In August the University of Warsaw, the largest university in Poland and a leading research center in the country announced a partnership with DeepMind, a world leader in Artificial Intelligence research to offer a new scholarship programme aimed at increasing diversity in the field.

During the academic year 2020/2021, two DeepMind Scholarships will be awarded to students who wish to study for a Master’s degree in Computer Science at the University of Warsaw Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics, and Mechanics.

 

The DeepMind scholarship programme gives talented students from underrepresented backgrounds an opportunity to get an education at leading universities and connect with its researchers and engineers. The programme is extending to Poland with a hope to strengthen the presence of the country in the machine learning community. In the academic year 2020/21 two scholarships will be awarded to women at the University of Warsaw. Another initiative that has the same goal of improving the diversity in the field is the Eastern European Machine Learning (EEML) summer school, initiated and organised yearly by researchers in DeepMind. “We are very happy to see this scholarship programme materialised, as it will significantly increase the impact of our EEML efforts in strengthening the AI community in this part of Europe. We hope that other companies will follow DeepMind’s example and create similar programmes to support machine learning education in Poland and other countries in the region”,  said Viorica Patraucean, a research scientist at DeepMind and one of the EEML organisers.

 

Working together to step up the state of the art in AI

Prof. Paweł Strzelecki, the dean of the Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics, and Mechanics, said: “We are pleased to obtain a substantial gift from DeepMind to start an important scholarship programme. Our department is determined to do its part to eliminate the barriers that deter women from careers in computer science. The DeepMind Scholarship programme is playing an essential part in helping us address the underrepresentation of women in the field by supporting participation in the subject at the Master level.”

 

Obum Ekeke, university relations and educational partnerships lead, said: “It is very exciting to expand the DeepMind scholarship programme to Poland in partnership with the University of Warsaw. At DeepMind we want to ensure that AI is a technology that benefits everyone, and that means ensuring people with many different perspectives – academic, geographical and personal – contribute towards its design. By removing the financial barriers that prevent groups currently underrepresented in AI progress to postgraduate studies, and providing mentorship with some of the best AI researchers in the world, we hope to help build a generation of leaders in AI who truly reflect the world around us. We’re excited to welcome the first cohort of DeepMind scholars at the University of Warsaw.”

 

The scholarships will be awarded to two selected students in the academic years 2020-2022. Applicants should meet the following criteria:

  • Be a resident in a member state of the European Union;
  • Have accepted an offer to study, for a Master’s degree in Computer Science at the UW Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics, and Mechanics, or Artificial Intelligence (from the academic year 2021-2022 onwards), with a focus on Machine Learning (in the academic years 2020-2022).

Each scholarship amounts to €25 285 and will cover:

  • An annual stipend of €10 800;
  • A one-off academic travel scholarship of €2 185;
  • One-off equipment budget of €1 500.