Google announces 2025 PhD Fellowship winners: How many Indians are on the prestigious list?

Tech giant Google has announced the recipients of its prestigious 2025 PhD Fellowship, recognising some of the brightest young researchers from leading universities across the world. This year’s cohort features 10 Indian scholars, honoured for their contributions to fields ranging from artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to privacy, algorithms, and human-computer interaction. The fellowship, which supports promising doctoral students pursuing cutting-edge research in computer science and related disciplines, reflects India’s growing influence in the global technology research landscape.

Indian researchers among the 2025 recipients of Google PhD fellowships

According to the official list published by Google Research, 10 Indian scholars were selected from institutions including the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), various Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), and the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER).


The Indian recipients and their respective fields are:

• Arpita Biswas – Algorithms, Indian Institute of Science (IISc)
• Aniruddha Singh Kushwaha – Networking, IIT Bombay
• Anirban Santara – Machine Learning, IIT Kharagpur
• Nilesh Kumar Sahu – Health Research, IISER Bhopal
• Gonugunta Venkata Sai Mothish – Machine Perception, IISc
• Mohammed Safi Ur Rahman Khan – Natural Language Processing, IIT Madras
• Gayatri Priyadarsini Kancherla – Privacy, Safety & Security, IIT Gandhinagar
• Namasivayam Kalithasan – Machine Learning Foundations, IIT Delhi
• Khushboo Agrawal – Software Engineering, IIT Kanpur
• Siddharth Shrivastava – Human-Computer Interaction, IIT Hyderabad

Google recognises global talent

The Google PhD Fellowship is one of the most sought-after academic honours in the tech research community. Each year, Google selects exceptional PhD candidates whose work shows potential to shape the future of computing. The 2025 fellowship class includes recipients from top institutions across North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia, with India once again standing out as a key contributor.

This year’s selection underscores Google’s commitment to advancing academic innovation through global collaboration and diversity.

About the fellowship

Launched to support exceptional PhD students pursuing original and impactful research, the Google PhD Fellowship Programme provides financial support, mentorship, and networking opportunities with leading Google researchers. Fellows also get access to Google’s research infrastructure and resources, enabling them to push the boundaries of their academic work.

The programme covers a wide range of research areas including machine learning, quantum computing, computer vision, algorithms, health research, privacy, and security, among others.

India’s consistent presence in the Google Fellowship programme reflects the country’s rising prominence in the global research ecosystem. Over the years, Indian institutions have produced an increasing number of awardees, particularly in fields like AI, data science, and computational health.