RFPs: NEF Commemorative Grant Fund for Capacity Building of Young Scientists

Each project should be implemented by a young researcher as a project scientist (PS), under the guidance and support of a project coordinator (PC) having excellent scientific achievements, in PS’s home country (or target countries) or in Japan while studying in Japan.

Research Fields

• The research project is expected to contribute to nature conservation of the home country of PS, focusing on living organisms, especially wildlife and ecosystem, from such standpoints as follows:
  • Biology, especially ecology, taxonomy, and distribution and current status of wild animal and plant,
  • Biodiversity (i.e., species diversity, genetic diversity, and ecosystem diversity),
  • Threatened species, alien species, and restoration of ecosystem,
  • Relationships between nature and humans (e.g., ecosystem services and sustainable use of biological resources)

Funding Information

• The maximum grant size varied from 1,500,000 to 2,500,000 Japanese yen per project, depending on the Qualification of PS as follows:
  • For Qualification A of PS:
    • The upper limit of research expenses per project is 1,500,000 Japanese yen. In the research expenses, PS’s travel expenses (transportation, accommodation, food expenses, etc.) in the home country or target country (hereinafter referred to as “local”) are included. On the other hand, PC’s travel expenses (international airfare, travel insurance, accommodation, food, local transportation expenses, etc.) to guide and support the research project and the PC’s management expenses (approximately 5% of annual research expenses) are separately provided to PC.
  • For Qualification B of PS:
    • All expenses necessary for the proposed research will be sent to the PC in case of Qualification B. For budget expenses, PS and PC should work together to fill out the ‘Budget’ in the application form of PS. The qualification B is divided into B-1 and B-2 according to the site of fieldwork as 3 follows:
      • Qualification B-1 (the site of fieldwork being in the above-mentioned country): The upper limit of research expenses per project is 1,500,000 Japanese yen. On the other hand, travel expenses (international airfare, travel insurance, accommodation, food, local transportation expenses, etc.) for PS and PC and the PC’s management expenses (approximately 5% of annual research expenses) are provided in addition to the research expenses.
      • Qualification B-2 (the site of fieldwork being in Japan): The upper limit of research expenses per project is 1,500,000 Japanese yen. In the research expenses, travel expenses (transportation, accommodation, food expenses, etc.) in Japan of both the PS and PC are included. On the other hand, the PC’s management expenses (approximately 5% of annual research expenses) are provided in addition to the research expenses.
• Basically, two years, although, for the case of Qualification B of PS, the funded duration may be extended to maximum of three years.

Eligible Expenses

• Travel expenses for field work (e.g., transportation, accommodation, and food expenses),
• Expendables necessary to field survey and analyses (e.g., sampling gear and reagent),
• Minimum wages and labour costs necessary to the study, except for a routine work,
• Reference materials (e.g., article and book), if specifically needed,
• Costs for public awareness activities, if specifically needed for the research goal,
• Expenditure for returning research results to society (limited to activities closely related to the research project and to cases where PS is the presenter at an academic conference or workshop in the above-mentioned countries or Japan.)

Ineligible Expenses

• Personal expenses for the PS nor the PC,
• Versatile equipment (e.g., personal computer, microscope, GPS, and digital camera),
• Administrative expenses and overheads of institution where the PS or PC works.

Ineligible Projects

• Be focussed on development of agricultural, forestry, and/or fisheries industries,
• Be difficult in handling by an individual researcher but by a large group of researchers,
• Be funded by other organisations,
• Be already completed in the major part of the study.

Eligibility Criteria

• Eligibility to Project Scientist (PS) The Project Scientist (PS) must:
  • Be a national of one of the above-mentioned countries, under 40 years old, and fall under any of the following conditions:
    • (Qualification A) a researcher who works in a university or research institution in one of the above-mentioned countries and has a PhD or Doctor’s degree (or having at least 3 years of research experience and corresponding research achievements).
    • (Qualification B) a student who enrolled in or a prospective applicant for admission to a doctor (PhD) course of a university in Japan.
  • Be not a recipient of on-going research or publication project of the NEF nor an applicant of any other grant of the NEF, at the time of submitting application.
• Requested conditions and roles of Project Coordinator (PC):
  • For Qualification A of PS: The Project Coordinator (PC) is requested to meet all of the following conditions:
    • Having teach and/or work experience in a Japanese university or research institution as a scientist, as a general rule,
    • Understanding the content of PS research project,
    • Supporting and collaborating with the PS throughout the project proposed, while keeping intimate contact with not only the PS but also the CGF Management Committee (MC) and the Secretariat of the NEF.
  • For Qualification B of PS: The Project Coordinator (PC) must be a main or co-supervisor of the PS; if the PC is the latter, approval from the former is required. In addition, the PC is requested to contact intimately with the CGF Management Committee (MC) and the Secretariat of the NEF.
• Requested conditions for the project May 2025
  • The research project must:
    • Be planned by the PS with advice/support of the PC, and be implemented by the PS as the principal investigator, in a field survey as well,
    • In case of the Qualification A of PS, be fieldwork-based research in the above-mentioned countries and be approved by the head of department, to which the PS belongs,
    • In case of the Qualification B of PS, be related to the doctoral dissertation and be fieldwork-based research in one of PS’s home country (or target countries) or in Japan.

For more information, visit NEF.