Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

About the Program

1. Program overview

The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) carries out programs that provide excellent researchers from other countries an opportunity to conduct collaborative research, discussions, and opinion exchanges with researchers in Japan. These programs are intended to help advance the overseas researchers' research activities while advancing science and promoting internationalization in Japan.

JSPS Invitational Fellowships for Research in Japan consists of three options of Long-term, Short-term, and Short-term S. Grantees are selected by going through the selection process following the submission of applications by a host researcher in Japan who wishes to invite a researcher from overseas via the head of their university or institution. The recruitment and selection for the Long-term program is announced and conducted once a year, and twice a year for the Short-term and Short-term S programs.

2. Fields of Research

All fields of the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences are included under this program.

3. History

The "Visiting Professor or Visiting Research Associate" was established in 1958 to emphasize the importance of the need for international cooperation on research. The program was unique because there was no other project in Japan at the time that was carried out to invite overseas researchers. It was integrated with the other fellowship which was launched in 1964 to invite young foreign researchers and renamed as the "Invitation of Foreign Scientists" in 1975. Since then, two programs have been implemented as the "Short-term fellowships" and the "Long-term fellowships" in the scheme.

Additionally, the "JSPS Award for Eminent Scientists" was integrated with the "Invitation Fellowships for Research in Japan" in response to the "Basic Strategy for Academic International Activities of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science" which was formulated in 2013. The program has been implemented as the "Invitation Fellowship for Research in Japan (Short-term)".

Moreover, we integrated the "JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship for Overseas Researchers" and the "Invitation Fellowship for Research in Japan" in 2015. It has been implemented as the "JSPS International Fellowships for Research in Japan" which provides the varied programs that enables applicants to select the program that suits their career stage and desired invitation tenure.

Due to the review of business, we ended the offering of short-term S in 2019.

Schedule

Schedule

The outline of the program

Long-term

To provide opportunities for overseas researchers with excellent records of research achievements to conduct collaborative research with Japanese colleagues through long-term visits.

(1) Duration of fellowships
2 to 10 months
 
(2) Applicant (Host Resarcher) Eligibility
Persons are eligible to apply who satisfy the following two conditions at the time of application, selection, and during the fellowship period.
(1) Be affiliated with a research institution specified in Article 2* of the Procedure for the Handling of Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI), issued by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), be eligible to apply for a KAKENHI grant, and wish to host an overseas researcher.  
(2) Be a full-time researcher. However, researchers who are not employed full time may be eligible if the host institution judges them able to execute their responsibility to carrying out the program uninterruptedly throughout the Fellow’s tenure including providing them a suitable research environment (e.g. laboratory, space, facilities and personnel)  in the same way that a full-time researcher would be able to do.
*Eligible host institutions specified under the above MEXT Procedure are as follows:
1)Universities and inter-university research institutes
2)MEXT-affiliated institutions engaged in research
3)Colleges of technology
4)Institutions designated by the Minister of MEXT
 
(3) Candidate (Invited Overseas Researcher) Eligibility
Persons are eligible to apply who satisfy the following two conditions from 1 April 2024 and during the fellowship period. 
(1) Be a citizen or permanent resident of a country that has diplomatic relations with Japan. (Taiwan and Palestine are treated in this manner.) 
Persons of Japanese nationality are eligible to apply if they have resided at the time of application in a foreign country for 10 years or longer and are judged at a host research institution to have played an active role in that country’s scientific community. 
(2) Be a full-time researchers or person with full-time researcher status at a university or research institution in a foreign country and have a position equivalent to a professor, associate professor or assistant professor in Japan (including positions such as professor emeritus). Researchers of other status may apply if it has been six years or longer since they obtained their doctoral degree and the host research institution judges them to have continuously conducted research at a foreign university or research institution.
 
(4) Terms of financial support
1)Airfare   A round-trip air ticket (economy-class) (based on JSPS's regulations)
2)Maintenance Allowance ¥387,600 per month
3)Overseas travel insurance
4)Research support allowance: Up to ¥150,000 (Application is made by the applicant
(host researcher) through their institution.)

