Thanks to a generous donation by the winners of the Breakthrough Prizes in Mathematics – Ian Agol, Jean Bourgain, Simon Donaldson, Maxim Kontsevich, Jacob Lurie, Terence Tao, Richard Taylor, Christopher Hacon and James McKernan – the International Mathematical Union, with the assistance of FIMU and TWAS launched in 2016 a fellowship program to support postgraduate studies, in a developing country, leading to a PhD degree in the mathematical sciences. The IMU Breakout Graduate Fellowships offer a limited number of grants for excellent students from developing countries.
From left to right:
Do Thai Duong, Maria Alejandra Ramírez Luna, Abeb Regassa Tufa
The candidates were selected by the Breakout Fellowship Selection Committee.
Currently no further fellowships are available.
TWAS administers this programme (since submission of the applications) on behalf of IMU and is liaising with the awardees and will monitor the progress of the nominees during and after their PhD studies.
Obligations of the Awardees
The awardees of the fellowship and their research supervisors will be asked to submit annual reports to TWAS and IMU.
All awardees will be asked, on the completion of the PhD programme, to submit a copy of the approved thesis and a final report on the work carried out to IMU and TWAS.
1. Is the IMU Breakout Graduate Fellowship compatible with other fellowships?
The fellowship is incompatible with any other scholarship covering completely the expenses indicated:
1. Full tuition fee
2. Accommodation expenses
3. Travel expenses to the host institution (if different from the home country)
4. Basic living expenses that will depend on the cost of the living of the country in which the student will study his/ her doctoral program
If the candidate has a fellowship covering partially the expenses but not all of them, this situation must be informed in the budget presented.
Elegible expenses are those not covered by other grants.
2. Is it ok to upload a certificate of citizenship instead of the passport?
Yes, you can upload a certificate of citizenship instead of the passport.
3. What if the student is already enrolled in a Ph.D. program and does not have an official letter of acceptance to the programme?
It is sufficient for the department chair to verify in a letter that the student is already enrolled in the Ph.D. programme.
4. Can a Ph.D. student apply by himself for the program?
No, individual candidates cannot apply themselves for the fellowship.
Only nominations by professional mathematicians (including those who have superannuated, but continue to mentor young students) of candidates mathematically gifted and who aspire to a career in mathematical teaching and research will be entertained. It is advisable that the nominator has mentored the nominee previously.
The application has to be FILLED OUT ONLINE by the nominator.
5. Should the nominator be the proposed Ph.D. supervisor or the M.Sc. supervising tutor?
Your nominator can be your proposed Ph.D. supervisor or your M.Sc. supervising tutor who taught you different courses.
6. Is it possible to apply if the candidate is studying at a physical department?
No, the fellowship program has the aim to support postgraduate studies leading to a PhD degree in the mathematical sciences. The studies must be at a mathematical department in the mathematical science.
7. What if the documents of the student are not in English?
Please translate all documents in English and ask your university to verify the translation.
8. What if the student only holds a Bachelor Degree and does not have a Master Degree, but is accepted directly to the PhD program of the university?
If the rules of the country where they are going to follow the PhD studies allow the student to enroll in a Doctoral Program without a Master Degree, we can consider the application.
9. What is the next application deadline/ call for nominations?
Information about a new call for nominations will be announced on this website after June 2017.
