your own compensation) - 2 pages max
• We expect that your ideas are a starting point for future iterations. Please let us know explicitly if you are flexible and willing to collaboratively shape your idea prior to starting a potential residency at Astera
• If applicable, we would like to know about previous entrepreneurial experience, relevant organizations you may have started, and/or milestones you have achieved so far
• Please indicate whether you prefer to be on-site, remote, or hybrid
  
  
  

Qualified candidates will be advanced based on the following criteria:

• Potential of individual
• Importance of problem
• Impact of solution
• Alignment with FAIR principles
  
  
  

If you are a creative, collaborative, high-agency entrepreneur with a product mindset and the drive to accommodate user needs, we’re looking for you!

We will review ideas quarterly. We are currently reviewing applications submitted by the previous deadline of March 25, 2024. The next review will begin July 25, 2024. Please understand that we cannot provide preliminary feedback on your application. The call remains open if this page is visible.

Contact Open Science Program Director Jessica Polka at [email protected] with any questions.

Salary will be commensurate with expertise and experience.