Research Fellowships for Young Scientists
In view of the growing need to foster young researchers who will play an important role in future scientific research activities, JSPS provides a special programme under which fellowships are granted to 1) young Japanese postdoctoral researchers who conduct research activities at Japanese universities or research institutions on a non-employment basis and to 2) graduate students who conduct research as part of Japanese university doctoral programmes. JSPS strongly recommends the successful researchers to conduct their research abroad because it would be extremely helpful to train researchers with overseas experience for the advancement of world class research taking place in Japan.
Call for FY2013
| Number (world wide) | About 2,000 people |
|---|---|
| Fellow Categories | (1)DC1 Doctoral student 1 (2)DC2: Doctoral student 2 (3)PD: Post Doctorate (4)SPD: Special Post Doctorate *Special Post Doctorate is defined as the top applicants among those who applied for Post Doctorate grants. |
| Duration of Award | (1) DC1: 3 years from 1 April 2013 - 31 March 2016 (2) DC2: 2 years from 1 April 2013 - 31 March 2015 (3) PD: 3 years from 1 April 2013 - 31 March 2016 (4) SPD: 3 years from 1 April 2013 - 31 March 2016 |
| Application Method: | Complete the e-application process on the JSPS Tokyo website. For details, please refer to http://www-shinsei.jsps.go.jp/ (only the Japanese version is available) |
| Application Period: | 4-6 June 2012 |
| Coverage of Fellowship | Monthly stipend (1) DC1: ¥200,000 (2) DC2: ¥200,000 (3) PD: ¥362,000 (4) SPD: ¥446,000 Fellowship recipients may apply for an additional research grant of the following amount. (1) DC1: up to ¥1,500,000 per year (2) DC2: up to ¥1,500,000 per year (3) PD: up to ¥1,500,000 per year (4) SPD: up to ¥3,000,000 per year |
| Link to JSPS Tokyo Website | http://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-pd/index.html (English) http://www.jsps.go.jp/j-pd/index.html (Japanese) |
ELIGIBILITY
(1) DC1 (Doctoral students)
● Applicants must meet one of the following requirements as of 1 April 2013:
a) Under 34 years old: for applicants who are enrolled in a 3 or 5 year doctoral course.
b) Under 35 years old: for applicants who are enrolled in a 4 year doctoral course in medicine, dentistry or veterinary medicine.
c) Under 36 years old: for applicants who are enrolled in a 4 year doctoral degree in medicine (excluding point 4 below) dentistry or veterinary medicine and have completed clinical training as required by law.
d) Under 37 years old: for applicants who are enrolled in a 4 year doctoral degree in medicine and have completed over 2 years of clinical training as required by law.
● The applicant must be doing one of the following as of 1 April 2013 (including foreign citizens):
a) The first year of a 3 year doctoral course
b) The second year of a 4 year doctoral course on medicine, dentistry or veterinary
c) The first year of a 5 year doctoral course
(2) DC2 (Doctoral students)
● Applicants must meet one of the following requirements as of 1 April 2013:
a) Under 34 years old: for applicants who are enrolled in a 3 or 5 year doctoral course.
b) Under 35 years old: for applicants who are enrolled in a 4 year doctoral course in medicine, dentistry or veterinary medicine.
c) Under 36 years old: for applicants who are enrolled in a 4 year doctoral degree in medicine (excluding point 4 below) dentistry or veterinary medicine and have completed clinical training as required by law.
d) Under 37 years old: for applicants who are enrolled in a 4 year doctoral degree in medicine and have completed over 2 years of clinical training as required by law.
● The applicant must be doing one of the following as of 1 April 2013 (including foreign citizens):
a) The second year of a 3 year doctoral
b) The third year of a 4 year doctoral course on medicine, dentistry or veterinary
c) The fourth year of a 5 year doctoral course
(3) PD (Post Doctorate)
● Applicants must meet one of the following requirements as of 1 April 2013:
a) Under 34 years old: for applicants who are postdoc of a 3 or 5 year doctoral course.
b) Under 35 years old: for applicants who are postdoc of a 4 year doctoral course in medicine, dentistry or veterinary medicine.
c) Under 36 years old: for applicants who are postdoc of a 4 year doctoral degree in medicine (excluding point 4 below) dentistry or veterinary medicine and have completed clinical training required under law.
d) Under 37 years old: for applicants who are postdoc of a 4 year doctoral degree in medicine and have completed over 2 years of clinical training as required by law.
