ETH Zurich fellowship open

ETH Zurich’s summer research fellowship is not a classroom program with lectures and exams. It is an eight-week placement inside a real research group, where students spend July and August working on one project with professors and lab members. (inf.ethz.ch) The program is run by the Department of Computer Science at ETH Zurich, and it is open to bachelor’s and master’s students from around the world who are not already enrolled at ETH Zurich. ETH says the fellowship is meant for students getting their first real research experience. (inf.ethz.ch) The work is not limited to one narrow niche. ETH lists machine learning, information security, computer systems, robotics, programming languages, software engineering, bio-medical informatics, human-computer interaction, theory, and visual computing among the available research areas. (inf.ethz.ch) The money is what makes this stand out. ETH says fellows receive 4,000 Swiss francs for housing and living expenses, and the university also covers travel and visa costs, with accommodation organized after acceptance. (inf.ethz.ch) The eligibility rules are stricter than a lot of viral posts make them sound. Applicants must already be enrolled in computer science or a closely related field such as electrical engineering, mathematics, or physics, and they must have completed two years of study by the time the program starts. (inf.ethz.ch) ETH also wants students who are not about to finish immediately. The official rule says your expected graduation date must be in the year after the fellowship or later, which is why the program fits students who still have time to use the experience for a thesis, graduate school application, or first job search. (inf.ethz.ch) The application is built around proof that you can already do the work. ETH asks for an official transcript and a one-page motivation letter, and it tells applicants to choose one or two research areas where they already have background from courses or projects instead of trying to learn a field from zero. (inf.ethz.ch) The 2026 round is no longer open. ETH’s application page now says “APPLICATION CLOSED” and says the next application window will open at the beginning of November 2026, so anyone who saw a recycled post this week is looking at an opportunity that is real but not currently accepting applications. (inf.ethz.ch) That timing explains why the fellowship keeps circulating online. It offers a rare combination that students chase hard: English-language research, two fixed summer months from about July 1 to August 31, funding that covers the expensive part of Zurich, and a brand name that carries weight well beyond Switzerland. (inf.ethz.ch)