Recognizing and Supporting Outstanding University Doctoral Students

1. Objective

In 2009, JSPS received an endowment from His Majesty the Emperor Emeritus Akihito on the 20^th year of his reign. Amidst a severe economic environment in Japanese society, His Majesty’s desire was to encourage and support young scientists who are working diligently to advance their studies and research.
In deference to his wishes, JSPS established the JSPS Ikushi Prize program and placed it into operation in FY 2010. It functions to formally recognize outstanding doctoral students who can be expected to contribute to Japan’s future scientific advancement.

2. Applicable Fields

All fields of the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences.

3. Eligibility

Candidates must be doctoral students with outstanding academic records, who possess abundant qualities of humanity and who pursue their studies and research in an independent and vigorous manner. They must be nominated by either the president of their university or the director of an academic society to which they belong. They must be enrolled in a university doctoral program on 1 May and be under 34 years of age on 1 April of the subject fiscal year.
Overseas students enrolled in university doctoral programs in Japan are also eligible.

For further details, please see the nomination guidelines for this prize.
https://www.jsps.go.jp/j-ikushi-prize/yoshiki.html（Japanese）


4. Nominators

(1)	Presidents of Japanese universities Quota: Up to four nominations ＊one from each of three research areas; humanities/social sciences, science/mathematics/engineering, and biological/medical sciences ＊one from all research areas including the above-mentioned three research areas
(2)	Directors of Japanese academic societies Quota: one



5. Selection Method

Selections are made by the JSPS Ikushi Prize Selection Committee established within JSPS. In making its selections, the Committee takes into consideration the results of a preliminary review of the nominees conducted by JSPS’s Research Center for Science Systems.

6. Award Recipients

About 16 recipients are chosen for the JSPS Ikushi Prize each fiscal year. They receive a certificate, a medal, and a purse of 1.1 million yen.

7. State of FY2022 JSPS Ikushi Prize Nominations
　　

Nominations by university presidents	Nominations by academic society directors	Total (note)
118(113)	58(50)	166(155)

*The numbers in parentheses are last year's figures, provided for comparison.

Note: Numbers of nominations, excluding duplications.

List of JSPS Ikushi Prize Selection Committee Members (FY2022)

NAME	AFFILIATION
SHIMIZU Takao (Chairman)	Project Leader, Research Institute, National Center for Global Health and Medicine Director general, Institute of Microbial Chemistry
KAWATA Teiichi	Director, Tokyo Center Office, Kansai University Former President, The Promotion and Mutual Aid Corporation for Private Schools of Japan
TANAKA Akihiko	President, Japan International Cooperation Agency
NISHIZAWA Naoko	President, Ishikawa Prefectural University
HASEGAWA Mariko	President, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI
HANAWA Kimio	Executive Director and Vice President, Yamagata University
HIBIYA Junko	Managing Director, School Corporation Seishin Joshi Gakuin (Sacred Heart Schools)
FUJIMAKI Akira	Vice President, Nagoya University
YASHIMA Eiji	Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University