Pilot programme
Supported pilot reviews
Taking part in the Institute is free of charge. Pilot reviews are funded by a grant from James Scott, managed by the Embassy Row Project, so that groups without a review budget can still obtain external adversarial examination of a consequential claim. Selection is manual, and the Institute may decline, defer, or refer any request.
- None; grant-funded
- Limited; reviewed in cohorts
- Manual eligibility review
- Never automatic
Cost
No fee, and no donation accepted
There is no charge for participating in the Institute and no charge for a pilot review. The review capacity is underwritten by a grant from James Scott, administered by the Embassy Row Project. The Institute does not invoice applicants, does not accept donations from them, and holds no commercial relationship with the parties whose claims it examines — which is what allows a hold or a stop to be stated plainly.
Terms
What a pilot covers
A pilot is a single scoped review programme applied to one consequential claim, one unresolved contradiction, or one pending decision. It is not an open-ended engagement, and it does not include experimental work, data analysis on the applicant's behalf, or support for a specific conclusion.
Pilot output is the same as any other Institute output: a written record stating what is claimed, what supports it, what contradicts it, which assumptions carry the weight, what would falsify it, the primary bottleneck, the cheapest decisive next action, and the decision state the evidence justifies. Where reviewers disagree, the disagreement is part of the record.
- One scoped review programme, the written record, and a briefing on the findings.
- Certification, endorsement, publication support, experimental work, or ongoing attachment.
- Support is finite. Where a request would be better served elsewhere, the Institute refers rather than accepts.
- Pilot output is confidential to the applicant. Publication only occurs with written consent, and then with the contradiction register intact.
- No classified, export-controlled, embargoed, or personally sensitive material is accepted through this website at any stage.
Eligibility
Self-check
The questionnaire below indicates whether the pilot programme is a plausible route. It asks only about non-sensitive characteristics, records nothing, transmits nothing, and cannot approve a project.
Is the work related to frontier physics or adjacent high-consequence research?
Frontier, exotic, or unusually consequential research where an error would be expensive to discover later.
Only non-sensitive characteristics are asked. The self-check never returns an approval, and no answers are transmitted or stored.
Process
How a request is handled
Application
Non-sensitive application submitted through this website. It states the claim class, the decision at stake, and the characteristics of the evidence available.
Eligibility review
A person reviews the request against the pilot characteristics. Requests outside scope are declined or referred, with the reason given.
Scoping
Where the request proceeds, scope, access, confidentiality, and the review programme are agreed in writing before work begins.
Review and record
The review is conducted and the record issued with its decision state, conditions, and any dissent retained.