Microsoft has announced its Research PhD Fellowships for doctoral students at universities worldwide who are pursuing research aligned with Microsoft's Research Focus Areas.

The Microsoft Research PhD Fellowship is a global programme that identifies and trains the next generation of computer science research talent. The Microsoft Research PhD Fellowship programme has supported more than 700 fellows worldwide, many of whom have gone on to work at Microsoft.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicants must be enrolled at a university in the eligible regions.
• The proposed research must be closely related to one of the themes:

1 - AI/ML/NLP/scientific data

In many practically useful applications, data is often scarce and biased. Understanding how we work in these contexts and provide useful results has a big impact for many practical problems and gives us deep insights into what it means to learn from data. From practical application such as NLP, to understanding the fairness and generalisability of results and deepening our understanding of what is feasible with the available data for a given problem. We are interested in how to work better with the limitations of data.

2 - Health

Advances in machine learning and AI offer us an opportunity to address disparities in access to quality healthcare provision for all people. We are interested in understanding and exploring spaces where technology can help fill some of the gaps, from assisting healthcare professionals to fulfil their roles more effectively, to bridging the gap with patients by scaling the delivery and reach of quality healthcare using technology.

3 - Sustainability

Microsoft's commitment to sustainability will be achieved by harnessing cloud tools and artificial intelligence (AI) to transform the way we monitor, model and ultimately help solve the environmental challenges facing the globe.

If you are a student enrolled at an African university pursuing a PhD programme in artificial intelligence, machine learning, statistics or a related field, with a focus on solving problems related to sustainability, we would be delighted to receive your application.

4 - Computer-human interaction

We are looking for Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) fellows who will explore Usability and Design issues in the areas of work, health and sustainability & society. Typically, HCI interns lead and conduct research studies (online or in the field), usability studies, literature reviews, and design interventions.

• Be entering their third year or have completed their doctoral programme between August 2022 - July 2023
• Students must remain enrolled at the university at the start of the 2023 academic year or lose the prize.
• Students who submit a proposal must be able to communicate about their research (both in writing and verbally) in English.

Benefits:

• 15,000 USD is provided to help complete the research as part of your doctoral thesis work for the academic year 2022-23
• Eligible beneficiaries will be offered a 12-week paid internship with a Microsoft Research Institute
• Opportunities to build relationships with research teams at Microsoft and receive mentoring will be provided

Application procedures:

• Candidates interested in the Microsoft Research 2022 PhD Scholarship must submit proposals and letters of recommendation for the scholarship before the application deadline.
• The information below will be needed to submit your proposal:

- Main area of research
- Thesis proposal or title of research statement
- Month and year of entry into the doctoral programme and expected date of graduation.
- URL for your professional website (optional, but strongly recommended; you are encouraged to make sure it is up to date)
- One to three academic conferences you are most likely to attend
- Self-assessment of the Declaration of Good Standing

Required documents:

• Curriculum Vitae
• Thesis proposal or research statement
• Summary of thesis proposal or research statement

Application deadline: 07 June 2022

To find out more visit the official website.