MIT Media Lab

MIT Media Lab describes itself as a dynamic interdisciplinary creative sandbox, firmly grounded in academic excellence, where for four decades researchers and students have turned ideas into new applications and fields. Its mission is to create transformative technologies, experiences and systems that let people reimagine and redesign their lives, integrating art, science, design and engineering.

Its academic programme, Media Arts and Sciences, is housed in MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning and enrols more than 200 graduate students while hosting over 400 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program placements. Each year 40 to 50 master’s and doctoral candidates join from computer science, psychology, architecture, engineering, music and design. Students enter a two-year master’s with the option of a later doctoral track, and receive full tuition, medical insurance and a stipend.

Research clusters around themes — Life with AI, Future Worlds, Decentralized Society, Cultivating Creativity, Connected Mind and Body — and runs through groups such as Critical Matter, the Space Exploration Initiative, RAISE, Code Next and the Center for Bits and Atoms, which also admits through the programme.

Funding comes mainly from corporate members spanning electronics, entertainment, furniture, finance and toys, alongside work with academia, industry, governments and foundations worldwide.