The program has quickly become one of the most competitive and sought-after immersive AI undergraduate research experiences. In 2025, nearly 2000 students applied, with only 4% accepted. More than 130 interns have participated so far, representing leading global institutions such as the Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Maryland, College Park, Indian Institutes of Technology, and Monterrey Institute of Technology.
The benefits you will receive include:
Located in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi’s hub for sustainability, MBZUAI provides advanced facilities, labs, and research centers to think big. Our graduates go on to launch startups, invent breakthrough technologies, and drive innovation across sectors.
* Correct as at August 2025
What research will you undertake?
Interns will have the opportunity to work on a research project related to core AI disciplines such as computer vision, computer science, machine learning, natural language processing, and robotics. Projects may also explore human-computer interaction, computational biology, and data science.
Past projects have included:
The projects for the 2026 program will be introduced to interns during the first two days of the program. Interns will have an opportunity to talk to faculty and their teams about the available projects and nominate up totheir top three preferences.
Many interns choose to continue their studies at MBZUAI by pursuing our master’s or Ph.D. programs in:
Online application
Applications are currently closed and will open on January 1, 2026.
Eligibility
Required documentation
All documents must be in English or include certified translations. Academic documents must carry official stamps and signatures.
The summer 2026 admission cycle for UGRIP for all nationalities is as follows:
Natural language processing
“The knowledge that I have gained from the UGRIP program at MBZUAI will be used to further conduct research in the field of NLP back home in India and I hope to share this with my friends and my classmates...The UGRIP program has definitely influenced my future plans as now I lean more towards the research side of things and maybe even go for my further studies here at MBZUAI rather than going for employment in the industry.”
Machine learning
“The program helped me (a lot) to learn about the machine learning field with the help of my amazing mentors...From the knowledge that I gained here at UGRIP program, I would like to do further research in machine learning and build on it.”
Computer vision
“My expectations have been fully fulfilled here at MBZUAI ...I got to learn a lot of machine learning techniques from people from all around the world and I'm excited to apply them to my life back home...The Undergraduate Research Internship Program has definitely influenced what I'm going to do in the future. I'm very excited about the research that I've done here and I'm looking forward to furthering this research after my undergraduate studies are complete.”