{"id":962154,"date":"2023-08-18T02:27:18","date_gmt":"2023-08-18T09:27:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/?post_type=msr-academic-program&#038;p=962154"},"modified":"2023-10-19T16:12:03","modified_gmt":"2023-10-19T23:12:03","slug":"accelerate-foundation-models-research-fall-2023","status":"publish","type":"msr-academic-program","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/academic-program\/accelerate-foundation-models-research-fall-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Accelerate Foundation Models Research &#8211; Fall 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<p><strong>Call for proposals<\/strong>: Fall 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"about-the-program\">About the program<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-1 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<p>Foundation models are fueling a fundamental shift in computing research and across the sciences. Even as industry-led advances in AI continue to reach new heights, we believe that a vibrant and diverse research ecosystem remains essential to realizing the promise of AI to benefit people and society while mitigating risks. Accelerate Foundation Models Research (AFMR) is a research grant program through which we will make leading foundation models hosted by Microsoft Azure more accessible to the academic research community via Microsoft Azure AI services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By driving deeper collaboration across disciplines, institutions, and sectors, we aim to unlock the full potential of AI across greater breadth of research pursuits, application domains, and societal contexts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button is-style-cta\"><a data-bi-type=\"button\" class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/collaboration\/foundation-model-academic-research\/\">Accelerating Foundation Model Research initiative<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-column-is-layout-2 wp-block-column-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"key-dates\">Key dates:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>August 24, 2023<\/strong> | Call for proposals opens globally  <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>September 12, 2023<\/strong> | Proposal deadline<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>September 22, 2023<\/strong> | Notifications; onboarding process begins <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>September 2023 &#8211; January 2024<\/strong> | Research collaboration period <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a data-bi-type=\"button\" class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/collaboration\/accelerating-foundation-models-research\/phase-ii\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">View Fall CFP projects<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"potential-research-topics\">Potential research topics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>(e.g., enable robustness, sustainability, transparency, trustfulness, develop evaluation approaches)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>How should we evaluate foundation models?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How might we mitigate the risks and potential harms of foundation models such as bias, unfairness, manipulation, and misinformation?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How might we enable continual learning and adaptation, informed by human feedback?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How might we ensure that the outputs of foundation models are faithful to real-world evidence, experimental findings, and other explicit knowledge?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>(e.g., increase human ingenuity, creativity and productivity, decrease AI digital divide)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>How might we advance the study of the social and environmental impacts of foundation models?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How might we foster ethical, responsible, and transparent use of foundation models across domains and applications?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How might we study and address the social and psychological effects of large language models on human behavior, cognition, and emotion?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How can we develop AI technologies that are inclusive of everyone on the planet?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How might foundation models be used to enhance the creative process?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>(e.g., advanced knowledge discovery, causal understanding, generation of multi-scale multi-modal scientific data)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>How might foundation models accelerate knowledge discovery, hypothesis generation and analysis workflows in natural and life sciences?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How might foundation models be used to transform scientific data interpretation and experimental data synthesis?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Which new scientific datasets are needed to train, fine-tune, and evaluate foundation models in natural and life sciences?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How might foundation models be used to make scientific data more discoverable, interoperable, and reusable?&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"eligibility\">Provisions of the award<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The following resources may be made available to researchers (principal investigators) whose proposals are selected:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Azure credits for project usage up to USD 20,000 until Jan 31, 2024<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Azure Open AI: API access to Azure OpenAI Service models to promote responsible AI research which may include:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>GPT-3 series (prompting and fine-tuning), GPT-4 (prompting)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Codex (based GPT-3 models that can understand and generate code)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Embeddings model series (for semantic mapping and semantic search use cases)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>DALL-E 2 (create original, realistic images and art from a text description)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Open-source models including Llama-2 model family<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Azure API services (Speech, vision, decision, translation)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Microsoft Open-sourced libraries and tools for foundation models (e.g., Semantic Kernel)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button is-style-outline is-style-outline--e1e4531ed6907d518dd898e00512c562\"><a data-bi-type=\"button\" class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/academic-program\/accelerate-foundation-models-research-fall-2023\/how-to-apply\/\">Eligibility criteria and application process<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-to-apply\">How to apply<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-2 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<p>Please carefully review and consider the below as it relates to the proposal process for the Microsoft Research Accelerate Foundation Models Research program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"proposal-eligibility\">Proposal eligibility<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This offer is for non-commercial academic use cases.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The research project should conform to the approved <a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" href=\"https:\/\/learn.microsoft.com\/en-us\/legal\/cognitive-services\/openai\/transparency-note#use-cases\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">use cases for the Azure OpenAI service<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Principal Investigator (PI) leading the research team should be a full-time faculty member at a degree-granting college or university.