MBZUAI fellowship to build UAE’s homegrown AI researchers
Ruwwad AI Scholars Fellowship targets Emirati postdoctoral talent globally
#UAE #edcuation — Abu Dhabi’s Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) has launched the Ruwwad AI Scholars (RAIS) Fellowship, a fully funded two-year postdoctoral programme designed to develop Emirati researchers into future AI faculty at leading institutions in the UAE and abroad. Open to UAE Nationals who have recently completed a PhD across a wide range of disciplines (from machine learning and biology to economics and physics) the fellowship directly supports the UAE’s Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2031. Selected candidates are expected to begin in autumn 2026.
SO WHAT? — The UAE’s fast-growing AI ecosystem needs to both attract the best global AI talent and develop the best AI talent at home. Importing AI talent can provide to be a short-term fix as many foreigners will ultimately choose to leave and work elsewhere. So, the UAE is focused on building an out-sized local talent pipeline to both serve its growing needs and effect a generational change to its workforce. The Ruwwad AI Scholars Fellowship is one of a growing number of initiatives to help ensure that the UAE’s long-term AI leadership is anchored in its own people, not dependent on sustained international recruitment.
KEY POINTS;
Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) the Ruwwad AI Scholars Fellowship, a fully funded two-year postdoctoral programme for UAE Nationals who have recently completed a PhD. The fellowship supports advanced research at world-class institutions internationally, with the explicit goal of preparing fellows for tenure-track faculty positions.
The programme is open to Emirati PhD graduates across a broad range of disciplines, including machine learning, data science, engineering, biology, economics and physics. The key criterion is that candidates’ research engages with AI, computational tools or quantitative methods in some capacity.
Priority in selection is given to candidates demonstrating strong research potential, independence and alignment with the UAE’s long-term research goals. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, with priority given to submissions received by mid-April and rolling admissions continuing through the following month.
Selected fellows are expected to begin the programme in autumn 2026, with completion intended to prepare them for faculty roles at MBZUAI and peer institutions, directly addressing the UAE’s need for a domestically rooted AI research and teaching community.
The fellowship is framed as a direct expression of the UAE’s Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2031, which aims to position the country as a global AI leader through sustained investment in talent, research and innovation, with MBZUAI playing a central institutional role in delivering that ambition.
MBZUAI is the world’s first university dedicated entirely to the advancement of science through AI. In 2025 it launched its first undergraduate programme, a Bachelor of Science in AI with Engineering and Business streams, adding to its established portfolio of postgraduate and doctoral programmes.
ZOOM OUT — Opened in 2020 as the world's first graduate-level AI research university, MBZUAI has become one of the most significant concentration of AI research talent and output in the region. The Ruwwad fellowship builds on that foundation at the postdoctoral level, while a parallel initiative addresses the pipeline at undergraduate level. In December 2025, MBZUAI announced the Tahnoon bin Zayed Scholarship in AI Excellence, established under the guidance of His Highness Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Ruler of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Technology Council. The merit-based programme will support approximately 350 undergraduate students over six years.
[Written and edited with the assistance of AI]
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