Fellowship at Microsoft Research Asia

The fellowship experience: in their own words

Fellows talk about their experiences before, during, and after their fellowship tenure.

Opened my mind about research and careers

“I am very fortunate to have a relationship with Microsoft Research Asia, which I’ve always admired as one of the best research laboratories in the world. I jumped into MSRA as an intern during my master’s studies. Every day’s discussions with my mentor were insightful, and I have developed a sense of what makes ‘good’ research and built courage to pursue challenging research in PhD. The Fellowship award, which back then looked too competitive for me, has given me confidence and opened my mind to many career possibilities.” — Tatsunori Taniai, University of Tokyo, 2015 Fellow

Alumni community for academic exchange

“During the application, both my PhD advisor and the head of department were very supportive and encouraging about my fellowship. The award aspects of the Microsoft Research Asia Fellowship that attract me most are the opportunity to do an internship in Microsoft Research Asia and to join an alumni community for academic exchange.” — Yingwei Pan, University of Science and Technology of China, 2015 Fellow

Develop confidence as a researcher

“The Microsoft Research Asia Fellowship award has helped me develop confidence as a researcher and provides me encouragement to do high-quality research work as well as responsibility. The award gives me freedom to pursue the research topics that I am really interested in. It allows to get many opportunities to present and discuss with diverse and excellent researchers.” —Tae-Hyun Oh, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 2015 Fellow

Strong motivation for my research

“It is a great pleasure to receive a Microsoft Research Asia Fellowship. This prize has given me strong motivation for my research. My research is about multimedia retrieval, and I know that Microsoft Research Asia is also focusing on the same area.” — Yin-Hsi Kuo, National Taiwan University, 2012 Fellow

Relentlessly pursue higher learning

“I am especially grateful for the internship opportunity that comes with the Fellowship award. My internship period has been very exciting and I have gotten to work with many excellent people. They not only taught me computer-related knowledge and skills, but also team spirit, problem-solving approaches, and how to relentlessly pursue higher learning. It has also been eye-opening to talk to fellow research students with different research interests.” — Canyi Lu, National University of Singapore, 2014 Fellow

Collaborate with some of the best researchers in the world

“I think the Microsoft Research Asia Fellowship is a fantastic opportunity for young researchers like me to gain hands-on research experience in a large corporation. I get to collaborate with some of the best researchers in the world and the experience has helped me a lot in determining my own research direction. At the same time, the generous financial support provided by the Fellowship makes my PhD study a lot easier and my life more trouble-free.” — Wei Bai, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2015 Fellow