Microsoft has revealed 17 groundbreaking projects for funding as part of its 2017 Research Scholarship Programme.
A total of 17 PhD projects have been selected, 13 of which have originated in the UK, from a wide range of universities including the University of Cambridge, York, Imperial College and the University of Edinburgh. Projects from Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Israel and Holland were also selected.
The winning scholarships will receive funding and three years of support from Microsoft Research co-supervisors during their research periods. Upon completion of their research, many students also go on to receive internships at Microsoft Research labs.
The latest winning projects for the 2017-2018 academic year span across six countries, and include research in areas such as machine learning, health science, and computational biology.
One research project from the University of Cambridge will focus on creating a model to better understand the onset of lung complications in people with Cystic Fibrosis, while developing an algorithm which could predict worsening lung performance ahead of time.
Another project from the University of Oxford plans to develop AI technology designed to allow people who are blind or have visual impairment to better understand their surroundings, using knowledge from machine learning, human computer interaction and artificial intelligence fields.
Past scholarships include the development of image analysis tools for improved radiological reading in early-stage cancer detection, and using visual tracking to improve manipulation capability in robots.
Initially, 33 proposals were received and assessed via a two-stage review progress. This involved a panel of Microsoft researchers who compared the projects’ relevance to topics being researched at Microsoft Research Cambridge, followed by further evaluation by a board of 80 researchers from Microsoft Research Laboratories.
The Microsoft Research PhD Scholarship Programme in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) has supported breakthrough PhD projects since 2004, and has supported 200 students from 51 institutions in 18 countries to date.
For more information on the Microsoft Research Scholarship Programme and the full set of scholarship winners, visit the official Microsoft Research blog.