Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) is currently offering two opportunities for UK-based early career researchers to visit Japan and conduct collaborative research with Japanese partners. JSPS is the leading research funding agency in Japan, established by the Japanese Government for the purpose of contributing to the advancement of science.

Researcher exchange is a good way of building ongoing research collaboration with Japanese universities, many of which have very strong research records. However, they currently send out more new researchers than they receive, and this imbalance makes further collaboration harder. During a recent visit, the Vice-President of one leading university told us that they receive twice as many visiting researchers from France as from the UK, giving them the impression that French universities are more serious about collaboration with Japan. These opportunities could be one way to encourage more UK-based researchers to visit Japan and raise the profile of your university, so please pass on the information about them to your current PhD students and to staff who work with them.

1. JSPS Summer Programme
The JSPS Summer Programme provides the opportunity for pre and post-doctoral researchers to receive an orientation on Japanese culture and research systems and to conduct collaborative research activities with leading research groups at Japanese universities and research institutions over a period of two months during the summer.

Awards include:
Return international airfare, maintenance allowance, domestic research trip allowance and overseas travel and accident insurance policy

Eligibility:
Applicants need to be a UK national or permanent resident and should be of graduate student status (Master or PhD) or be a recent PhD holder (within the last 6 years) and should be based at a UK university or research institution. Eligible research fields are not limited.

Duration: 11 June to 21 August 2013

Application deadline: 15 January 2013

Applications should be sent to the British Council Japan. Application guidelines and forms are available on the following site: http://www.britishcouncil.org/japan-science-research.htm

2. Postdoctoral Fellowship for Foreign Researchers (Short Term)
JSPS also offer scholarships for young researchers to conduct collaborative research activities with leading research groups at Japanese universities and research institutions during visits of one to twelve months.

The details of the scholarship are as follows.

Eligibility:
Eligible applicants must be either within 2 years of finishing their PhD at the
time of applying to start their fellowship in Japan or have obtained their
PhD after 2 April 2007.  All research fields are eligible.

Duration: one to twelve months. Fellowships must be started between 1st May 2013 and 31st March 2014.

Application deadline: Monday 3rd December 2012

Applications should be sent to JSPS. Please visit the JSPS London website for further information:
http://www.jsps.org/funding/2012/09/postdoctoral-fellowship-for-foreign-researchers-short-term.html