Thanks to a generous donation by the 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.
2023 Call for Nominations and Deadline
The nomination process opened on February 1, 2023 and will end at 09:00 AM hours CET on May 31, 2023.
The PDF Download of the 2023 Call for Nominations and the online application form will be available as of February 14, 2023 on this website (below).
The nomination form has to be filled out online and be submitted by the nominator. Students cannot apply themselves for the fellowship. Changes after submission are not possible.
Conditions for Nominator (Professional Mathematician)
Conditions for Nominee (Student)
Nomination for women students is strongly encouraged.
The fellowship can cover the entire period of the doctoral program up to four years of the student (nominee).
The following costs up to a maximum of USD 10.000 per year can be covered by the grant:
The nomination has to be filled out and submitted online by the nominator.
Before you can access the online nomination form, please register in IMU website and log in.
If you have previously registered in IMU website you can use the same credentials.
Once your are logged in, you can find the online nomination form as of February 14, 2023 here:
Information to be filled out online (by the Nominator)
For an overview of the nomination form, please download the nomination form here (pdf file).
Please notice that application is not to be uploaded, but filled out online. Paper submissions cannot be accepted.
Material to be uploaded as part of application: (Only in PDF format)
Both nominations and accompanying documentation must be submitted in English only. If the documentation furnished were incomplete the entry would not be accepted for consideration.
Questions before submitting the nomination
In case of questions please contact the London Mathematical Society (LMS) at fellowships@lms.ac.uk
Selection Process
LMS will administer this programme during and after submission of the nomination on behalf of IMU and will liaise with the awarded nominees. The selection will be done by the CDC Breakout Graduate Fellowship Selection Committee.
Obligations of the Awardees
The awardees of the fellowship and their PhD advisors will be asked to submit annual reports to LMS. 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 LMS.
The 2016 recipients are, listed in alphabetical order:
Do Thai Duong was a Vietnamese PhD student at the Institute of Mathematics of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology. He obtained his PhD in March 2022.
María Alejandra Ramírez Luna was a Colombian PhD student at the Universidad del Valle, Colombia. She obtained her PhD in April 2022.
Abebe Regassa Tufa (Ethiopia) received the scholarship to obtain his PhD at the University of Botswana. He obtained his PhD in June 2018 .
The 2019 recipients are, listed in alphabetical order:
Phan Thang Hong has obtained the PhD degree in Mathematics on September 2022 at the Institute of Mathematics of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology
Darya Sukhoresbka is an Ukrainian PhD student at the B. Verkin Institute for Low Temperature Physics and Engineering of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Adeolu Taiwo (Nigeria) has obtained a PhD degree in Mathematics in May 2021 at the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
The 2020 recipients are, listed in alphabetical order:
Christelle Judith Agonkoui is a Beninese PhD student at the Institute of Mathematics and Physics (IMSP) of the University Abomey-Calavi.
Annisa Nur Falah is an Indonesian PhD student at Padjadjaran University in Indonesia.
Caroline Namanya is an Ugandan PhD student at the Makerere University in Uganda.
The 2021 recipients are, listed in alphabetical order:
Hang Nguyen is a Vietnamese PhD student at the Institute of Mathematics of the Vietnam Academy of Sience and Technology
Hong Duong Thi is a Vietnamese PhD student at the Thai Nguyen University of Sciences in Vietnam
Sayooj Aby Jose is an Indian PhD student at the Alagappa University in India
Abd-semii'Oluwatosin-Enitan Owolabi is a Nigerian PhD student at the University of Kwazulu-Natal, Durban in South Africa
Avulundiah Edwin Phiri is a Zambian PhD student at the University of Pretoria in South Africa
Edwiga Kishinda Renald is a Tanzanian PhD student at the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology in Tanzania
Trinh Tung is a Vietnamese PhD student at Hanoi National University in Vietnam
Further information about the awardees
Ha Tuan Dung is a Vietnamese PhD student at the Vietnam National University of Sciences.
Pushpendra Kumar is an Indian PhD student at the National Institute of Technology at Puducherry in India.
Zahra Reshadat is an Iranian PhD student at the Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM) at Theheran (Iran).
Victor Amarachi Uzor is a Nigerian PhD student at the University of Kwazulu-Natal, Durban in South Africa.
Kavitha Williams William Joseph Raj is an Indian PhD student at Vellore Institute of Technology in India.