Google PhD Fellowship

Award Overview

Value & Duration

Recipients will:

  • Receive full tuition and fees for up to 3 years (includes enrollment fees, health insurance, books) plus a stipend to be used for living expenses, travel and personal equipment; and
  • Be matched with a Google Research Mentor.

Purpose

The Google PhD Fellowship Program recognizes outstanding graduate students doing exceptional and innovative research in areas relevant to computer science and related fields. 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.

Eligibility

Applicants must:

  • Be full-time graduate students pursuing a PhD (normally in 2nd yr) in one of the research areas listed below; and
  • Not be Google employees, their spouses, children, or members of their household.

Recipients must:

  • Have completed all graduate coursework by the time the Fellowship begins (usually 3rd year for Canadian students);
  • Remain enrolled full-time in the PhD program for the duration of the Fellowship or forfeit the award; and
  • Not be already supported by a comparable industry award.

Research areas

  • Algorithms, Optimizations and Markets
  • Computational Neuroscience
  • Computational 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
  • Structured Data and Database Management
  • Systems and Networking

Underrepresented groups

At least two out of the four U of T nominees for this award must self-identify as a woman, Black/African descent, Hispanic/Latino/Latinx, Indigenous, and/or person with a disability.

Selection Criteria

Applications are evaluated on the strength of the research proposal, research impact, student academic achievements, and leadership potential. Research proposals are evaluated for innovative concepts that are relevant to Google’s research areas, as well as aspects of robustness and potential impact to the field. Proposals should include the direction and any plans of where your work is going in addition to a comprehensive description of the research you are pursuing.

In the United States, Canada, and Europe, essay responses are evaluated in addition to application materials to determine an overall recommendation.

Research should align with Google AI Principles.

Application Process

Nominations are made by graduate units in the Summer session. Given the extremely competitive and prestigious nature of this international award, the University is required to carefully consider and select only the highest quality applications for nomination.

Applicants interested in being considered for this award are encouraged to contact their graduate unit.

Results

The result of the University competition will be communicated by the SGS Graduate Awards Office in late September 2022.

The results of the international competition are communicated directly by the funding agency in January 2023.

Contacts & Resources

For more information, visit the Google PhD Fellowship FAQ page and/or contact phdfellowship@google.com or

Janine Harper
Graduate Awards Office
School of Graduate Studies
416-978-3555
janine.harper@utoronto.ca