Fellowship at Microsoft Research Asia

Frequently asked questions

• What should be included in a research statement?

  The research statement should provide a summary of your research accomplishments and current work and highlight your most outstanding contribution to the academia. Importantly, it should clearly discuss the future direction and potential of your work, especially your research plan for the next few years of PhD study. It should be technical but remain intelligible to any reviewer of the track (we have four general tracks, which you can find in the online application tool). Because your research statement may be read by a reviewer with same track but outside of your subdiscipline, it is important to keep the “big picture” in mind. A strong research statement presents a readable, compelling, and realistic research agenda with clear potential results. Research statements can be weakened by overly ambitious proposals, a lack of clear direction, and a lack of big-picture focus.

  Some general advice:

  • The goal of the research statement is to introduce yourself to a search committee and make them excited about your research. This committee will likely contain scientists both in and outside of your subdiscipline. The statement may be around 1,000 words, keeping in mind that you want people to read it and buy in, so please don’t make it too long or too short.
  • Think of the overarching theme guiding your main research subject area. Write an essay that lays out:
    • The main theme(s), why it is important, and what specific skills you will use to attack the problem.
    • A couple of specific examples of problems you have already worked on with success — to build credibility and give people an idea of what it is you do.
    • A discussion of the future direction of your research. This section should build on the above and be exciting to people both in and outside your field. If you think that your research could lead to answers for big, exciting questions — say so and reach for the stars.
    • Tie it all off with a final paragraph that leaves the reader with a good overall impression of your research.

  • There is no need to mention all of your projects; stick to those that align with your overarching theme. Introducing no more than three (3) research works is strongly recommended.
  • Pay attention to jargon. You want reviewers to understand everything in your statement. Remember that the goal is to make the search committee excited about you — and they won’t be excited about something they can’t understand.
  • If you have something that sets you apart (e.g., a prestigious achievement in your field), you may want to include it.
  • There are no excuses for spelling errors.
• Who should submit the applications?

  Required application materials can be submitted directly online by the applicant. The online application tool is available at: https://cmtint.research.microsoft.com/MSRAFellowship2022 (opens in new tab)

• In what language and format must the application materials be?

  All application materials must be in English. All documents submitted must be in Word document, text-only file, PDF, or ZIP file format.

• Students from which areas are encouraged to apply?

  Students must be doing research work that relates to computing topics in which Microsoft Research is concerned with (click on Research Areas at the top of the page for a full list).

  Four major directions for reference:

  • Human machine intelligence
    • Big data mining
    • Knowledge mining
    • Machine learning
    • Natural language processing
    • Social computing
    • Theory
    • Web search and data mining
    • Others
  • Perception, recognition, interaction
    • Graphics
    • Multimedia
    • Robotics
    • Speech
    • Vision
    • Others
  • Hardware and software systems
    • Applied algorithms
    • Cloud computing
    • Devices
    • Mobile sensing
    • Networking
    • Software analytics
    • Systems
    • Others
  • Computational science
    • Computational biology and life science
    • Computational physics
    • Computational sustainability and environmental science
    • Computational chemistry and material science
    • Other Computational Science Fields
• Are first-year students eligible to apply?

  First-year students are eligible to apply if they have already enrolled in a PhD program by the time of the nomination.

• Are second-year students eligible to apply?

  It depends on the expected graduation date of the normative PhD study you are enrolled in. If the student will graduate in 2024 or later, then they are eligible.

• When will the review results be announced?

  Selected applicants will receive notification of their acceptance status by early October 2022. Due to the volume of submissions, Microsoft Research Asia cannot provide individual feedback on applications that do not receive fellowship awards.

• What are the intellectual property implications of a Microsoft Research Asia Fellowship?

  The funds are given as an unrestricted gift. Fellowship recipients are not subject to intellectual property restrictions unless they complete an internship at Microsoft Research Asia. If that is the case, they are subject to the same intellectual property restrictions as any other Microsoft Research Asia intern.

• Are students from other countries or regions eligible?

  Microsoft Research Asia Fellowship only accepts applicants with universities in mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan.

Please send email directly to fellowRA@microsoft.com for other questions