Google PhD Fellowship

Eligible applicants:

• must be full-time students pursuing a PhD at University of Victoria.
• must have completed or be expected to complete all graduate coursework by the fall of the award year when the Fellowship begins and be focused on research for their degree.
• must remain enrolled full-time in the PhD program for the duration of the Fellowship or forfeit the award.
• cannot be Google employees, and their spouses, children, or members of their household.
• are not already supported by a comparable industry award. (Government or non-profit organization funding is exempt.)

Eligible areas of research:

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

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.

Research should align with Google AI Principles.

Applications must be submitted to UVic Faculty of Graduate Studies for evaluation; students cannot apply directly to Google. The Faculty of Graduate Studies Awards Committee will oversee evaluation of complete applications only and nominate up to four eligible students. 

Successful applicants will be notified by Google in July.

Students cannot apply directly to the program; they must be nominated by an eligible university during a region’s application period. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

For each student nomination, the university will be asked to submit the following material:

1. Cover sheet signed by the Department Chair confirming the student is eligible (see Eligibility Requirements above).
2. Student CV with links to website and publications (if available)
3. Short (1-page) CV of the student's primary advisor
4. 2-3 letters of recommendation from those familiar with the nominee's work (at least one from the thesis advisor). These should be on letterhead and signed.
5. Research / dissertation proposal (maximum 3 pages, excluding references)
6. Student essay response (350-word limit) to: Describe the desired impact your research will make on the field and society, and why this is important to you. Include any personal, educational and/or professional experiences that have motivated your research interests.
7. Student essay response (350-word limit) to: Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes or contributed to group efforts over time. (A leadership role can mean more than just a title. It can mean being a mentor to others, acting as the person in charge of a specific task, or taking the lead role in organizing an event or project. Think about what you accomplished and what you learned from the experience. What were your responsibilities? Did you lead a team? How did your experience change your perspective on leading others? Did you help to resolve an important dispute at your school, church, in your community or an organization? And your leadership role doesn’t necessarily have to be limited to school activities. For example, do you help out or take care of your family?)
8. Transcripts from all current and previous post-secondary studies including exchanges, transfer credits and incomplete degrees. Transcripts should be official and include the legend. Exception: unofficial UVic transcripts will be accepted.

Required presentation standards for all student-prepared documents:

• Pages must be 8 ½" x 11" (216mm x 279mm)
• All text must be in minimum 10-point Arial font (or equivalent)
• All margins must be set at a minimum of ¾" (1.87 cm)
• Attachments must be in PDF format

All documents listed above must be submitted to the FGS Scholarship Assistant at fgsschol@uvic.ca before the UVic internal deadline. Students should provide all documents to their department. 

Please see the Google fellowship webpage and FAQ for more information.

Questions can be directed to:

Google: phdfellowship@google.com

UVic Graduate Scholarship Assistant: fgsschol@uvic.ca.