CONTACT
Research Fellowship Division
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)
Kojimachi Business Center Building,
5-3-1 Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku,
Tokyo 102-0083, JAPAN
If you any differences in wording or interpretation should occur between Japanese and English, the Japanese part will take precedence.
Purpose
Awarded to excellent young researchers, these fellowships offer the fellows an opportunity to focus on a freely chosen research topic based on their own innovative ideas. Ultimately, the program works to foster and secure excellent researchers.
Features
- (1) Core program for fostering young researchers
- (2) Values the independence of young researchers
- (3) Supplying Research-Encouragement Funding and Disbursing Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research
- (4) Leave for child birth and infant nursing
This fellowship program is Japan’s core program for cultivating young Japanese researchers. However, there is no nationality requirement for DC applications. See the Application Outline.
Excellent young researchers are allowed to focus on a freely selected research topic and at an independently chosen research institution.
Funding is provided to encourage and support doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers under JSPS’s Research Fellowships for Young Scientists. These researchers may also apply for a Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows.
Fellows who have to suspend their research for child birth and infant nursing are offered a path back into the laboratory. It is possible for them to work short hours while on such leave.
Framework
- (1) Screening
- (2) Target fields
- (3) Fellowship categories
- This program offers four categories of fellowships:
Doctoral Course Students (DC)
Postdoctoral Fellow (PD)
Restart Postdoctoral Fellow (RPD)
Superlative Postdoctoral Fellow (SPD) - Especially gifted researchers are selected from PD candidates to receive SPD fellowships.
- Outstanding young researchers may be given a Restart Postdoc (RPD) Fellowship after suspending their research activities for the purpose of childbirth and/or infant nursing.
- This program offers four categories of fellowships:
A fair and transparent screening process is carried out by JSPS’s Screening Committee for Young Researcher Fellowships, comprising frontline Japanese researchers. See the outline of screening process.
Young researchers in all fields of the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences are eligible to apply. When recognized as necessary to advancing their research, they may spend part of their tenure at another research institution, including one overseas.
Fellowship Categories
| Categories | Eligibility | Tenure | Monthly stipend | Research grant(Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows) |
| DC | · Enrolled in doctoral course · DC1: Enrolled in first year of doctoral course · DC2: Enrolled in second year or higher of doctoral course |
DC1:3 years DC2:2 years |
¥200,000 | Up to ￥1.5 million/year |
| PD | · Hold a doctoral degree* · Within 5 years after receiving doctoral degree · Transfer to another lab within or outside enrolled university (From the FY2016 call for applications, a requirement to change research institutions is scheduled to be included as a condition of eligibility in the application guidelines. Applicants will be required to do their postdoctoral research at a host institution other than the one their enrollment as a doctoral student.) |
3 years | ¥362,000 | |
| RPD | · Hold a doctoral degree* · Within the past 5 years, suspended research for a period of 3 months or longer for purpose of child birth and infant nursing |
3 years | ¥362,000 | |
| SPD | · Hold a doctoral degree · Excellent researchers chosen from PD candidates · Transfer to another university graduate school |
3 years | ¥446,000 | Up to ￥3 million/year |
* Monthly stipend for researchers who have not yet obtained a doctoral degree: ¥200,000. For details, please see the application guidlines.
Number of Applications and Selections
FY2015
(January 1,2016)
| Categories | Screening Area | Total | Selection Ratios(%) | |||||||||
|
Humani
-ties |
Social Sciences
|
Mathema
-tical and Physical Sciences |
Chemistry
|
Enginee
-ring Sciences |
Biological Sciences
|
Agricultural
Sciences |
Medical,
Dental and Pharma- ceutical Sciences |
Integra-
ted Disciplines |
||||
| RPD | Applications |
61
|
32
|
14
|
2
|
2
|
36
|
26
|
63
|
22
|
258 |
26.0%※２ |
| Selections |
16
|
8
|
4
|
1
|
0
|
11
|
6
|
15
|
6
|
67 | ||
| SPD | Applications |
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
| Selections |
2
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
1
|
2
|
0
|
1
|
2
|
14 | ||
| PD | Applications |
688
|
466
|
526
|
115
|
186
|
341
|
256
|
294
|
365
|
3,237 | 11.2% |
| Selections |
78
|
49
|
52
|
12
|
20
|
39
|
29
|
34
|
37
|
350 | ||
| DC2 | Applications |
571
|
585
|
693
|
524
|
838
|
447
|
401
|
596
|
700
|
5,355 | 21.9% |
| Selections |
127
|
130
|
153
|
116
|
177
|
98
|
89
|
130
|
157
|
1,175 |
||
| DC1 | Applications |
344
|
398
|
553
|
326
|
453
|
327
|
264
|
373
|
392
|
3,430 |
21.9% |
| Selections |
75
|
85
|
121
|
74
|
100
|
72
|
60
|
81
|
84
|
752
|
||
※１ Especially gifted researchers are selected from PD candidates to receive SPD fellowships.
※２ Starting date of RPD fellowships is optional; April, july, october or January.
