Microsoft Research India PhD Award

About

The Microsoft Research India (MSRI) PhD Award 2025 is a program aimed at supporting exceptional PhD students in Computer Science and related disciplines. This initiative aims to foster talent pursuing advanced degrees in computing fields across India, contributing to the growth and development of the nation’s research community. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment and welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds.

Entitlements

A one-time grant of ₹10 lakhs serving two key purposes:
1. Provides financial support for a mandatory three-month internship at MSRI during the 2025-26 academic year. (Details about the three-month internship will be communicated upon award notification.)
2. Funds activities that promote academic and professional development (e.g., supplementing stipends, covering conference travel costs, purchasing computing equipment, etc.).

Application Details

Last date for submission of application (including all upload documents): 26 May 2025, 5pm

No emails for extension of deadline will be entertained.
Winners of the fellowship will be informed via email directly by the Microsoft Team by end of June 2025

Required Documents before you fill in the above linked form:

• Updated CV/resume detailing academic background, research experiences, publications, presentations, awards, and relevant technical skills.
• A two-page statement covering research interests and objectives, key findings or anticipated outcomes, and the broader significance or impact of the work. Important: The statement must include a separate section that clearly outlines how the candidate’s interests and research align with ongoing efforts at MSRI, which are detailed in the attached MSRI Projects PDF. Candidates should select one or more research areas and provide a concise, well-defined explanation of their alignment.
• Letter of recommendation from PhD advisor to be uploaded here by the advisor directly. Applications without the letter of recommendation may not be considered by the selection committee. This too has to be uploaded by 26 May, 2025, 5pm.

Eligibility Guidelines:

• This is a limited submission award, so direct applications from students will not be accepted. The university/department has full discretion in determining the nomination process.
• Only students currently enrolled in PhD programs in the institution are eligible.
• Candidates conducting research aligned with the focus areas of Microsoft Research India will be preferred (Multilingual LLMs, AI Infrastructure, Grounded and Verifiable Reasoners, GenAI for Education, LLMs for Healthcare, Next-Generation Retrieval Models for Chat, Search, and Recommendation, Reliable Agentic Systems, Practical Cryptography and AI Security). Descriptions of projects are linked here.
• Recipients of the MSRI PhD award from previous years are ineligible.
• Candidates with part-time/full-time employments during the coming academic year (2025-26) are ineligible.
• Students supported by other scholarships and fellowships are eligible for this award.

Termination of Fellowship:

IISc reserves the right to terminate a student’s fellowship in any of the following cases:

• The student is found to be ineligible to receive the fellowship, at any point of time during the entire duration of the fellowship.
• It is found that the student furnished false or misleading information in the application or during the reviews.
• Adverse report on the student is received from the institution.
• The student has indulged in misconduct, misbehaviour, or corrupt practices.
• The progress of student’s research work is found to be unsatisfactory.
• The student has violated any of the terms and conditions of the fellowship.
• The student has been found to have indulged in plagiarism or unethical practices.

Termination or cancellation of a fellowship will be done only after giving the student a fair opportunity to present their case.

Queries on the fellowship and reports of difficulties encountered during the application process should be sent by email to development.odaa@iisc.ac.in.