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-column-is-layout-4 wp-block-column-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"key-dates\">Key dates:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>August 24, 2023<\/strong> | Call for proposals opens globally  <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>September 12, 2023<\/strong> | Proposal deadline<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>September 22, 2023<\/strong> | Notifications; onboarding process begins<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>September 2023 &#8211; January 2024<\/strong> | Research collaboration period <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a data-bi-type=\"button\" class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/webportalapp.com\/sp\/microsoft_research_afmr_cfp1_portal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Apply<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"proposal-submission-process\">Proposal submission process<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Proposals must be written in English and should be submitted to Accelerate Foundation Models Research no later than midnight (Pacific Daylight Savings Time) on <strong>September 12, 2023<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Microsoft shall have no obligation to maintain the confidentiality of any submitted proposals. Therefore, proposals should not contain information that is considered proprietary, classified, confidential, restricted, or sensitive. All such requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis and will be approved or denied at Microsoft\u2019s sole discretion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Proposals should include the following sections:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The principal investigator\u2019s name and university affiliation<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Proposal title<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Proposal summary: goals, scope of the research, use of resources, expected outcomes, potential impact (1 to 2 pages)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Participants are encouraged to visit the <a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" href=\"https:\/\/learn.microsoft.com\/en-us\/legal\/cognitive-services\/openai\/transparency-note?context=%2Fazure%2Fcognitive-services%2Fopenai%2Fcontext%2Fcontext\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Azure OpenAI Service\u2019s transparency note<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>, which provides information and guidelines for responsible use of the service as well as system limitations that may be applicable to the proposed research scenario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button is-style-outline is-style-outline--249ac49b1165cc3943f38122632aece2\"><a data-bi-type=\"button\" class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"mailto:msfmr@microsoft.com\">Contact us with questions<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"conditions\">Conditions&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The following conditions apply to submissions and, as applicable if selected, your participation in the program as principal investigators (PIs). By submitting a proposal, you agree to the following:&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Microsoft may use your name and likeness to publicize your proposal (including proposal content) in connection with the promotion of the Microsoft Accelerating Foundation Model Research Program in all media now known or later developed.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Microsoft has no obligation to maintain the confidentiality of any submitted proposals.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Proposals will not contain information that is considered proprietary, confidential, classified, restricted, or sensitive.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The submission review process is internal to Microsoft. Microsoft reserves the right, in its sole discretion and without liability to submitters, to review, accept and engage with submitters in accordance with its internal policies and procedures. No feedback will be given to submitters. Microsoft may, however, reach out to submitters for clarifications on submitted proposals.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Participants will be required to have Azure subscription via university email and agree with overall <a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" href=\"https:\/\/azure.microsoft.com\/en-us\/support\/legal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Azure terms and condition<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> and Azure OpenAI <a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" href=\"https:\/\/learn.microsoft.com\/en-us\/legal\/cognitive-services\/openai\/code-of-conduct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">code of conduct<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>. Access to Azure OpenAI services require the participants to agree to <a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" href=\"https:\/\/azure.microsoft.com\/en-us\/support\/legal\/preview-supplemental-terms\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">additional terms<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> that govern their use of Azure.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a data-bi-type=\"button\" class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/webportalapp.com\/sp\/microsoft_research_afmr_cfp1_portal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Apply<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"resources\">Resources<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Azure OpenAI Service Overview <a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" href=\"https:\/\/azure.microsoft.com\/en-us\/products\/cognitive-services\/openai-service\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Azure OpenAI Service \u2013 Advanced Language Models | Microsoft Azure<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Azure OpenAI Service Documentation <a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" href=\"https:\/\/learn.microsoft.com\/en-us\/azure\/cognitive-services\/openai\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Azure OpenAI Service &#8211; Documentation, quickstarts, API reference &#8211; Azure Cognitive Services | Microsoft Learn<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Azure OpenAI Service intended use cases <a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" href=\"https:\/\/learn.microsoft.com\/en-us\/legal\/cognitive-services\/openai\/transparency-note#use-cases\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Use cases for Azure OpenAI &#8211; Azure Cognitive Services | Microsoft Learn<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" href=\"https:\/\/learn.microsoft.com\/en-us\/training\/modules\/explore-azure-openai\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Introduction to Azure OpenAI Service &#8211; Training | Microsoft Learn<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n","protected":false},"featured_media":969276,"template":"","meta":{"msr-url-field":"","msr-podcast-episode":"","msrModifiedDate":"","msrModifiedDateEnabled":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_classifai_error":"","footnotes":""},"msr-opportunity-type":[155533],"msr-region":[256048],"msr-locale":[268875],"msr-program-audience":[],"msr-post-option":[],"msr-impact-theme":[264846],"class_list":["post-962154","msr-academic-program","type-msr-academic-program","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","msr-opportunity-type-grants-and-fellowships","msr-region-global","msr-locale-en_us"],"msr_description":"","msr_social_media":[],"related-researchers":[],"tab-content":[],"msr_impact_theme":["Computing foundations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-academic-program\/962154"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-academic-program"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/msr-academic-program"}],"version-history":[{"count":61,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-academic-program\/962154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1103049,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-academic-program\/962154\/revisions\/1103049"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/969276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=962154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"msr-opportunity-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-opportunity-type?post=962154"},{"taxonomy":"msr-region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-region?post=962154"},{"taxonomy":"msr-locale","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-locale?post=962154"},{"taxonomy":"msr-program-audience","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-program-audience?post=962154"},{"taxonomy":"msr-post-option","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-post-option?post=962154"},{"taxonomy":"msr-impact-theme","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-impact-theme?post=962154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}