PhD Summer School

Application Deadline:  26th September 2016

Microsoft scholarships consist of an annual bursary up to a maximum of three years for PhD supervisors and students to do collaborative research projects with Microsoft Research Cambridge. Students are also invited to the Microsoft Research Summer School in Cambridge, where they can share and discuss ideas with Microsoft researchers.

Each year, PhD supervisors from academic institutions in EMEA are invited to submit their proposals for collaborative research projects with Microsoft Research Cambridge. Applications are then peer reviewed and approximately 20 projects are selected for funding. PhD students are appointed to the selected projects and begin their research in the following academic year under the supervision of their academic supervisor, with co-supervision from a researcher at Microsoft Research Cambridge.

The Microsoft Research PhD Scholarship Programme in EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) was launched in 2004 and has so far supported more than 200 PhD students from more than 18 countries and 51 institutions.

Eligibility Criteria:

Applications must not be made by students but by PhD supervisors, who must have been in dialogue with the prospective Microsoft supervisor and jointly collaborated on the proposal prior to the submission deadline. If their project is selected, the supervisor has until 31 March 2018 to find the best possible student for the project; otherwise, the PhD Agreement will be terminated automatically. Only applications from institutions in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa will be considered.

For an application to be considered, the following key requirements apply:

1. The institute agrees to the terms and conditions in the MRL Term Sheet and EPSRC Term Sheet where appropriate.
2. The applicant must be in dialogue with the prospective Microsoft supervisor prior to the submission deadline and jointly drafting the proposal.
3. The proposed research must be closely related to the following research topics carried out at Microsoft Research in Cambridge:

• Biological Computation
• Human Experience and Design
• Machine Intelligence and Perception
• Programming Principles and Tools
• Systems and Networking

  Benefits

• During the course of their PhD, Scholars are invited to Microsoft Research in Cambridge for a PhD Summer School that includes a series of talks of academic interest and posters sessions, which provides the Scholars the opportunity to present their work to Microsoft researchers and a number of Cambridge academics.
• Some of the Scholars may also be offered—at the sole discretion of Microsoft Research—an internship in one of the Microsoft Research laboratories.
• Internships involve working on a project alongside and as part of a team of Microsoft researchers. Scholars are paid during their internship—in addition to their scholarship bursary.
• Interested Scholars can apply through the Microsoft Research careers page.

Timeline:
For the application process:

• Online submission tool open:    1st September 2016
• Application deadline:    26th September 2016
• Notification of results:    Stage 1 ~ By the end of October 2016
• Stage 2 ~ By the end of December 2016
  For successful applicants:
• PhD Agreements sent to Institutes by:    31st January 2017
• Signed PhD Agreements returned to MSR via Docusign by:    30th June 2017
• PhD students to be appointed by:    31st March 2018

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the Microsoft Research PhD Scholarship Programme 2017