Questions, answered

Global Research Fellowship is a finance research and mentorship program for ambitious high-school students who want to study markets seriously before college. GRF is built around practitioner mentorship, focused research questions, and written work that forces students to think clearly.

GRF currently offers two tracks: the Research Desk Cohort and Private 1:1 Mentorship. The Research Desk Cohort is a small group program built around one shared finance theme. Private 1:1 Mentorship is a more individualized research track where a student works directly with a mentor on their own paper.

GRF is for students who are serious about finance, economics, markets, and research. You do not need a finance background or prior coursework. What matters is that you can think clearly, follow an argument, and commit to doing real work.

Most research programs are broad. A student might do psychology, biology, public policy, economics, or AI depending on mentor availability. GRF is finance-first. The work is centered on markets, macro, credit, currencies, sovereign risk, private markets, and capital flows.

The goal is not a generic student paper. The goal is a focused research project built under the supervision of someone who understands the market context behind the question.

It is an eight-week finance research program for high-school students. A founding cohort of eight works as a single research desk, studying how sovereign debt, currency markets, and bond markets actually behave, then producing an original piece of written research under direct mentorship.

The format is modelled on how an analyst desk operates, not on a lecture series. You spend the eight weeks working a real question rather than sitting through a survey of topics.

The founding cohort is focused on sovereign default, currency pressure, and bond markets. Students will look at the kinds of questions that move sovereign debt, FX risk, and credit conditions rather than treating finance as a textbook subject.

Eight students. The cap is deliberate and it does not move. The small size is what makes direct mentorship, serious discussion, and a genuine desk dynamic possible.

The Research Desk Cohort runs for eight weeks. Cohort I begins on July 13, 2026.

Plan for roughly six to eight hours per week across reading, independent research, desk work, and mentor-led sessions. The work is demanding, but it is built to sit alongside school.

Yes. The cohort runs fully online, which allows GRF to bring together strong students and a London-based mentor regardless of where everyone is based.

The founding cohort is led by Alex Dryden, a former Executive Director at J.P. Morgan Asset Management with more than a decade of experience across the firm’s London and New York offices. He is now a doctoral researcher at SOAS, University of London, where his work focuses on sovereign debt and currency markets.

Yes. The cohort is capped at eight precisely so that mentorship stays direct rather than delegated. Students work with the desk across the full eight weeks and receive feedback as their research develops.

No. There will be teaching and context, but the point is not to sit through finance lectures. GRF is built around research direction, source work, discussion, feedback, and writing.

Yes. Alongside the Research Desk Cohort, GRF offers Private 1:1 Mentorship for students who want a more individualized research experience. This track is built around the student’s own interests, research question, and final paper.

The Research Desk Cohort is a small group experience built around one shared market theme. Private 1:1 Mentorship is more individualized. The student works directly with a mentor, develops a research question from the ground up, and receives more focused feedback across the full research process.

In the cohort, students contribute to a shared desk output. In private mentorship, the student is the primary author of their own research paper.

It is best for students who want deeper support, a more personalized research direction, or a paper built around their own interests. It is also a stronger fit for students who want more flexibility than a fixed cohort schedule allows.

The goal is a serious, finished research paper with the student as the primary author. The mentor helps with question design, source selection, structure, argument, and revision, but the work remains the student’s own.

No. Private 1:1 Mentorship is reviewed on a rolling basis. Students can apply outside the cohort timeline, and the structure is built around fit, mentor availability, and the student’s research goals.

You can apply through the Private Mentorship page. The application is used to understand your interests, your current level, and whether GRF can match you with the right mentor.

Applications are submitted through the relevant program page. Students applying to the Research Desk Cohort should use the Research Desk Cohort page. Students applying for individualized mentorship should use the Private Mentorship page.

The Research Desk Cohort is reviewed on a rolling basis and closes once all eight seats are filled. Private 1:1 Mentorship is also reviewed on a rolling basis, but acceptance depends on fit and mentor availability.

Clear thinking and genuine interest. GRF would rather admit a curious student who reasons carefully than one with an impressive resume and little to say. Prior finance experience is not required.

The Research Desk Cohort has eight seats. Admission is by application, and not everyone who applies will be offered a place. Private 1:1 Mentorship is also selective because mentor time is limited and the fit has to be right.

The founding Research Desk Cohort is priced at $499. This is introductory pricing for Cohort I, and the next cohort will be priced at $1,199. Private 1:1 Mentorship is priced at $3,999 because it involves a more individualized structure, direct mentor attention, and a student-led research paper.

The fee includes eight weeks of mentored research, your place on the desk, direct feedback as the work develops, access to the cohort structure, and named contributor credit on the research output you help produce.

The fee includes individualized research direction, mentor sessions, support with question design and source selection, feedback on structure and argument, and guidance through the process of producing a finished student-authored research paper.

Payment is handled securely online once your place is confirmed. If you have questions about payment or terms before applying, reach out and GRF will walk you through them.

GRF does not want cost to be the only thing standing between a strong applicant and a place. If the fee is a genuine obstacle, note this in your application and it can be discussed during review.

In the Research Desk Cohort, students complete a serious research process and receive named contributor credit on the cohort output. In Private 1:1 Mentorship, the goal is a student-authored research paper built around the student’s own question.

In both tracks, the deeper outcome is learning how to frame a question, work through evidence, and defend a conclusion with discipline.

GRF does not award university credit, and it is deliberate about not implying outcomes it cannot stand behind. Students receive credit for the work they actually produce, whether that is contributor credit on a cohort output or authorship of a private mentorship paper.

A serious, finished research project and mentorship from a finance practitioner can be useful signals. GRF is honest about what this is: real research experience and direct mentorship, not a guaranteed admissions result.

This is the founding desk, so there is no alumni list to point to, and GRF is not going to invent one. What GRF can point to is the mentor, the structure, and the work itself. The founding cohort sets the standard the program is measured against afterward.