The fellowship is conditional on the physical presence of the fellow in Japan, and, if the COVID-19 related restrictions were still in effect, the successful fellows would need to abide by all Japanese and local regulations.

There are two broad categories in the JSPS fellowship program: (1) Postdoctoral Fellowships and (2) Invitation Fellowships.

(1) The Postdoctoral Fellowship [P] or [PE] is a competitive fellowship for doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers with funding for round-trip airfare to Kobe, up to ¥362,000JPY stipend per month, and other allowances. The duration of the research is 12-24 months for the STANDARD [P] type of fellowship (applicants must have already received Ph.D. at the time of arrival in Japan) and 1-12 months for the SHORT-TERM [PE] fellowship (applicants who are expecting to receive Ph.D. are also eligible. The short-term fellowship is available only for nationals/citizens of US, Canada, EU countries, UK, Switzerland, Norway and Russia). There are multiple application opportunities depending on the timing of arrival in Japan.

(2) The Invitation Fellowship [L] or [S] is also a competitive fellowship for overseas researchers in a position equivalent to a university professor or associate professor. There are LONG-TERM [L] fellowships for mid-career researchers and SHORT-TERM [S] fellowships for established researchers. The duration of the LONG-TEMR [L] fellowship is 2-10 months and it provides roundtrip flights costs and ¥387,600JPY per month. The duration of the SHORT-TERM [S] fellowship is 14-60 days and it provides round-trip flights costs and ¥18,000JPY per day. There is only one application opportunity per year for the LONG-TERM [L] fellowship in August, whereas there are two application opportunities per year for SHORT-TERM [S] fellowship in September 2022 and May 2023 (depending on the timing of arrival in Japan).

Please read carefully the JSPS application guidelines (links below) and check your eligibility.

Please note that the JSPS fellowship application process requires a close communication with the receiving professor well before the deadlines, involving several documents co-produced by the applicant and the receiving professor. The PCRC is looking for those applicants who have concrete plans to come to Kobe to do specific collaborative research.

Please check the type of fellowship and the deadlines for each round of recruitment on the table below (see the announcement pdf). The first draft of the application prepared by the applicant must be submitted to the PCRC at least one month before the deadline of Kobe University shown in the table. Before that, it is necessary to discuss with Prof. Shibata about the research plan and the time of arrival in Japan, so please prepare for the application with sufficient time.

From the above point of view, please contact the PCRC at least 2 months before the deadline listed in the table. 
Those interested in applying for the 1st recruitment of [P], [L], and 1st recruitment of [S] must contact the PCRC by July 1.

For the initial show of interest, please provide the following information and send them to the PCRC pcrc_apply@people.kobe-u.ac.jp:

(i) The type of the fellowship and the round of recruitment for which you would like to apply (after carefully checking your eligibility);
(ii) The expected arrival and departure dates of your preferred stay in Kobe;
(iii) Your CV, including your nationality/citizenship, birthdate, the date or expected date of your doctoral degree; and
(iv) Your research topic, with the explanation how that topic contributes to the research undertaken at PCRC and/or by Professor Shibata.

Please refer to the PCRC website for the research activities undertaken at Kobe PCRC and for previous JSPS fellows hosted by the Centre. PCRC website: http://www.research.kobe-u.ac.jp/gsics-pcrc/index.html

JSPS Application Guidelines
Postdoctoral Fellowship: https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-fellow/application-23.html
Invitational Fellowship: https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-inv/application/2023application.html

For more information and the table: "PCRC-hosted JSPS Fellowship Program Schedule for Academic Year 2023", see the Announcement pdf.