IMU Breakout Graduate Fellowship Program

Thanks to a generous donation by the following winners of the Breakthrough Prizes in Mathematics – Ian Agol, Jean Bourgain, Simon Donaldson, Alex Eskin, Christopher Hacon, Martin Hairer, Maxim Kontsevich, Vincent Lafforgue, Jacob Lurie, James McKernan, Takuro Mochizuki, Daniel A. Spielman, Terence Tao, and Richard Taylor – the International Mathematical Union, with the assistance of FIMU, maintains 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 offers a limited number of grants for excellent students from developing countries.

Professional mathematicians are invited to nominate highly motivated and mathematically talented students from developing countries who plan to complete a doctoral degree in a developing country, including their own home country. Nominees must have a consistently good academic record and must be seriously interested in pursuing a career of research and teaching in mathematics.

It is the hope of the donors, the IMU and FIMU that the fellowship helps educate the next generation of mathematicians and hopefully results in extended benefits to the home countries of those chosen for the fellowships.

The program was the subject of the editorial of the January issues of the IMU-Net 93 by Terry Tao (UCLA) and Richard Taylor (Stanford University), as well as the interesting article by Della Dumbaugh which appeared in the September issue of the AMS notices in 2019.

Deadline

The nomination process is now open and will conclude on May 31, 2025.

In case of further questions for the 2025 application round, please contact the Breakout Graduate Fellowship Program administration at grants@mathunion.org.

Eligibility Criteria

Requirements for Nominators

Nominators must meet the following criteria:

Be a university professor in mathematics with a PhD, based at a university or research center
Be currently supervising mathematics Master’s or PhD students.
Individual PhD candidates cannot apply themselves for the fellowship.
It is advisable that the nominator has mentored the nominee previously

Requirements for Student Nominees

Students nominated under this program must:

Demonstrate an outstanding academic track record in mathematical sciences and aspire to a career in mathematical teaching and research
Be a citizen of and resident in one of the developing countries as defined by the IMU
Have already been accepted (or pre-accepted) into a recognized doctoral program
Have a thesis advisor and a research project
Be undertaking their PhD in either a recognized university or a research institution in one of the developing countries as defined by the IMU.

Note: The nominator will serve as the primary point of contact and is responsible for submitting the application. Upon award, student awardees will be responsible for preparing and submitting reports, and facilitating communication with IMU Grant Administration.

Application

The following documents must be uploaded as part of the application by the application deadline:

Letters of Nominations and Recommendations

Letter of Nomination
Letters of Recommendation (2)

Student Documents

Proposed Research Project
Letter of Motivation and Future Plans
CV of Student Nominee
Official letter of (pre-)acceptance in the PhD program
Transcripts of coursework (certified copies)
- A) BSc degree or equivalent
- B) MSc degree or equivalent

PhD Supervisor Documents

PhD Supervisor CV

Note: All documents must be submitted in English. Only PDF documents can be uploaded.

Apply here

Grant Details

Amount of Support

The awarded grant is limited to a maximum of US$10,000 per year

The stipend may be used to cover the following costs for graduate research assistants:

Tuition Fees
Travel Expenses to Institution of Study
Housing
Basic living expenses

Duration of Support

Students can be funded for up to 4 years
or until the student completes the PhD program (whichever comes first)

Note:

Continued support is contingent upon satisfactory progress as documented in the annual reports.
Receipt of the Breakout grant is subject to the IMU's ability to legally transfer funds to the grantee's personal bank account.
The fellowship is incompatible with any other scholarship.

Selection Committee

The Breakout Selection Committee consists of the CDC Secretary for Policy as Chair and has four other members, three from CDC and one independent member, representing South America, Africa, and Europe respectively.