2013-2014 JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship Program (Short-term) for North American and European Researchers

The purpose of the program is to provide opportunities to young pre- and post-doctoral researchers from the US, Canada and Europe (*) to conduct, under the guidance of their hosts, cooperative research with leading research groups in universities and other Japanese institutions. In so doing, the program is designed to help advance the research of the visiting fellows, while augmenting opportunities for young researchers to come to Japan from the US, Canada and Europe.
Applications for this program are submitted by a host researcher in Japan who wishes to host a foreign postdoctoral fellow.

*Eligible countries are the US, Canada, France, Germany, Sweden, the UK, Italy, Finland, the other European Union Countries (as of 1 April 2012), Switzerland, Norway and Russia.

FIELDS OF RESEARCH

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

APPLICANT (HOST RESEARCHER) ELIGIBILITY

The applicant (host researcher) must be a researcher who is employed full-time or classified as being employed full-time (excluding Jokyo, assistant professors, and Joshu, research assistants) at a university or research institution that is eligible to apply to MEXT for funding under the Grants-in-Aid for Scientific-Research Program (Kakenhi) and approved by JSPS as an appropriate institution for hosting young foreign researchers.

Note: Full-time employment classification is determined by the regulations of the host institution.

CANDIDATE (FELLOW) ELIGIBILITY

(1)	Be a citizen or permanent resident of an eligible country (listed in Section 1 above). Also eligible are persons who have earned a master’s or higher degree and continuously thereafter been engaged in research for a period of at least three years at a university or research institution in an eligible country. Such persons must be from a country that has diplomatic relations with Japan or from Taiwan or Palestine, have conducted research continuously for three or more years before the time their application was submitted, and must possess an excellent research record.
(2)	Candidates must have obtained their doctoral degree at a university outside Japan within six years of the date the fellowship goes into effect (on or after 2 April 2007), or must be currently enrolled in a doctoral course at a university outside Japan, and scheduled to receive a Ph.D. within two years from the time that their research starts in Japan.
(3)	Have arranged in advance a research plan with a host researcher in Japan.

Note: Those who have previously been awarded a fellowship under the JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship Program for Foreign Researchers are not eligible. This Obei-Tanki Fellowship is only awarded once per researcher.

NUMBER OF FELLOWSHIPS AWARDED

Approximately 60 Fellowships will be granted in FY2013.

DURATION AND COMMENCEMENT OF FELLOWSHIPS

(1)	Fellowships are awarded for a period of 1 to 12 months
(2)	Successful candidates must start the Fellowship in Japan during the following period: 1 April 2013 – 31 March 2014

TERMS OF AWARD (FELLOWS ONLY)

(The amounts of the Awards indicated below are subject to change for budgetary reasons.)

1. A round-trip air ticket (according to JSPS's regulations)
2. A settling-in allowance of ¥200,000 (only applicable for Fellows with 4 or more months of tenure)
3. A monthly maintenance allowance
   (a) For Ph.D. holders: ¥362,000
   (b) For non-Ph.D. holders at the time research starts in Japan: ¥200,000
4. Overseas travel accident and sickness insurance coverage, etc.

Note 1: If the Fellow resides in Japan on the date his/her award letter is issued, the above-mentioned air ticket to Japan and settling-in allowance will not be provided.
Note 2: A research support allowance is available to cover cooperative research-related expenses. Application is made by the host researcher.

More information : HERE