The 1st Call of 2026 is now open!
NII Web: https://www.nii.ac.jp (internship2026-1)
NII Topics: https://www.nii.ac.jp (topics2026-1)
NII .xlsx: https://www.nii.ac.jp (xlsxform2026-1)
NII Nominations: 3
Telegram (for questions): https://t.me/(DCC-NII Telegram)
Talk: -- No talk this call (only Telegram) --
DCC-NII Application Form: Formulario DCC
HOWTO Email NII Supervisors: DCC-NII HOWTO Successful previous emails
HOWTO Complete NII .xlsx: DCC-NII HOWTO Complete .xlsx
DCC-NII Application Deadline: 31 March 2026
Notification NII: after the end of May 2026
Internship NII: end stay before 31 March 2027
Twice a year, a handful of Doctorate, Master, and *Título (*with official Licenciatura certificate completed) students from the Department of Computer Science (DCC) at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile are nominated to join National Institute of Informatics (NII) in Tokyo (Japan) as research interns for 3-6 months paid by the NII.
Supervised by Prof. Jorge Munoz-Gama, this program has allowed chilean students to conduct frontier-of-knowledge research at a leading research institution in Asia, in subjects such as AI, Databases, Security and much more, all while being advised by NII, University of Tokyo or Google researchers, yielding talks, poster presentations and publications of their work.
The National Institute of Informatics (国立情報学研究所, Kokuritsu Jōhōgaku Kenkyūjo, NII) is a Japanese research institute located in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan.
NII was established in April 2000 for the purpose of advancing the study of informatics. This institute also works on creating systems to facilitate the spread of scientific information to the public.
NII is ranked #2 in Japan on all-subjects Computer Science Research publications (1970-2023) according to CS Rankings!
Check criteria: First, check if you are suitable for the program: type of student (PhD, Master, or *Título with Licenciatura oficial certificate), availability on the dates and resources to get there, projects that fit your skills and experience, etc.
Bonus: Do not hesitate on ask anything to previous DCC-NII interns in our Telegram!
Talk DCC advisor: Ask your PhD/Master advisor permission for applying to the internship. Discuss with him/her about possible projects and even potential collaborations between labs. .
Bonus: We encourage to apply for as much time as possible (6 months better than 3), select 3 projects (not 1 or 2), and include 2 or 3 different supervisors.
Email NII supervisors: Email chosen projects NII supervisors AS SOON AS POSSIBLE to let them know you will apply. AVOID OVER-SIMPLISTIC generic emails. Relate their project with your knowledge and skills. Highlight relevant items such as extraordinary grades, courses or publications on the topic, or similar coding projects or experiences. Checking supervisors previous publications on the project and relate them in your email is always a plus. A positive response from a supervisor is the best record for a possible DCC-NII nomination, but advisors take time to answer (a rejection on time also give you time to change projects).
Bonus: Check previous successful emails and annotated examples in our HOWTO material.
Fill DCC-NII Application form: Fill the Google form, including a completed .xlsx NII form, your CV in english, your grades, a motivation text, a recommendation letter from your DCC supervisor, emails exchanged with potencial NII supervisors, among other things.
Bonus: Check how to complete the .xlsx NII form in our HOWTO material.
... and now let's wait to see if you are one of the DCC-NII nominates. We will let you know some days before our official deadline to send all the DCC nominates to the NII.
Camila Vera
M.S. student, 2022-2 Intern
Geo Informatics & AI
Prof. Asanobu Kitamoto
Francisca Cattan
Ph.D. student, 2019-2 Intern
Visual Search Data
Prof. Tetsunari Inamura
DCC receives applications and selects 2-3 students every semester on the basis of academic achievement, research experience and overall fit with the prospective projects. These students are later nominated and send to NII. Then, NII evaluates all the nominations from all around the world, and select the final NII interns. Both NII Professors and an NII Selection Committee must accept the students for them to be accepted to the program. Once the student is accepted as NII intern, the relation is directly NII-student (with no involvement of DCC).
The DCC-NII Internship Program is open to Master's and PhD students whose supervisor is from DCC. If accepted, candidates are expected to maintain their enrollment status at their home institution for the full duration of their Internships. Exceptions can be made for *Titulo students (5th, 6th years) who have already obtained the official Licenciatura certificate and have a track record of academic success and research experience. Notice that some projects may have specific requirements (e.g., only PhD students). The DCC-NII application will require proof of enrollment, transcripts, research experience, work experience and English proficiency, but no formal test (IELTS, TOEFL) are necessary. Unfortunately, the program does not accept current bachelor (licenciatura) students (those students are invited to continue their studies with a Master or a PhD).
Yes! NII provides a "sojourn expense" stipend of ¥5,700 per day (about $1.100.00 CLP per month). Interns are expected to cost flights, housing and living expenses with this sum. For reference, Sakura House is recommended for housing and daily lunch options are available at NII for ¥ 400-700. Be aware that the sojourn will be paid in cash during the first days at NII (so students need resources on advance).
Interns are expected to be self-motivated and manage their own work, assigning daily task to later report on weekly meetings with supervisors and the broader laboratory. A day-to-day life of an NII intern would generally consist in performing independent research at NII, with very frequent lunches with other interns and sporicidal meetings with research collaborators. NII has over 100 agreements with leading institutions around the world such fostering an international community at the institute. An intern's afternoons and weekends are completely for them to explore around the city and the broader Tokyo area!
NII has dozens of laboratories working on multiple computer science research subjects! The specific projects change from call to call. You are free to apply to any of the +100 topics from the list available when the call opens.
As previous DCC-NII students claim this to be a life-changing experience, we encourage to apply for as much time as possible (6 months better than 3). Notice that some projects may have a specific time requirement (e.g., 6 months mandatory). For the same reason, it is highly advised to apply for 3 projects. Finally, not all NII supervisors receive the same number of applications: some well-known professors or hot topics receive hundreds of applications for a couple of open positions. Therefore, it is also highly advised to select projects from different supervisors.
The DCC-NII program has two calls per year. News about the calls are always published on the DCC's social media platforms. Follow DCC on instagram at instagram.com/dcc_uc or follow DCChannel at t.me/DCC_UC.
To learn about the DCC-NII program, the telegram group with previous DCC-NII interns (see the current call important links section) is the best opportunities to learn more about the program. If you want to lean more about the internship experience, check out this guide about the NII Internship written by the Intelligent Systems Group at University of Siegen!