What Microsoft Research PhD Fellowship (Africa) actually covers.
Microsoft Research offers PhD Fellowships to exceptional doctoral students working on foundational research in computer science, AI, and data science. African students at any accredited institution are eligible to apply or be nominated. The fellowship provides a stipend, conference travel funding, mentorship from Microsoft Research scientists, and opportunities to intern at Microsoft Research labs. Focus areas include machine learning, natural language processing, systems, and applied AI.
Who can apply.
Open to phd applicants. Eligible nationalities are listed below.
46 more eligible countries — full list available on the official application page.
Accepted fields.
Microsoft Research PhD Fellowship (Africa) currently lists the following eligible fields of study. Other related disciplines may also be considered — check the official call.
Four steps to a complete application.
Scholar Africa is a discovery and tracking platform — the application itself is submitted directly through the official provider site. The steps below mirror our HowTo schema.
Check eligibility
Confirm your nationality, academic level, and field of study match the criteria above.
Eligibility checklist
Prepare documents
Transcripts, recommendation letters, personal statement, and a valid passport.
Document checklist
Submit the application
Submit before October 1, 2026 via the official portal.
Submission checklist
Track your application
Use your Scholar Africa dashboard to monitor status and deadline reminders.
Post-submission checklist
What we checked, when we checked it.
Every scholarship on Scholar Africa goes through six checks (link, contact, organisation, winners, third-party, manual review). Microsoft Research PhD Fellowship (Africa) currently scores 8.5/10.
Report an issue
Other scholarships worth a parallel application.
Same eligibility window or destination. Many strong applicants apply to three or four programmes per cycle.