Applications are invited for the Google Research Scholar Program 2025. The submission deadline is January 27, 2025!
About Google
Google LLC is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial intelligence.
About Program
The Research Scholar Program is designed to assist early-career academics conducting research in areas aligned with Google’s interests. This program offers unrestricted grants to support research at universities globally, with an emphasis on funding outstanding research led by early-career scholars.
Award Information
Submissions are encouraged from professors worldwide who are currently teaching at universities and meet the program’s eligibility criteria. The goal of the program is to foster collaborations with emerging academics and promote the development of lasting relationships.
The awards are granted as unrestricted gifts to the university, specifically for research purposes, and are not intended to cover overhead or indirect costs. These funds are to be utilized during the academic year in which the award is given, supporting the professor’s research activities.
Eligibility Criteria
- Applicants must be a full-time assistant, associate, or professor at a university or degree-granting research institution at the time of the application submission.
- Post doctoral staff can only serve as a co-PI, not a primary PI.
- Applicants must have received their PhD within seven years of submission (e.g., applicants in 2024 must have received their PhD in 2017 or later).
- Google consider exceptions for applicants who have been teaching for seven years or fewer and had delays, such as working in industry, parental leave, leave of absence, etc. This exception request can be documented on the application.
- Applicants can submit one application per round.
- Faculty can only serve as a PI or Co-PI per round. Applicants cannot serve on two separate proposals.
- Applicants can apply a maximum of 3 times within the 7 years post-PhD.
Funding amounts
The funds granted will be up to INR 5,115,935.46 / USD 60,000 and are intended to support the advancement of the professor’s research.
Application Status
- Applications open: Dec. 20, 2024
- Applications close: Jan. 27, 2025
- Notification of proposal decisions by: June 30, 2025
How to strengthen your proposal?
- Clearly define the problem. Good research starts with a compelling question.
- Describe a specific, achievable outcome. What will this research enable that wouldn’t happen otherwise, and how? Outline both minimum expected and best-case scenarios, specifying the datasets and test cases you’ll use.
- Differentiate your contribution. Clearly explain how your work advances the state of the art, using citations and other standard practices.
- Outline your approach. Explain your plan for addressing the research challenges, even if all answers aren’t yet known. Identify potential risks and mitigation strategies.
- Contextualize the work. Describe existing funding and how this proposal fits into your broader research goals. How will this research be used? Will it build research capability, create a tool, reproduce a result, foster collaboration, follow up on an idea, or explore a new one? We are interested in all possibilities.
- Make it accessible to non-experts. While we try to have your proposal reviewed by a Google expert in your field, it will also be read by non-experts, so please ensure the motivation and outcomes are understandable to a broad audience.
Your proposal should ultimately demonstrate how your research aligns with our mission to recognize and support academic researchers whose work in computing and technology makes a positive difference in the world.
Evaluation Criteria
Only complete applications that meet the following criteria will be scored:
- Submitted by eligible applicants
- Related to computing or technology
- Adhere to the required formatting guidelines
Scoring will be based on the following areas:
- Faculty merit: Faculty is accomplished in research, community engagement, and open source contributions, with potential to contribute to responsible innovation.
- Research merit: Faculty’s proposed research is aligned with Google Research interests, innovative, and likely to have a significant impact on the field.
- Proposal quality: The research proposal is clear, focused, and well-organized, and it demonstrates the team’s ability to successfully execute the research and achieve a significant impact.
- AI Ethics principles: The research proposal strongly aligns with Google’s AI Principles
- Broadening Participation: The proposal demonstrates a strong commitment to broadening participation in computing through initiatives such as mentoring underrepresented groups, establishing collaborations with diverse institutions, and disseminating research in accessible formats.
- For research area topics that require the use of a specific product, methodology, or other constraint, we will evaluate your project based on how well it adheres to and utilizes these aforementioned factors, as well as the overall quality of your approach.
Important Links
Click here to learn more about supporting cutting-edge research.
How to Apply?
Interested and eligible candidates can apply via this link.
Deadline
Applications must be submitted by January 27, 2025, no later than 11:59:59 PM UTC-12. Notification of decisions for this application cycle will be sent via email by June 2025.
Note: Google highly recommends submitting your application well in advance of the deadline. The submission portal tends to experience heavy traffic in the final days, and applying early will help ensure that your application is processed without issues.
