The Google PhD Fellowship programme was created to recognize outstanding graduate students doing exceptional and innovative research in areas relevant to computer science and related fields.
Google PhD Fellowships directly support graduate students as they pursue their PhD, as well as connect them to a Google Research Mentor. Nurturing and maintaining strong relations with the academic community is a top priority at Google.
Fellowships support promising PhD candidates of all backgrounds who seek to influence the future of technology. Google’s mission is to foster inclusive research communities and encourages people of diverse backgrounds to apply. Google currently offer Fellowships in Africa, Australia, Canada, East Asia, Europe, India, Latin America, New Zealand, Southeast Asia and the United States.
Google PhD Fellowship students are a select group recognized by Google researchers and their institutions as some of the most promising young academics in the world. The Fellowships are awarded to students who represent the future of research in the following fields:
- Algorithms, optimizations and markets
- Computational neural and cognitive sciences
- Health research
- Human-Computer interaction
- Machine learning
- Machine perception, speech technology and computer vision
- Mobile computing
- Natural language processing (including Information Retrieval and Extraction)
- Privacy and Security
- Programming Languages and Software Engineering
- Quantum computing
- Recommender systems
- Structured data and database management
- Systems and networking
Eligibility criteria
Students and professionals are welcome to apply directly to the PhD Fellowship program.
For current PhD students
- Applicants must be enrolled into a full-time PhD program at a university in Africa. Applicants who are currently in their first year of a part-time PhD program and transferring to full-time positions are also welcome to apply.
- Students should be early stage PhD students, i.e., should not have been into more than 1 year of their PhD. Applicants for the 2023 Fellowship must have started their program on or after 1-Jan-2023.
- Students must remain enrolled in the PhD program for the duration of the Fellowship or forfeit the award.
- Applicants must be pursuing a PhD in Computer Science or related areas.
- Google employees and family members of Google employees are not eligible
- Students who are already receiving another corporate fellowship are not eligible.
For current Undergraduate/Masters students and professionals
- Grant of the fellowship to this category of applicants is contingent on them joining a full-time PhD program at a university in Africa within the calendar year of the award.
- Student applicants must be full-time Undergraduate or Masters students enrolled at an African university. Professionals must be employed/affiliated with an organization registered in Africa.
- The Google Fellowship award shall be contingent on the awardee registering for the full-time PhD program at an African university, in Computer Science or related areas, within the calendar year 2023, or the award shall be forfeited.
- Grant of the Google Fellowship does not mean admission to the PhD program of a university. The awardee must also complete the PhD admission process of the respective institute/university where he/she wishes to register for PhD.
- Grant of the Google Fellowship will be subject to the rules and guidelines applicable in the institute/university where the awardee registers for the PhD program.
- Google employees and family members of Google employees are not eligible.
Benefits of Google PhD Fellowship programme
- Successful students receive named Fellowships, which include a $10,000 award per year over 3 years.
- Student will be matched with a Google Research Mentor who we hope will become a valuable resource to the student.
Documents required for application
- Applicant’s resume with links to publications (if available).
- One-page resume of the student’s PhD program advisor.
- Available transcripts (mark sheets) starting from first year/semester of Bachelor’s degree to date.
- Research proposal (maximum two pages).
- Three letters of recommendation from those familiar with the applicant’s work (at least one coming from the thesis adviser in case of current PhD students). If the recommendation writers want to send the letter separately, they can mail it directly to research-africa@google.com with the subject “Recommendation for [applicant-name]”.
How to apply and application deadline
African candidates interested in the fellowship programme may apply through the application portal or consult the official page for more information. Applications deadline is May 11, 2023.