European Commission

Research fields are chosen freely by the applicants. All domains of research and technological development are relevant. Duration is up to 4 years.

Deadline: 18 September

Further information: Research Participant Portal   

The International Outgoing Fellowships (IOF) is for researchers based in Europe to spend time undertaking research outside of Europe. The scheme is 12-24 months in the country outside Europe, with a reintegration period of 12 months.

The deadline for both calls is 16 August.

Further Information: Research Participant Portal 

The officer will have a relevant university degree, preferably 10 years of experience in related fields, understanding of the Japanese science and innovation system, excellent understanding of the functioning of the EU; very good command of Japanese and English, as well as other attributes. For the full job requirements see the link below.  

Deadline: 6 July

Further Information: Delegation of the European Union to Japan 

Nominations should be made to the FNRS by 14 September.

Further Information: FNRS

Currently open fields include the biological sciences, humanities, social sciences, medical sciences, science and technology.

Participation allows  you to become a member of an Expert panel of 16 high-qualified experts; to meet other experts in your field in the heart of Europe; stay informed about the latest evolutions in your field. All travel expenses are covered and you receive an expert fee.

Deadline: 15 September

Further Information: FWO

The topic of the call is interdisciplinary Program on Material Efficiency – A first step towards sustainable manufacturing.

Deadline: 20 July

Further Information: JSPS (E)

There are three deadlines per year. The next such deadline will be in September 2012.

Further Information: DASTI 

Research projects with an innovative dimension will be funded for 2 years. The research projects are expected to have mobility and networking dimensions apart from the core research component. Each project consortium applying for this call should consist of at least 3 partners -at least one partner from Japan and at least two from two different European countries- participating in the call.

The call will be announced in September.

Further details: CONCERT Japan 

Support will be provided to networking and matchmaking initiatives seeking to identify potential for bilateral research collaboration with foreign partners from one or more of the seven countries mentioned above.

Deadline: 11 September

Further Information: DASTI

Deadline: August.

Further information: DASTI 

-  2 PhD positions(agricultural statistics)

-  30 postdoctoral positions -various

-  1 senior researcher position

-  2 Auxiliary Contract Staff Members

Deadlines: Various

Further Information: JRC

Next deadline: 30 September

Further Information: ERCIM 

Further Information: Euraxess Jobs 

Please check: Euraxess Links Jobs

Deadline: 15 September

Further Information: ESF 

Fellowship areas may include all themes developed in the laboratories of the RIIP: research on the infectious diseases (infectious physiopathology, immunology, microbiology, epidemiology, virology, parasitology) and health service activities (surveillance, resistance).

Deadline: 7 September

Further information: Institut Pasteur 

Next deadline: 30 September

Further information: IFER 

Deadline for applications: 31 August

Further information: JST  (Japanese / English) 

1. Complex Environmental Systems
2. Agricultural Economics
3. Green Chemistry & Engineering
4. Agronomy & Ecology
5. Commodity Sciences

Deadline: To be announced.

Further Information: star-agroenergy project

• Professor of Japanese, Gothenburg University (Sweden), Deadline: 27 September

Deadline: 3-7 September

Further Information: JSPS

Deadline: 23 July

Further Information: JPA

Japan: RIKEN Positions

-  Various postdoctoral & technical positions

-  Positions at the Advanced Science Institute

-  Brain Science Institute

-  Accelerator-Based Science

-  Spring8

See the RIKEN Career Opportunities page for the full list of openings.

The Sir Martin Wood Prize is awarded annually to a scientist, younger than 40, who has achieved remarkable results in condensed matter science at a university or research institute in Japan. Condensed matter science includes condensed matter physics, inorganic-organic chemistry, material science and surface-interface physics.

Deadline for nominations: 1 August

Further Information: Millennium Science Forum (J)

Further Information: JREC-IN

Other general positions:

• Postdoctoral Researcher (National Institute of Materials Science)
• Non Tenured Professorship in Political Science, Nagoya University, Deadline: 31 July.

Deadline: 5 November

Further information: NSK (J)

Positions advertised recently include:

Immunology Frontier Research Center (Osaka University)

• Posdoctoral Researcher (Systems Immunology)
• IFReC Kishimoto Foundation Fellowship 

Deadline: 30 September

Further information: jade.dti.ne.jp 

The AFR programme has no thematic limitations and is open to all researchers, regardless of their nationality, desirous to engage into research training in Luxembourg or abroad.

Next PhD Deadline: 26 September

Next Postdoctoral Deadline: 5 September

Further information: FNR 

Rubicon offers researchers who have completed their doctorates in the past year the chance to gain experience at a top research institution outside the Netherlands for a maximum period of two years. There is also a limited opportunity to apply for a research period at an excellent Dutch research institute. However, preference will be given to researchers who apply for a grant to spend time outside the Netherlands.

Postgraduates who are currently engaged in doctoral research or who have been awarded a doctorate in the twelve months preceding the relevant deadline as well as PhD students who can provide a written declaration of their supervisor approving their thesis can apply for a period of up to two years (one year minimum) at an institution outside the Netherlands.

The next closing date for submitting applications is 30 August 2012.

