Celebrating ten years of Google DeepMind scholarships

30 July 2025

To mark the tenth anniversary of Google DeepMind’s generous support of DPhil scholarships at the University of Oxford, Hertford College organised a dinner at the Divinity School on 22 July 2025, a decade on from the dinner which took place at Hertford itself to celebrate the original donation.

88 students have been supported by DeepMind since that time, with half of these being DPhils. DeepMind has also supported underrepresented groups on Masters programmes, and the DeepMind chair in AI. The July dinner was an opportunity for DeepMind to meet some of those students whose lives have been transformed. One of these is Hertford alumna Anda-Raluca Epure:

‘As former Google DeepMind Scholar for the 2023-24 academic year, during my MSc in Advanced Computer Science, I definitely recognise the importance and life-changing impact these scholarships can bring: offering the support to pursue your passion for knowledge without any burden, to experiment, to be exposed to exciting research, to be inspired, and not least, to join a community of like-minded students. In my case, the scholarship brought me to Oxford, to Hertford College, and gave me the chance to see how exciting applications of AI in science and healthcare could be, leading to my decision to remain at the university for my DPhil in Healthcare Data Science at Exeter College.

It was a great honour to meet the CEO of Google DeepMind, Sir Demis Hassabis, together with my future supervisor Professor Philip Torr, to hear the Vice-Chancellor discuss the commitment of our university to AI research and to meet so many amazing scholars and professors, who are shaping the field as we speak. A truly memorable evening – I’m very grateful to be part of such a wonderful initiative and community!’