Research Lunch Club in Philadelphia
Philadelphia quietly runs one of the country's great research engines — Penn, the children's hospital, a deep biomedical cluster. Research Lunch Club matches you into a small group of Philly researchers for lunch, once a month. No symposium, no networking — just three people who do the work, over a cheesesteak or something better, for the cost of a coffee a quarter.
📍 Real researchers, real lunch
Who's in the Philadelphia group
Our Philadelphia members include researchers from Penn, Drexel and Temple, teams at Comcast, and institutes like the Wistar Institute and CHOP Research. Biomedical scientists, immunologists, UX researchers, social scientists — Philly's table runs deep on health and life sciences.
Researchers from across Philadelphia
A sense of where Philadelphia members spend their days — the universities, institutes and companies they come from.
Where Philadelphia members meet
Philadelphia groups meet around the research core: University City for Penn, Drexel, Wistar and CHOP; Center City for downtown teams; and North Philly near Temple. Your group picks a lunch spot — University City and Center City are both a short walk from a hundred of them.
Third-wave coffee, Philadelphia-style
Lunch has a way of running into coffee. A few independent, third-wave spots Philadelphia researchers gravitate to — chains need not apply.
Elixr Coffee Roasters
Rittenhouse
ReAnimator Coffee
Fishtown
Ultimo Coffee
Newbold
🍝 Three researchers, one table
How Research Lunch Club works in Philadelphia
You get matched
Every month we pair you with two other researchers in Philadelphia — deliberately across disciplines and career stages, so the conversation goes somewhere new.
Your group picks a day & a spot
You sort the time and place together in the member app — a lunch that works for all three of you, somewhere easy in the city.
You meet for lunch
Show up, swap notes, and build the kind of relationship that outlasts a conference badge. Most Philadelphia groups keep in touch long after.
Your first lunch is on us
Snap a photo at the table and tag us on LinkedIn or Instagram — we'll cover your first lunch. Our way of saying welcome.
Pricing & the 90-day guarantee
The cost of a coffee
£5 a quarter, and you can cancel anytime. The lunch itself you pay for at the table.
A fresh match monthly
Two new Philadelphia researchers every month you're a member.
90-day guarantee
Not feeling the lunches in your first 90 days? We'll refund your membership.
First lunch on us
Tag us in a photo from your first lunch and we'll cover it.
☕ Lunch that ran into coffee
Philadelphia researcher FAQ
Usually University City, Center City or near Temple in North Philly — close to where members work. You sort the day and the spot in the member app.
Other Philadelphia-area researchers across fields and seniority — Penn, Drexel and Temple academics alongside researchers at Comcast, the Wistar Institute and CHOP. We mix disciplines on purpose.
Each month we group members into threes by city, mixing disciplines and career stages and avoiding repeat pairings. A fresh group every month you're a member.
Yes — many Philly members are industry and hospital researchers, from UX to biomedical science. If research is your work, you belong at the table.
About the price of a coffee a quarter — £5, cancel anytime. You cover your own lunch at the table, and the first one's on us.
More on meeting other researchers
Join researchers in Philadelphia
The cost of a coffee a quarter. Cancel anytime. Your first lunch is on us.