Microsoft Research Inspire Programme
The Microsoft Research Inspire Programme is designed to promote interaction between academics from developing and developed countries in Africa, Europe and the Middle East while recognising exceptional students from developing countries who want to embark on a research career.
This programme currently includes the following components:
This programme offers an online service that matches universities in developing countries with researchers and lecturers from Europe or the United States who volunteer to teach computer science. This online service is free for academics to use.
In addition, Microsoft will offer a travel stipend to some of the volunteers to assist with travel expenses but expects the host university to provide accommodation and the originating university to allow the volunteer the time off.
Please see the list of universities currently offering opportunities to volunteer or the list of academics who would like to volunteer.
Eligibility
Host university: any university in any developing country in Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
Volunteer: any teacher, lecturer, researcher or IT specialist from a university in the European Economic Area or the United States.
Applications
Universities and volunteers can register at any time with the online service. Host universities can post their needs and opportunities, while volunteers can publicise their willingness to help and expertise. For privacy reasons, contact details are only revealed to people who have registered to the service. On a yearly basis, Microsoft will review offers to host and help, and will sponsor some volunteers. The travel stipend will be up to 2,000 euros per volunteer. Decisions for 2006, will be made during March 2006 and recipients of the stipend will be notified in April 2006.
Microsoft Research offers sponsorships to computer science research summer schools, to bring together students and lecturers from developing countries in a programme of workshops, lectures and tutorials in Africa, Eastern Europe or the Middle East in 2006.
The programme has supported the following research summer schools:
If you would like us to consider a research summer school for funding, please email us at msrinsp@microsoft.com the following details by 1 March 2006: name of the summer school, location, date, programme, list of confirmed speakers, and funds already secured. We will only consider summer schools that will take place in a developing country and whose programme focuses on computer science. Microsoft Research's sponsorship (up to 10,000 euros) should be used solely to support attendance of students or professors to the summer school.
This award (up to 2,000 euros) will be offered to up to one hundred promising final-year
students who will begin work towards a doctorate degree. Preference will be given to novel
approaches in computing technology that have the potential to positively
affect the developing world. Areas of interest include: education, healthcare
and economic development.
Eligibility
Any final year student from any developing country in Africa, Eastern Europe
or the Middle East who has been accepted to start a PhD at a university
in a developing country. Only one
nomination will be considered per university department.
Application
Students should be nominated by the head of their department: a
letter of recommendation should be emailed to
msrinsp@microsoft.com, or faxed to +44 1223 479 999, or
alternatively, posted to the attention of Dr Fabien Petitcolas,
Microsoft Research, 7 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0FB, UK.
Completed application forms
will have to be
submitted online,
by the student or their supervisor, before 1 April 2006 (this deadline
has been extended from 1 February 2006). The letter
of recommendation should be received by the same date.
Recipients will be notified
in June 2006.
Contact
If you have questions which are not answered in our
FAQ, please contact
msrinsp@microsoft.com. |
