Africa PhD Fellowship Program

Africa PhD Fellowship Program

Nurturing and maintaining strong relations with the academic community is a top priority at Google. The Google Africa PhD Fellowship Program has been created to support and recognize outstanding students pursuing or looking to pursue PhD level studies in computer science and related areas. The Google Africa PhD Fellowship program for 2018 is now open for application until 11:59pm GMT on Friday 19th January 2018. Review the steps below to learn more about how the Fellowship works, eligibility requirements and the application process. Apply here.

How the PhD Fellowship works

• Successful students receive named Fellowships, which include a $10,000 award per year over 3 years.
• The funds are given directly to the university to be distributed to cover the student's expenses and stipend as appropriate.
• The funds are given as an unrestricted gift, and it is Google's policy not to pay for overhead on unrestricted gifts.
• In addition, the student will be matched with a Google Research Mentor who we hope will become a valuable resource to the student.
• There is no employee relationship between the student and Google as a result of receiving the fellowship.
• Fellowship recipients are not subject to intellectual property restrictions unless they complete an internship at Google.
• Fellowship recipients serving an internship are subject to the same intellectual property and other contractual obligations as any other Google intern.
• If a Fellowship student is interested, an internship at Google is encouraged, but not guaranteed or required.

Eligibility Criteria

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 2018 Fellowship must have started their program on or after 1 January 2017.
• 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 current 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 of an African university, in Computer Science or related areas, within the calendar year 2018, 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 a 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.
• Applicants who are already receiving another corporate fellowship are not eligible.

Application process

General notes

• Applications are accepted directly from students. There is no limit to the number of students who may apply from each university.
• Applicant's areas of research interest must be one of the areas listed at https://research.google.com/.
• Awardees will be announced on the Google Research blog by mid-March 2018

Instructions for Applicants

• Gather the following documents:
  1. Applicant's resume with links to publications (if available).
  2. One-page resume of the student's PhD program advisor.
  3. Available transcripts (mark sheets) starting from first year/semester of Bachelor's degree to date.
  4. Research proposal (maximum two pages).
  5. 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]".
• Last date for receiving applications and recommendations is at 11:59pm GMT on Friday 19th January 2018.

Apply here. For any questions, please email research-africa@google.com.