Tech giant Google is not just an internet search engine whose brand name has entered pop culture as a word. The company also funds academic research and scholarships – and it recently awarded the University of Pretoria (UP) three grants totalling $65 000 (over R1.1million).
About $40 000 (about R720 000) has been allocated to two one-year projects in which Google will collaborate with UP researchers, both at professorial and student level. These projects are in the cutting-edge fields of cross-lingual data resources, climate change and artificial intelligence (AI), and are both embedded in the South African context.
The remaining $25 000 (about R450 000) is an unrestricted gift to the University, which has split the amount into grants of R50 000. UP has invited its researchers to apply for this support on condition that their research relates to Google’s priority areas, such as responsible AI.
The two principal investigators at UP who have received research awards of about R360 000 each are Associate Professors Vukosi Marivate and Sonali Das.
Read more https://www.up.ac.za/news/post_3127986-google-grants-up-over-r1-million-in-research-grants-