Alphabet-owned AI firm DeepMind is funding new scholarships to support diversity in the next generation of tech pioneers.
The firm has funded four new scholarships for women and BAME postgraduate students in the Department of Computing with a focus on AI and machine learning at Imperial College London.
The scholarships will cover tuition fees as well as a maintenance grant, and are offered to exceptional home or UK students on various Master’s courses in the Department in the academic year 2019/20.
Imperial, described as a world-leader in Computer Science, has one the largest computing departments in the UK.
Hannah Kay, a recipient of one of the scholarships, commenced an MSc in Computer Science, a course that provides intensive training in computer science for graduates of disciplines other than computing.
Kay had completed an undergraduate degree in psychology and begun a career in digital marketing before deciding to embark upon the Imperial course.
Kay said: “I was looking for a career change and had tried coding out before and really enjoyed it, so this course seemed like a natural fit for me. I really wanted to develop a skill that I could use to help improve the world we live in and I liked the idea of learning to develop innovative future technologies.”
“As a psychology graduate, I had always been fascinated by artificial intelligence, so having the opportunity to pursue this is really appealing.”
Demis Hassabis, co-founder and CEO, DeepMind, added: “We’re delighted to be partnering with Imperial to help broaden participation in computer science. I’d like to congratulate all of the recipients on this achievement and wish them the best in their future studies.”