Applications are invited for Google PhD Fellowship Program 2025. The last date of application is May 15.

About the Fellowship

Google PhD Fellowships directly support graduate students as they pursue their PhD, as well as connect them to a Google Research Mentor.

Nurturing and maintaining strong relations with the academic community is a top priority at Google. The Google PhD Fellowship Program was created to recognize 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.

Our research teams impact technology used by people all over the world and we encourage people of a wide range of backgrounds to apply. We currently offer fellowships in Africa, Australia, Canada, East Asia, Europe, India, Latin America, the Middle East, New Zealand, Southeast Asia and the United States.

Eligibility

General Eligibility Requirements (All Regions):

  • Students must remain enrolled full-time in the PhD program for the duration of the Fellowship or forfeit the award.
  • Google employees, and their spouses, children, and members of their household are not eligible.
  • Students that are already supported by a comparable industry award are not eligible. Government or non-profit organization funding is exempt.
  • Past awardees from the PhD Fellowship program are not eligible to apply again.

Region-Specific Eligibility Requirements:

Universities should only nominate students that meet the following requirements

  • Africa, India, Latin America, and Southeast Asia
    • Incoming or early-stage PhD students can be nominated by their university; however, the Fellowship award is contingent on the awardee registering for a full-time PhD program in computer science (or an adjacent field) within the academic award year of the Fellowship award, or the award shall be forfeited.
    • Grant of the Fellowship does not mean admission to a PhD program. The awardee must separately apply and be accepted to a PhD program in computer science (or an adjacent field) at an eligible institution.
    • Grant of the Fellowship will be subject to the rules and guidelines applicable in the institution where the awardee registers for the PhD program.
  • Australia and New Zealand
    • Early-stage students enrolled in the first or second year of their PhD (no requirement for completion of graduate coursework by the academic award year).
  • Canada and the United States
    • Students who have completed graduate coursework in their PhD by the academic award year when the Fellowship begins.
  • East Asia
    • Students who have completed most of their graduate coursework in their PhD by the academic award year when the Fellowship begins. Students should have sufficient time for research projects after receiving a fellowship.
  • Europe and the Middle East
    • Students enrolled at any stage of their PhD are eligible to apply.

Research Areas

Google PhD Fellowship students are a select group recognized by Google researchers and their institutions as some of the most promising young academics in the world. The Fellowships are awarded to students who represent the future of research in the fields listed below. Note that region-specific research areas will be listed in application forms during the application window.

  • Computer Architecture
  • Algorithms and Optimization
  • Health Research
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Machine Learning and ML Foundations
  • Machine Perception
  • Natural Language Processing
  • Privacy, Safety, and Security
  • Quantum Computing
  • Software Engineering and Programming Languages
  • Systems, Networking, and Cloud Computing

Important dates

Applications for the 2025 program will open on Thursday April 10, 2025 and will close on Thursday May 15, 2025 at 11:59:59pm AoE (UTC-12). Notification of decisions will be made in August 2025.

How to Apply?

The Google PhD Fellowship Program welcomes applications for outstanding PhD students worldwide. The details of each Fellowship vary by region. Please see our FAQ for eligibility requirements and application instructions.

PhD students from Africa, Australia, Canada, East Asia, Europe, India, Latin America, the Middle East, New Zealand, Southeast Asia and the United States, must be nominated for the fellowship by their university. Applications must be submitted by an official representative of the university during the application window. Please contact your department or graduate school for more information on the internal nomination process.

Review 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 Canada and the United States, East Asia and Latin America, essay responses are evaluated in addition to application materials to determine an overall recommendation.

Benefits

Early-stage PhD students

  • Up to 4 year Fellowship
  • US $50K to cover stipend and other research related activities, travel expenses including overseas travel
  • Google Research Mentor

Late-stage PhD students

  • 1 year Fellowship
  • US $10K to recognise research contributions, cover stipend and other research related activities, travel expenses including overseas travel
  • Google Research Mentor

Click here to view the official notification of Google PhD Fellowship Program 2025.