The Tarapada and Nirmala Basu Scholarship for the Use of AI to Benefit Developing Countries

The successful candidate will be notified by email no later than 31st July 2025. If you have not heard from us by this date, please assume you have been unsuccessful in your application.

The successful scholar may be expected to meet informally with the donors on occasions, participate in events surrounding this scholarship, or be required to submit a short statement of progress that will be shared with the donors.

This award is for students starting in the academic year 2025-26 and cannot be deferred. All scholarships are awarded subject to students accepting award Terms and Conditions.

Applicants shall be required to submit two written statements as part of their application:

A statement on their familiarity with, and interest in, AI to benefit developing countries
A statement attesting to their financial need

To apply for this scholarship, applicants need to complete the application form and have an offer to study an eligible programme by 11:59 pm (UK local time), Thursday 27th March 2025.

Applicants who meet the above conditions will be ranked based on the criteria above. The successful candidates shall be notified by 31st July 2025.

Eligibility criteria

Imperial College London is pleased to announce The Tarapada and Nirmala Basu Scholarship for Research on the Use of AI to Benefit Developing Countries for the 2025/26 academic year.

Established in 2024 by Imperial alumnus Professor Amiya Basu (PhD Civil Engineering, Class of 1964), The Tarapada and Nirmala Basu Scholarship was named in honour of his parents and seeks to support a student with an interest in harnessing the potential of Artificial Intelligence to benefit developing countries.

This scholarship is available for Home and Overseas students who have an offer to study one of the following programmes within the Department of Computing, beginning in autumn 2025:

MSc Artificial Intelligence
MRes Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
MSc Computing

Applicants shall be ranked on the following basis:

Academic merit (using your College application)
Familiarity with AI and how it may be used to benefit developing countries
Financial need