Applications for 2026 are now closed. A free, fully online, and asynchronous fellowship running July 15 to August 15, 2026.
You leave this fellowship having authored a real piece of legislation. Almost no student your age can say that.
The 2026 fellowship is now underway
Applications for the 2026 fellowship are now closed. Accepted fellows should monitor their email for onboarding materials, deadlines, and program access information.
The Shubho Biotech Policy Fellowship is a selective three week fellowship for high schoolers who want to go beyond the classroom. It is free, fully online, and asynchronous, so fellows complete each week's lessons and assignments on their own schedule. One module is released each week, with written guidance and support from Shubho instructors throughout. The science in the first two weeks earns you the right to write something real in week three, a model bill on a biotech issue you actually care about, written the way California legislation is written. A pretest and a posttest measure how much you learn along the way.
Fellows explore how CRISPR and gene editing work, examine a real gene editing treatment for sickle cell disease, and consider the ethical limits of changing human DNA.
Fellows examine how biotechnology already affects medicine, food, and daily life through recombinant insulin, mRNA vaccines, and lab grown meat. Each fellow chooses a biotechnology related problem that will become the subject of their model bill.
Fellows learn how biotechnology is regulated, how a California bill becomes law, how to read legislative language, and how to turn a scientific problem into a realistic policy proposal.
Most people never get near how laws are made. In three weeks, you write one. For your capstone you pick a biotech problem you actually care about, and we walk you through turning it into a real model bill, written the way California legislation is written, with your name on it. You finish this program holding a piece of legislation you wrote yourself, something almost no student your age can say.
Fellows receive written feedback and revise their model bills before final submission. Revisions may address:
Each fellow submits:
Selected finalists will present their model bills during a live online showcase and respond to questions from judges. Selected finalists will present live, while qualifying completed projects may be featured in Shubho's digital showcase.
Fellows may earn a completion certificate by:
Every fellow takes the same short assessment as a pretest in week one and again as a posttest with their final submission. The difference between the two scores is the learning gain, and it is how we show the program works. Those results become part of our public impact data.
Fellows receive written guidance, structured resources, assignment feedback, and support from Shubho instructors throughout the program. Program announcements, materials, deadlines, and support instructions are sent by email and through the designated fellowship platform.
Applications closed · fellowship now underway
Applications for the 2026 fellowship are now closed. Accepted fellows should monitor their email for onboarding materials, deadlines, and program access information.