I’m currently finishing my PhD with a short term research stay at Kyoto University and I’ve been looking for post doc opportunities, coming across the JSPS postdoctoral fellowship.
The question might be peculiar, but is it mandatory to stay/live in japan to receive the fellowship? (Because of personal reasons I would prefer to go back to my home country for the postdoc phase)
4 comments
Ex JSPS postdoc here. This is just hearsay, but you might have more chance if you are NOT living already in Japan. Reason is the postdoc is a way to attract foreign researchers here that might stay.
I think you need to be attached to a Japanese institution (university/lab), but if your research has you somewhere else for a time (like, your experiment is based in another country) that *might* be OK. IIRC you actually apply for the fellowship through the Japanese institution though, it’s not like you can apply for a JSPS fellowship to do a postdoc at Texas something.
You need to stay here. If you’re out of the country for more than two weeks you loose the money of that month. At least it was like that 10 years ago
AFAIK, JSPS fellowships are for foreigners coming to Japan, specifically, not the other way around.
Apply for funding in your home country. You might be able to fudge some special exception with JSPS but it’s going to be an overall pain to have your money coming from overseas, with nobody local that can help you with stuff.
Get a proper postdoc at the institution you will work at in the other country. You’ll get the money in your local currency, there will be people at the place that can help you with the administration, everyone will understand your financing situation and you won’t risk losing your funding over some administrative rule.