Support programmes
With our financial resources we support individual researchers and research teams with personal fellowships and project funding.
All about support programmes
Mobility projects Japan
This programme supports the exchange of researchers between Flanders and Japan (JSPS) through two-year joint mobility projects.
Objective
The FWO is keen on promoting international collaboration as a driving force for excellence. That is why the FWO signs bilateral agreements with a number of countries for the funding of scientific mobility projects. Within these projects only travel and living expenses can be funded.
One of these bilateral partners is the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). The FWO-JSPS agreement aims to stimulate collaboration between Japan and Flanders in the area of scientific basic research by conducting joint mobility projects with a focus at Flemish side on the exchange of junior researchers.
Important dates
- 4 June 2024: call opens
- 3 September 2024 at 5pm (Belgian time): deadline (at Flemish side final submission date via FWO E-portal directly by the applicant, the submission does not take place via the Flemish main host institution)
- Please be aware: at Japanese side, the universities have different internal deadlines (please check within the specific university).
- September-December 2024: evaluation
- December 2024: announcement of results
- 1 April 2025: start of project
Features
- Duration of projects: 2 years (01/04/2025 – 31/03/2027)
- All applications in the fields of humanities, social sciences and natural sciences are eligible as long as it concerns fundamental basic research.
- Exchanges with special attention to junior researchers: in each project at Flemish side at least one junior researcher should perform an exchange to Japan. This junior researcher is a PhD student or a postdoctoral researcher with no more than 12 years of postdoctoral experience (first PhD degree can be obtained maximally 12 years before the submission deadline (03/09/2024) of the project, to be counted from the date of obtaining the doctoral degree). This is not a formal requirement at Japanese side.
- Funding: each party bears the full costs of its own researchers (travel, accommodation and living expenses):
- FWO offers researchers from Flanders a daily living allowance of € 66 (or max. €1,650 per month) on top of the travel expenses towards/from Japan, to be booked through a travel agency authorized by the FWO.
- JSPS pays the researchers from Japan a total amount of maximum 2,500,000 JPY (about € 15,000) per year to cover the travel expenses towards/from and the stay within Flanders.
Profile and conditions
- The collaboration with partners from Japan will have an added value for the project.
- As supervisor-spokesperson of the Flemish research team, you hold a PhD.
- You hold, throughout the entire period of your project, an appointment of at least 50% at:
- a university in the Flemish Community (including the academic programmes within the corresponding association), or to
- a federal or Flemish scientific institute as scientific staff of the Dutch-speaking community, or to
- a university hospital in the Flemish Community as scientific staff, or to
- a hospital with an academic character recognized as research center in the Flemish Community as scientific staff.
- You agree with the Research Integrity Clause.
Procedure
- Carefully read the guidelines for applicants (see ‘Documents and additional information for applicants’ below) and verify if there are no restrictions in place regarding international cooperation in FWO funding instruments.
- You must submit your project proposal before the deadline to both the FWO and JSPS according to the modalities of each institution.
- NEW: For FWO you submit your application through the FWO E-portal by using the specific digital application form under ‘International collaboration / Mobility projects’. Please note that each online FWO submission is automatically confirmed by a confirmation email. If you did not receive such an email, please verify whether you properly submitted your application. Please be aware that it is essential to update your FWO E-portal profile each time you submit a new FWO application.
- Specific points of attention FWO application:
- A CV of each involved Flemish and Japanese (co-)supervisor(-spokesperson) that is structured according to the FWO CV template. Please note that only the Flemish supervisor-spokesperson can upload these CVs in the FWO application.
- Only the Flemish supervisor-spokesperson should register at FWO by creating an online profile including an overview of academic positions and an updated list of publications on the FWO E-portal before the submission deadline. Please note that the registration of your login/password can take up to 24 hours. It is therefore strongly advised to start well in advance.
- FWO and JSPS perform an eligibility check to verify if your application meets all formal criteria of respectively FWO and JSPS.
- In a first phase, the eligible proposals will be evaluated separately at Flemish and at Japanese side. At FWO the evaluation will be done by the CDP (Cross-Domain Panel). Please be aware that this is an international panel composed of members with a broad variety of scientific expertises. Therefore you are kindly advised to write your proposal for a wide scientific audience.
- FWO evaluation criteria, see this website.
- Please make sure to definitely check JSPS’ evaluation criteria as well since they might have another focus, see this website.
- In a second phase the results of the separate evaluations (see previous step) are being compared and FWO and JSPS take a joint funding decision. Proposals must have been evaluated positively on both the Japanese and Flemish side in order to be fundable.
How to submit an application?
For FWO you submit your application through the FWO E-portal by using the specific digital application form under ‘International collaboration / Mobility projects’.
Regulations
Documents and additional information for applicants
Contact
- For questions about the application template or procedure: For the researcher
- In the event of technical problems with the e-desk: FWOhelpdesk@fwo.be