IRIS (Intensive Research Immersion Summer) is Indigo Research's flagship 6-week online cohort program for high school students. Students work with faculty mentors from institutions including Stanford, MIT, Harvard, Oxford, and Cambridge across subjects spanning STEM, economics, social sciences, and entrepreneurship.
The program meets 3 hours twice per week in interactive sessions covering subject immersion, research foundations, academic writing workshops, and peer review. Students produce a publication-ready research paper by the end of the program and earn 2 transferable college credits from UCSB Extension. Outstanding papers are eligible for publication in the International Journal of High School Research (IJHSR).
No prior research experience is required. The historical summer 2026 cohort ran July 6-August 17. The announced winter cohort runs December 14, 2026-January 25, 2027; an application deadline was not found on its official page.
Checked November 3, 2026: the current official www page confirms the winter dates and says applications are open. The non-www official page still describes summer 2026 and contains conflicting June 28 and June 30 deadline banners. That historical conflict is unresolved; neither date is retained as a definitive cutoff, and no winter deadline is inferred.