The PhD Scholarship Programme recognises and supports exceptional students who show the potential to make an outstanding contribution to science and computing. This programme supports PhD students in computing and those working at the intersection of computing and the sciences.

Only PhD supervisors should apply. If their project is selected, the supervisor has up to a year to find the best possible student for the project.

Eligibility Criteria:

We usually consider only one application per university department or per laboratory of a national research institution.

Only applications from institutions in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East will be considered; students may be of any nationality, however.

For an application to be considered, the proposed research must be closely related to the research carried out at Microsoft Research in Cambridge. These research topics are:

• Computational Science
• Computer-Mediated Living
• Constraint Reasoning
• Machine Learning and Perception
• Online Services and Advertising
• Programming Principles and Tools
• Systems and Networking

Application Process:

Applications are on a competitive basis and we anticipate a high level of demand for scholarships (the average selection rate has been around 20 percent over the last six years).

Applications are accepted only through a student’s institution, such as from the PhD supervisor or a departmental secretary. We do not accept applications from students directly.

• Applications should contain the following:
  • An online web form that includes contact details of supervisor(s) and possible reviewers.
    Ideally, one of the suggested reviewers should be from Microsoft Research. If no suitable Microsoft researcher can be identified, it may mean that the proposed research project is too far from our areas of interest.
  • A project proposal of maximum six (6) A4 pages in 10-point font, including references.
    Accepted formats: plain text or Microsoft Office Word only.
• The research project proposal should address the following points:
  • Evidence that the research supervisor would be suitable to supervise a PhD student for the proposed research project.
    This may include a short list of the supervisor’s recent and relevant publications. Please consider including the URLs of the publications to make it easier for reviewers to find them.
  • Evidence that the department or laboratory offers a suitable environment for research in the proposed area.
  • Basis for the research (motivations and brief state-of-the-art, including key references).
  • Hypothesis under investigation and main aims.
  • Research strategy with significant milestones if identified.
  • Methods of research (for example, main techniques, experiments, and trials).
  • Details of any collaboration with other departments/research bodies.
  • Expected outcomes (for example, software tools).

Applications must be complete, submitted online, and received by the announced deadline to be considered. Proposals received after this deadline will not be considered.

• Application deadline: 15 September 2010, 17:00 GMT