Short-term

To provide opportunities for overseas researchers with excellent records of research achievements to visit Japan short-term for discussions, opinion exchanges, lectures, and other activities.

(1) Duration of fellowships
14 to 60 days
 
(2) Applicant (Host Resarcher) Eligibility
Persons are eligible to apply who satisfy the following two conditions at the time of application, selection, and during the fellowship period.
(1) Be affiliated with a research institution specified in Article 2* of the Procedure for the Handling of Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research(KAKENHI), issued by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), be eligible to apply for a KAKENHI grant, and wish to host an overseas researcher. 
(2) Be a full-time researcher. However, researchers who are not employed full time may be eligible if the host institution judges them able to execute their responsibility to carrying out the program uninterruptedly throughout the Fellow’s tenure including providing them a suitable research environment (e.g. laboratory, space, facilities and personnel) in the same way that a full-time researcher would be able to do.
*Eligible host institutions specified under the above MEXT Procedure are as follows:
1)Universities and inter-university research institutes
2)MEXT-affiliated institutions engaged in research
3)Colleges of technology
4)Institutions designated by the Minister of MEXT
 
(3) Candidate (Invited Overseas Researcher) Eligibility
Persons are eligible to apply who satisfy the following two conditions from 1 April 2024 and during the fellowship period.
(1) Be a citizen or permanent resident of a country that has diplomatic relations with Japan. (Taiwan and Palestine are treated in this manner.)
Persons of Japanese nationality are eligible to apply if they have resided at the time of application in a foreign country for 10 years or longer and are judged at a host research institution to have played an active role in that country’s scientific community.
(2) Be a full-time researchers or person with full-time researcher status at a university or research institution in a foreign country and have a position equivalent to a professor, associate professor or assistant professor in Japan (including positions such as professor emeritus). Researchers of other status may apply if it has been six years or longer since they obtained their doctoral degree and the host research institution judges them to have continuously conduct research at a foreign university or research institution.
 
(4) Terms of financial support
1)Airfare A round-trip air ticket (economy-class) (based on JSPS's regulations)
2)Maintenance Allowance ¥18,000 per day
3)Overseas travel insurance
4)Research support allowance: Up to ¥150,000 (Application is made by the applicant
(host researcher) through their institution.)

Short-term S (Offering was ended in 2019.)

To invite overseas researchers with distinguished records of research achievements to Japan for purposes corresponding to those records, and to provide them opportunities to offer advice and cooperate in research activities throughout the host institution and also to give lectures or conduct other activities at other Japanese research institutions.

(1)  Duration of fellowships
7 to 30 days
 
(2) Applicant Eligibility
The applicant (host researcher) must, in principle, be a researcher who is employed full-time at a university or research institution as specified in Article 2* of the Procedure for the Handling of Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (Kakenhi), issued by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). However, there are cases when a researcher not employed in a full time position may be eligible. Such persons must be eligible to apply for a KAKENHI grant–in-aid and his/her affiliated institution must judge them able to implement the project and to provide an appropriate research environment (e.g., laboratory, equipment, personnel) for it.
*Eligible host institutions specified under the above MEXT Procedure are as follows:
1)Universities and inter-university research institutes
2)MEXT-affiliated institutions engaged in research
3)Colleges of technology
4)Institutions designated by the Minister of MEXT
 
(3) Fellow Eligibility
  1. Be a citizen or a permanent resident of a country that has diplomatic relations with Japan (JSPS treats Taiwanese and Palestinian researchers in this manner). To be eligible, researchers of Japanese nationality residing overseas must have lived in the other country for at least 10 years and been actively engaged in research in that country throughout the period.
  2. Overseas researchers who are Nobel laureates or recipients of similarly high-level international prizes with exceptionally outstanding records of research achievements and who currently occupy a leading position in their subject field.

(4) Terms of award
1)Airfare A round-trip air ticket (business-class) (based on JSPS's regulations)
2)Maintenance Allowance ¥42,000 per day
3)Miscellaneous Overseas travel insurance, a research support allowance is available to cover cooperative research-related expenses. Application is made by the host researcher through his/her institution.