● The applicant should also be in one of the following positions as of 1 April 2013:
a) The applicant must have obtained their doctoral degree within the last 5 years, which means after 2 April 2008, or must be currently enrolled in a doctoral course and scheduled to receive their Ph.D by 1 April 2013.
b) An applicant who is not scheduled to receive their doctoral degree from a Japanese university and is going to be enrolled in a course for more than the standard course duration. (Successful candidates in this position will be taken as DC2 and former research fellows in this scheme are not applicable.)
● In principle, an applicant must be affiliated to a different laboratory from where they used to belong during their doctoral course.
● Applicants must be Japanese nationals or foreign citizens possessing proof of permanent residency.
*Special Post Doctorate is defined as the top applicants among those who applied for Post Doctorate grants. All the eligibility criteria explained above for Post Doctorates applies to Special Post Doctorates.
Duration and Commencement of Awards
(1) DC1: 3 years from 1 April 2013 - 31 March 2016
(2) DC2: 2 years from 1 April 2013 - 31 March 2015
(3) PD: 3 years from 1 April 2013 - 31 March 2016
(4) SPD: 3 years from 1 April 2013 - 31 March 2016
Terms of the Award
● Monthly stipend
(1) DC1: ¥200,000
(2) DC2: ¥200,000
(3) PD: ¥362,000
(4) SPD: ¥446,000
● Fellowship recipients may apply for an additional research grant of the following amounts:
(1) DC1: up to ¥1,500,000 per year
(2) DC2: up to ¥1,500,000 per year
(3) PD: up to ¥1,500,000 per year
(4) SPD: up to ¥3,000,000 per year
Application Period
4 - 6 June 2012
Selection Process
1. Selection of this fellowship includes a first stage mail review by expert reviewers followed by interviews conducted by a special panel of expert reviewers which consists of researchers considered at the top of their research field in Japan. There are 47 such panel members and 1,800 expert reviewers in total in the JSPS College of Peer Reviewers.
2. Each application is reviewed by 6 expert reviewers from the same research field as each applicant. If there is a specified research area which has a small number of applications, this area will be merged with another closely related field for an appropriate assessment. 6 reviewers are allocated to each review group and in the selection of applicants should consider a balance of research fields and affiliations.
3. The panel meeting is conducted in late September to early October for eight research fields (humanities; social science; mathematics and physics; chemistry; engineering; biology; agriculture and medicine, dentistry and pharmacology). As a result of the meeting, some successful applicants may not be required to attend a further interview but among PD candidates, those who scored most highly will be invited to an interview in order to determine an award of SPD status. Those invited to a further interview are selected based on the selection criteria described in the next part. The results are announced to applicants and their affiliated institutions in early November.
4. Interviews take place from late November to early December, last between 10 to 20 minutes and take place in front of a panel of expert and non expert reviewers. The first four minutes (eight minutes for SPD awards) are allocated to explain the applicant’s research merits and research plans, and the rest are allocated for other questions. The result is announced to the applicants by early January as well as to their affiliated institution.
Selection Schedule for FY2013 Research Fellow (DC1, DC2, PD, SPD)
Selection Criteria
Applications to JSPS Headquarters will be evaluated according to the following points:
・ Future prospects of researcher
・ Concrete and excellence of research plan
・ Research merits and research capabilities and preparation that enables the research plan to be feasible
・ Necessity for training of the applicant in various areas
・ Qualifications
・ General qualities of the applicant
・ The mail review uses a five scale grading system as: strongly recommended, recommended, fare, questionable, not recommended.
With regard to DC level, as minimal research experience is required, reviewers mainly consider the applicant’s research profile to date, future research plans, self-evaluation and references. For PD level, the applicant’s research merits are highly considered. For SPD level, successful candidates are expected to have the world class research ability, excellent research merits and concrete and excellent research plan as well as considerable future prospect to become a leading researcher in the future.
Contact
For application enquiries and submissions, please contact:
Research Fellowship Division
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)
8 Ichibancho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
102-8472 JAPAN
Tel: +81-(0)3-3263-5070
Fax: +81-(0)3-3222-1986
E-mail: yousei2@jsps.go.jp
