IIT Madras offers fellowship in AI and data science for women

Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) has offered a fellowship in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Science for women researchers.

The fellowship — called ‘RBCDSAI Women Post Baccalaureate Fellowships’ — will be offered through IIT-M’s Robert Bosch Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (RBCDSAI) and the selected candidates will be entitled to get a monthly stipend of ₹40,000 for the respected period of their internship, which is one or two years as per the interest of the candidate. The last date to apply for the programme is February 28.

It has also been learnt that the fellows are expected to conduct their independent research under the mentorship of the Centre and will have access to high-end compute infrastructure and datasets at RBCDSAI. The eligible participants for this fellowship should be under the age of 28 years (as of 31 December 2021), and should be graduate/ post-graduate who has a 4-year bachelor's or a master's degree in areas relevant to RBCDSAI.   

According to FAQs on the institute’s website, while applying, the candidates are required to provide a choice of three faculty members from RBCDSAI with whom they wish to work. Based on research interests, alignment and availability, the candidate will be interviewed by the concerned faculty member and if selected, will be working with the faculty member of their choice. 

The fellow has the freedom to work or collaborate with other faculty members within RBCDSAI, it further read.

Last year, IIT-M’s Robert Bosch Centre for Data Science and AI (RBCDSAI) collaborated with Narayanan Family Foundation to launch a Fellowship in ‘Artificial Intelligence for Social Good’ (a separate course for AI). 

But unlike the last year’s course, this time the Chennai-based institute has decided to invite applications for female aspirants. 

“This fellowship is designed to enable outstanding candidates to establish their independent research profile and to contribute in a significant way to socially relevant AI research,” Prof B. Ravindran, Head, RBCDSAI-IIT Madras, had said last year. 

The announcement comes at a time when global expenditure on Artificial Intelligence-based solutions and services is set to witness an uptick, with revenues expected to grow 19.6% in 2022, according to a report by market research firm International Data Corporation. For 2022, the global revenues for software, hardware and services based on AI, are expected to touch $432.8 billion, while the market may hit the $500 billion mark by 2023.