Japan: JSPS RONPAKU PhD Scholarships 2022/2023 for African and Asian Students

Japan: JSPS RONPAKU Dissertation PhD Scholarships 2022/2023 for African and Asian Students

When is the application deadline?

August 15, 2022

Tell me about JSPS RONPAKU PhD Scholarships:

The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) has been running the RONPAKU (Dissertation PhD) program since 1978.

The aim of the JSPS RONPAKU (Dissertation PhD) program is to provide tutorials and financial support to promising researchers in Asia and Africa or other specified countries pursuing their Ph.D. degrees from Japanese universities by submitting a dissertation without taking a doctoral course.

Grantees under the program (RONPAKU fellows) must conduct their dissertation research under the joint supervision of an advisor in Japan and an advisor in their home country, and are expected to complete their PhD within a maximum period of three years.
RONPAKU fellows must attend a Japanese university to conduct research under the direct supervision of their advisor in Japan. The advisor may visit the RONPAKU fellow’s home university or research institution when deemed necessary to supervise the fellow’s research with his/her home advisor.
The applicant under this program is the advisor on the Japanese side.

Should there be any discrepancy between the original Japanese guidelines and the translation into English, the original Japanese text shall prevail.

Which fields are eligible?

All disciplines within the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences are covered.

What kind of scholarship is this?

PhD

Who can apply for JSPS RONPAKU PhD Scholarships?

Advisor Suitability in Japan

The candidate’s advisor in Japan must be a full-time professor or associate professor who, as of April 1, 2023, is undertaking a PhD track at the Japanese university to which the prospective RONPAKU fellow will submit his/her dissertation.
If the applicant (Japanese advisor) commits an unethical act and is punished through measures imposed by the host institution, he/she will be restricted from applying for the JSPS RONPAKU program for a period of five years from the date of the sentence is imposed.

Eligibility of RONPAKU Fellow

The candidate must be a researcher

(1) Who has not obtained a PhD at a university
(2) Who wants to obtain a PhD from a Japanese university by submitting a dissertation
(3) Who has already achieved substantial research results and is likely to successfully complete a PhD degree through dissertation research under the program, and who has been nominated by a home counselor and the president of his/her affiliated university/research institution
(4) Who is a national of an applicable country (listed in section 3)
(5) Who is employed full-time by a university or research institution in his/her home country or will be appointed to such a position by April 1, 2023 at the latest
(6) Who will be 45 or younger from April 1, 2023

Regarding (1), if the fellow obtains a PhD degree through another program during the period of JSPS support, JSPS

Which countries are eligible?

Candidates must be a researcher whose university/institution is located in one of the following countries and territories from all countries and territories listed as Japanese ODA recipients:

ASIA (including the Middle East): Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Syria , Thailand, East Timor, Turkey, Vietnam and Yemen AFRICA: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivory, Djibouti Egypt, Eswatini, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger , Nigeria, Republic of Cape Verde, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and ZimbabweNIS countries: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Tajikistan and
TurkmenistanJSPS treats Palestine this way

Where will the prize be won?

Japan

How many scholarships are given?

about 9

What is the advantage of JSPS RONPAKU PhD Scholarships?

(1) Total funding provided to Japanese host university
Up to 3.6 million yen (up to 1.2 million yen per fiscal year)
(2) The following costs can be covered by the above financing:
Travel expenses (visits of RONPAKU fellows to Japan, visit of advisor to fellow country), goods/materials, other dissertation expenses
(3) Payment procedure
JSPS will enter into a contract with the Japanese host institution instructing it to run the operation of the RONPAKU program.

This program is administered on the basis of the annual budget, paid and executed every Japanese fiscal year (from April 1 to March 31).

How long does the program last?

Up to 3 years from April 1, 2023
※ As the situation with the novel coronavirus changes, we may consider applying flexibility to some items in these application guidelines.

How to Apply for JSPS RONPAKU PhD Scholarships?

Applications for this program are received through the JSPS electronic application system. Only applications submitted by the applicant’s (Japanese Adviser) before the deadline along with the required documents (listed in ② below) will be accepted.

(Applications submitted individually by applicants or candidates or submitted by post will not be accepted.) For more information on how to use the system, please refer to the Electronic Application System Guide at https://www-shinsei.jsps.go .jp/ (in Japanese).

Please note that obtaining a RONPAKU fellowship does not automatically guarantee obtaining a PhD. Each RONPAKU fellow is responsible for making the necessary effort to succeed in his/her dissertation research.

Visit the Award webpage for details