The Komai Fellowship Sponsored by the Hitachi Scholarship Foundation, Japan

The Hitachi Scholarship Foundation in Japan now offers Komai Fellowship for faculty members of one of the eligible universities to individual or joint research with their Japanese counterparts, on topics either wholly or substantially related to Japan. The Fellowship will cover Economy class round trip airfare, maintainance allowance (¥15,000 per day) and Research travel allowance (up to ¥100,000)

Description
The Komai Fellowship Program was inaugurated under the auspices of the late Kenichiro Komai, the first chairman of the Hitachi Scholarship Foundation, to encourage academic interaction between Southeast Asian countries and Japan in the fields of social and cultural science.

Faculty members specializing in social science or humanities at Southeast Asian universities who wish to conduct individual or joint research with their Japanese counterparts, on topics either wholly or substantially related to Japan, may apply for the program.

Eligibility
All applicants must meet the following conditions:

1. Be faculty members of one of the eligible universities stated below.
2. Have been nominated by their university’s presidential office, with the approval and recommendation of the faculty and the department.
3. Have received a specific and confirmed invitation from a professor at a Japanese university, who will act as the host professor to collaborate with and/or advise the applicant until graduation or the completion of the program.

Candidates should be a faculty member of the following universities:

• University of Indonesia
• Bandung Institute of Technology
• Gadjah Mada University
• Surabaya Institute of Technology
• The National University of Singapore
• University of Malaya
• University of Technology Malaysia
• Chulalongkorn University
• Chiang Mai University
• Khon Kaen University
• King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang
• King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi
• University of the Philippines
• Hanoi University of Science and Technology
• Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology

Application Procedure

1. Applicants to all programs must be faculty members at one of the eligible universities.
2. English will be the common language used in most of the international conferences. Therefore,we strongly suggest that applicants have a good knowledge of English as a communication tool. A TOEFL score of 530 or above is preferred.
3. The Foundation shall mail application forms every year in June to the presidential office of each university.
4. Each applicant shall submit the application to his/her university’s presidential office with all requested information. The Foundation will accept applications and nomination letters from the presidential offices until the end of October. No direct application from individual will be accepted.
5. The application form should be supplemented with a recommendation letter from the Head of Department and/or the Dean of Faculty, along with a confirmed certificate of acceptance from a Japanese host professor (Scholarship) or advisory professor/research counterpart (Research/Komai Fellowship).
6. The selection committee of the Foundation initially screens applications received and identifies candidates to interview.
7. Interviews with candidates shall be carried out individually, usually at candidates’ home universities, during the period from December to March.
8. One of the most important points for evaluation is why the university has nominated the candidate and what kind of scenario the department or faculty has for the candidate in terms of academic collaboration after graduation. If the applicant’s department or faculty has been implementing specific cooperation/collaboration with the laboratory of the proposed host professor in Japan, this will receive positive consideration in the screening of the candidate.
9. Following the interview, the Foundation may contact both senior advisors at the home university and the proposed host professor in Japan for further verification.
10. Notification of final decisions will be made to the presidential offices, and award notices will be sent to each successful candidate in June.

Submission Deadline
At the end of October every year

Website Link
http://www.hitachi-zaidan.net/global/scholarship/activities/active03.html