Call for applications · PhD students
Do research
that ships.
Solana Scholars builds a bridge between Solana and the academic community. We fund focused research internships carried out in close collaboration with the people building the system. Your work doesn't end at a PDF. It ends up in production. We put the ship in internship.
Why this program exists
A lot of blockchain research never touches a real system, and a lot of real systems never benefit from research. We think that's a waste in both directions. Solana runs at a scale where open problems in consensus, networking, cryptography, and economics aren't hypothetical — they're on the roadmap.
So we're offering scoped, well-defined 3-month research internships, pairing each scholar directly with the engineers and researchers working on those problems. Internships are on-site — for example in Zurich, Switzerland or New York, USA — or virtual. Every topic is chosen because we genuinely want the answer.
Real problems
Internship topics come from what the system actually needs next — not from a grab bag of "interesting directions."
Close collaboration
You work directly with Solana engineers and researchers throughout the internship, not just at kickoff and final report.
Publishable results
Internships are scoped so the outcome fits your PhD: papers, artifacts, and results you can build a thesis chapter on.
Impact you can point to
The best outcome of an internship is code, protocol changes, or analysis the ecosystem actually uses. That's the bar.
On-site or virtual
Join us in person — for example in Zurich, Switzerland or New York, USA — or work with us remotely from wherever your PhD keeps you.
Built around your PhD
Internships run for 3 months, with a possible extension. Timing is flexible and applications are open year-round, so it fits your program instead of interrupting it.
Who can apply
Right now, the program is open exclusively to excellent PhD students. If you're currently enrolled in a doctoral program and work in distributed systems, networking, cryptography, economics, or a neighboring field, we'd love to hear from you.
We expect candidates to have already published at scientific conferences in the area — at venues such as FC, AFT, PODC, DISC, SOSP, OSDI, EuroSys, SIGCOMM, NSDI, SIGMETRICS, CCS, S&P, USENIX Security, NDSS, CRYPTO, EUROCRYPT, EC, or WINE.
You're a great fit if you want your research to run against a real, live, planet-scale distributed system — and you're excited by the idea that a good result doesn't just get cited, it gets deployed.
How to apply
Applications are short — we care about your ideas and your fit, not paperwork. Pitch your own topic or express interest in one of our areas; if there's a fit, we scope the internship together. There is no application deadline: we accept applications throughout the year. Whenever you're ready, we're ready.