Michael Ogunrinde with Dr David Greaves at Cambridge Computer Science Department
"This opportunity is great for people like me.” The new Cambridge Google DeepMind Research Ready scheme providing alternative pathways into AI research
Michael Ogunrinde and the 2024 cohort of Google DeepMind Research Ready programme interns
“Spending a summer at the University of Cambridge working as a Google DeepMind intern has been a great opportunity. I missed out on going to a Russell Group university for my bachelor’s degree—but now I’ve done this, I hope I can go on to great places in the future.”
Published on:
8 January 2025
“The research team I worked with all gave me positive feedback. I was like, wow, people at Cambridge really want you to do well—and that’s so motivating!”
Michael Ogunrinde
So says Michael Ogunrinde who, in summer 2024, took part in the first Cambridge Google DeepMind Research Ready scheme. This is a new internship programme that offers the experience of carrying out research in artificial intelligence (AI) to those from backgrounds under-represented in this field.
Supported by Google DeepMind in 2023, from 2024 the internships will be supported by Google DeepMind, the Hg Foundation, and the Royal Academy of Engineering under the Google DeepMind Research Ready scheme. The programme aims to help build a stronger and more diverse and inclusive global AI community.
Michael moved to the UK with his family eleven years ago when his father decided that the UK would offer them better opportunities than their native Nigeria. He is currently a third-year undergraduate studying Computer Science at Sheffield Hallam University.
He is a motivated and high-achieving student, but during his A Levels one bad exam meant he missed the grade he needed for a place at a Russell Group institution. At the time, he worried this would hold him back. But the opportunity to spend a summer conducting research at Cambridge, with the support of Google DeepMind, has been transformative, he says.
During his paid internship, he worked in the University’s Department of Computer Science and Technology under the supervision of researchers who were training artificially intelligent agents. This experience was invaluable to him because, “in future, I want to create a start-up in robotics, probably in human-robot interaction.”
While undertaking his placement, Michael researched the use of AI tools to design the most efficient pathways for a group of agents (such as robots). These already exist for two-dimensional spaces; Michael’s challenge was to find a better way for them to move around a three-dimensional space, like a factory, without bumping into obstacles or colliding with each other.
His project was a success. Using a type of deep learning algorithm that is well suited to analysing visual data (a Convolutional Neural Network), he came up with a model that resolved 60 per cent of the conflicts between the paths of the robots and obstacles. This is a significant improvement on an existing model that works in 2D spaces and resolves just 41 percent of conflicts. Michael was invited, along with the other participants in the Research Ready programme, to visit the Google DeepMind headquarters in London in September and was proud to present a poster there detailing his work.
The Research Ready programme is a widening participation initiative that aims to encourage high-achieving students who might not otherwise consider doing so to think about postgraduate study.
The paid internships are open to current undergraduates or recent graduates who have the right to live and work in the UK and have the potential to become the future of research in artificial intelligence and machine learning.
During the programme interns live in a College to get a sense of Cambridge life and, in addition to their project supervisors, have PhD students as mentors who can share their experiences of what it’s like to do a postgraduate degree.
“The Research Ready programme has been so good for me. At one of the programme workshops, a speaker gave me some really good advice. Without this programme, I wouldn’t have ever met people like him.”
Several of the participants in the pilot 2024 programme in Cambridge came from non-research-intensive universities and were eager for the chance to find out what it’s like carrying out research at university.
This was true of Michael. And the internship was an eye-opener for him. “When I came to Cambridge and met my mentor, he was so supportive. He suggested courses I could do online to boost my knowledge of key concepts, and gave me information about master’s degrees I could apply for.
“And the research team I worked with all gave me positive feedback. I was like, wow, people at Cambridge really want you to do well – and that’s so motivating! At Sheffield Hallam, I’m working for top grades while some of my fellow students just want to get a degree and that’s it. At Cambridge, it was great to be surrounded by people who see study as the future.”
His confidence boosted, Michael is now setting his sights on postgraduate study at a top university, which he hopes will help him achieve his long term aim of founding his own company in the field of human-robot interaction.
“I’m hoping to come back to Cambridge to do a postgraduate course. I know it’ll be hard to be accepted as a student from a non-Russell Group university, but I worked very hard on my internship project because I knew a good reference from my supervisor would help. The fact I was accepted onto this Google DeepMind scheme at Cambridge will also strengthen my CV.”
During the Research Ready programme, interns were offered research skills workshops and other information sessions. This included a careers workshop where four former PhD students came back to the Department to share their experiences of how postgraduate study had helped them with their subsequent careers.
“One of the speakers gave me some really good advice,” Michael says. “He told me that if I was interested in creating a start-up, a PhD would be good preparation for this and might inspire me to come up with the idea for something that is not even on the market yet. He said it would also help me be more realistic about achieving my goal of creating a start-up. I used to think, ‘Oh yeah, I’ll create a start-up’, without considering the technical difficulties involved.
That’s another reason why the Research Ready programme has been so good for me. Without it, I wouldn’t have ever met people like him.”
Find out more
The 2025 research placements are supported by Google DeepMind, the Hg Foundation and the Royal Academy of Engineering under the Google DeepMind Research Ready scheme. They have also been made possible by support from Hughes Hall.
Applications open on 6 January for the 2025 Research Ready internships. These are open to current undergraduates or recent graduates who have the right to live and work in the UK and the potential to become the future of research in artificial intelligence and machine learning.
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