SFI Machine Learning, Machine Translation

Microsoft has been working closely with Science Foundation Ireland over the last few years on a number of targeted research projects. SFI have now launched Centres for Research Training (CRT) to build on research excellence and provide cohorts of academically outstanding future research leaders with the skills and knowledge required to address the future challenges of an ever-changing work environment. 

Microsoft Ireland is proud to sponsor and mentor PhD Students in a number of these SFI Centres of Research Training (CRT) in the areas of Data Science, Machine Learning and Digitally Enhanced Reality. 

Within each of the three CRT’s we are sponsoring, a Microsoft Engineering Team has partnered with the CRT itself and the individual PhD Students. Each PhD Student is working on an area of research that is aligned to development and research work our engineering teams are leading out of Dublin. 

Our ultimate goal is to enable research that can be leveraged within the company over the coming years. We also leverage the sponsorship to mentor future research leaders that will hopefully see a career path with Microsoft after their PhD is completed. During the research period each of the PhD Students we have will also have the opportunity to intern with us as a guest researcher. 

From a Microsoft sponsorship perspective, Microsoft employees can attend some of the lectures given to the PhD Students. There is also the opportunity for Microsoft employees to attend and present on the work we do at their symposiums and finally there is an opportunity for a limited number of Microsoft employees to do a part time PhD with the relevant CRT. 

Below are some more details on the projects we are sponsoring in each CRT.  

CRT for Machine Learning 

In addition to their PhD research, the CRT for Machine Learning facilitates graduates to develop their skills and ensure an understanding of how these skills can benefit industry by solving business problems. Industry-ready graduates are encouraged to bring ethical and critical-thinking perspectives to their work. 

CRT for Data Science 

The CRT for Data Science places Ireland at the nexus of this dynamic and competitive field and will facilitate the attraction of data-centric indigenous and international enterprise to Ireland. The graduates of this Centre will be uniquely adaptable to the rapidly-evolving needs of Ireland’s data science industry and will become global leaders, innovators, entrepreneurs and employers. 

Microsoft Ireland is currently sponsoring two PhD Researchers who have started their Internship with the Dublin E+D CSE Team focused on two areas of research – Diversity & Inclusion focused on Accessibility in International Markets and Social Listening – and building a modern social media pipeline.  

CRT for Digitally Enhanced Reality 

Leaders of the future will need to work across disciplinary boundaries and the SFI Centre for Research Training in Digitally Enhanced Reality (D-REAL) will contribute by developing digital skills for the next generation of human-centric media technology. 

In this CRT, Microsoft Ireland is sponsoring research projects focused on targeted Improvements for Technical Domain Machine Translation & Machine Translation system selection / Recommender system between MT and recycling candidates.