Microsoft Research PhD Fellowship Program (Canada – USA), 2022-2024

Nominations for the 2022 Microsoft Research PhD Fellowship Program are currently being received. The program is open to students of any nationality who are enrolled at a university in Canada and the United States of America. Students must be in their third year of a Ph.D. program in the fall semester or quarter of 2022.

The program aims to fulfill the Microsoft mission, which is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Fellows should support this mission and embrace opportunities to foster diverse and inclusive cultures within their communities. The program has supported many students over the past years. Some fellows are currently working for Microsoft, while others work for other companies in the technology industry.

Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology company that develops, manufactures, licenses, supports, and sells computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services. The Microsoft Office suite, Microsoft Windows operating systems, and the Internet Explorer and Edge web browsers are its best-known software products.

Program Details

• Host institution: Universities in Canada and the United States of America.
• Research Areas: Intelligence (Artificial intelligence, Audio & acoustics, Computer vision, Graphics & multimedia, Human-computer interaction, Human language technologies, Search & information retrieval); Systems (Data platforms and analytics, Hardware & devices, programming languages & software engineering, Security, privacy & cryptography, Systems & networking); Theory (Algorithms, Mathematics); Other Sciences (Ecology & environment, Economics, Medical, health & genomics, Social sciences, Technology for emerging markets).
• Number of awards: Not specified.
• Duration: 2 years.
• Eligible Countries: Open to all countries.

Microsoft Research PhD Fellowship Program Benefits

The Microsoft Fellowship will provide the following benefits to selected candidates:

1. Tuition and fees will be covered for two academic years (2022–23 and 2023–24).
2. A $42,000 USD stipend will be provided to help with living expenses while in school for two academic years (2022-23 and 2023-24). The stipend is not expected to cover all living expenses; it can be used for expenses including, but not limited to, childcare, conference fees and travel, research equipment, meals, rent, etc.
3. Opportunities will be provided to build relationships with research teams at Microsoft and receive mentorship.

Microsoft Research PhD Fellowship Program Eligibility

To apply for this Company Scholarship, candidates must satisfy the below criteria:

• PhD’s students must be nominated by their university.
• Nomination must be submitted by someone designated by the department chair’s office in order to ensure the number of nominations per department is not exceeded.
• Students must be enrolled at a university in the United States or Canada.
• Proposed research must be closely related to the general research areas specified above.
• Students must be in their third year of a PhD program in the fall semester or quarter of 2022. The department chair’s office at the nominating university will need to attest that the student is considered a third year PhD student having taken into account transfers, approved leaves of absence, etc.
• A maximum of four nominations per department will be accepted; if more than two are nominated, then at least one nominee should be for underrepresented students (woman, African American, Black, Hispanic, Latinx, American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and/or person with a disability) in the field of computing. If four are nominated, then at least two nominees should be for underrepresented students in the field of computing.
• A recipient of the Microsoft Research PhD Fellowship may not receive another fellowship from another technology company during the same academic period. Fellows accepting multiple fellowships may become ineligible to receive continued funding from Microsoft. Microsoft will at its sole discretion consider a joint fellowship with a government or non-profit organization.

Similar opportunities

1. Top 38 Scholarships Currently Open for Application;
2. Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program in the USA;
3. DAAD Helmut Schmidt Master Scholarship in Germany;
4. Saltire Scholarship in Scotland for Foreign Students.

How to Apply for the Microsoft Research PhD Fellowship

Universities should inform their students once they have submitted their nomination, so the nominees can begin collecting the details listed under Proposal requirements below. To complete the Microsoft Research Fellowship nomination form, please click on the apply button below and follow instructions to fill the form.

Nominations must include:

1. Your name, email, and job title as the person submitting the nomination on behalf of the department chair’s office at your university;
2. Attest that the process used to determine which student(s) to nominate from your department for this fellowship was fair and non-discriminatory;
3. Nominee’s name, email, country, university, and department;
4. Primary and secondary areas of research (from general research areas specified above);
5. Attest that as of the fall semester or quarter of 2022, the university considers the nominee will be a third year PhD student (having taken into account transfers, approved leaves of absence, etc.);
6. Indicate as to whether or not the nominee you are putting forth self-identifies as underrepresented in the field of computing (as detailed above).

For questions regarding nominations, please contact Microsoft Research Fellowships at [email protected].

The deadline to submit nominations is June 7, 2022. For more details on the Microsoft Research PhD Fellowship Program, please visit the official page. To be the first to see latest opportunities, please follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.