2021 IBM PhD Fellowship Awards Open for Application

The IBM PhD Fellowship Awards are highly competitive, international funding awards designed to support talented postgraduate students undertaking PhD research in promising and disruptive technologies of interest to IBM. The objective of the fellowships is to support the work of exceptional PhD students who have committed to solving problems that are important to IBM and fundamental to innovation in many academic disciplines and areas of study which includes pioneering work in cognitive computing and augmented intelligence, quantum computing, blockchain, data-centric systems, advanced analytics, security, radical cloud innovation, next-generation silicon and brain inspired devices and infrastructure.

The fellowships are for two years and are available worldwide. Awards of up to US$95,000 ($60,000 in year one and $35,000 in year two) are available to candidates in the United States and awards of between US$6,000 and US$25,000 per year are available to candidates in other countries.

Nominees should be enrolled full-time on a PhD programme with at least three years remaining at the time of nomination. Nominations must be submitted by a doctoral faculty member (self-nominations are not permitted).

Focus areas of particular interest for the 2021/22 awards include:

Hybrid cloud

Quantum computing/quantum systems

Artificial intelligence

Cloud/open source technologies

Security/cyber security

Data science

Systems

IBM PhD Fellowship awardees will also collaborate with an IBM staff member on a research or technology project for the duration of the award period and are strongly encouraged to do an internship during the first or second year of their award. Award recipients will be selected based on their overall potential for research excellence, the degree to which their technical interests align with those of IBM, and their academic progress to-date.

Nominations for the 2021 awards should be submitted via the IBM Fellowships website by the deadline of 23 October 2020 (midnight US Eastern Time).

More information about this research funding opportunity and the application process is available on the RESEARCHconnect funding information platform. RESEARCHconnect provides up-to-the minute content, insight and analysis on research funding news and policy. To find out more about how RESEARCHconnect can keep you in the know, and subscription fees, contact us today.