Further details: NWO

Deadline: 30 June

Further information: Pfizer (J) 

Next deadline: 15 October

Further Information: FNP 

Deadline: 31 October

Further Information: scholarships.sk  

Further information: ARGO Program

Next deadlines: 27 September

Further Information: STINT 

Deadline: 6 July

Further information: VR

Deadline: 28 August

Further information: VR 

Deadlines: various

Further information: CERN

Next deadline: 1 September

Further information: SNSF

Global researchers should be residing abroad and and during the project period, the researcher should stay more than one month (uninterrupted) in each visit to Turkey. The stay can be up to 36 months.

Deadline: September

Further information: Tubitak 

Candidates must already be engaged in pursuing research at the doctoral or post-doctoral level in one or allied fields of life sciences.

Deadline: 15 July

Further Information: UNESCO / L’Oreal

Further information: Sasakawa Foundation 

Deadline: to be announced in June

Further information: STFC 

Closing date: 10 July 2012

Further Information: Royal Society 

-     EMBO Fellowships in the LIfe Sciences, Deadline: 15 August

-     Institut Pasteur Calmette Doctoral Grants, Deadline: 7 September

-     Royal Society International Exchanges Scheme, 30 June

-     Swiss Travel Stipendia from the Swiss biomedical-foundation, 31 July

-     Inter Programme - Luxembourg (FNR), Deadline: 15 July

Wondering what calls are further ahead?

Please refer to our comprehensive Funding Guide Document for all the EU, European, & Japanese 

The talks will take place in Osaka (2 July), Tsukuba and Tokyo (3 July).

The ERC's two core funding schemes are the 'ERC Starting Grants' for younger, early-career top researchers and the 'ERC Advanced Grants' for senior research leaders.

The grants cover all research fields, ranging from natural sciences to social sciences and humanities. Those who are interested in engaging in frontier research activities in Europe with ERC funding are particularly encouraged to attend one of the seminars.

In addition, with entry into force of EU-Japan Science and Technology Agreement in 2011, increasing number of Japanese researchers are participating in FP7, and more and more EU-Japan joint calls for proposals are open. Those who are interested in participating in FP7 for research cooperation with Europe are also welcome to join, as a general explanation of cooperation opportunities in FP7 for researchers in Japan will be given at the seminars.

Specific details for the talks are as follows:

1. Osaka:  15:00-16:30, 2 July (Mon), at Nakanoshima Center, Osaka University

2. Tsukuba: 10:00-11:30, 3 July (Tue), at International Conference Room, University Hall, the University of Tsukuba

3. Tokyo: 14:30-16:30, 3 July (Tue), at Auditorium, Delegation of the European Union to Japan

The seminars will be conducted in English.

Further information and registration is available from the Delegation of the European Union to Japan. 

The event is targeted at researchers from universities, research institutions and companies from Europe and Japan who are interested in sharing new project ideas and finding potential partners to apply for CONCERT-Japan Pilot Joint Call on Research and Innovation in the field of “Resilience Against Disasters”.

Further information: CONCERT Japan

Further information: UNU-IAS

Further Information: ESOF

Dates: 11-13 July

Further Information: Fraunhofer Japan

Date: 18 October

Location: DIJ Forum, Tokyo

Date: 6 July

Further Information: RIKEN

Tohoku University began collaborating with IMEC around five years ago through collaborative research and researcher exchange.This year in June, nine professors from IMEC visited Tohoku to conclude the agreement as well as to undertake a joint seminar. IMEC has a representative office in Japan at the Belgian Embassy. 

The strategic agreement with Tohoku University will develop stronger relations between the institutions particularly in semiconductor and micro-nanoelectronic or related fields, as well as researcher interchange or the creation of new firms.

Further Information:

Tohoku University (J)

IMEC Homepage 

NEDO and CDTI issued the joint statement on May 23 confirming the provision of support for the project where parallel funding will be provided to Japanese and Spanish companies to carry out international collaborative technology development projects. NEDO, Malaga City and the members of the Japanese and Spanish consortiums held an event in Malaga City to enlist participants for the project on May 24.

The project will demonstrate an infrastructure (EV chargers and management center) for electric vehicles (EVs) and a power system for stabilizing the power supply for EVs in preparation for the future large-scale introduction and dissemination of EVs. The system will facilitate functions among stakeholders by calculating and storing data on behavior patterns such as driving record or charging point guidance. In addition, a new comprehensive EV service system will be demonstrated by utilizing the stored data.

On the Spanish side the consortium includes Endesa S.A., Endesa Distribución Eléctrica S.L. Unipersonal, Enel Energy Europe S.R.L., Endesa Energía S.A., Sadiel Tecnologías de la Información, S.A. and Telefónica Investigación y Desarrollo, S.A. Unipersonal; on the Japanese side Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., Mitsubishi Corporation and Hitachi, Ltd.

Further Information:

NEDO Press Release (in Japanese / English)

Malaga Smart City Project

• Starting grant (StG): for researchers who have been awarded their first PhD at least 2 and up to 7 years prior to the publication date of the call.
• Consolidator grant(CoG): for researchers who have been awarded their first PhD over 7 and up to 12 years prior to the publication date of the call.

There will also be one single deadline for each call, and not different deadlines for the three domains as in the past. 

For the Advanced Grant Call, this will be on 10 July (not in the autumn as previously), with the deadline for applications in the autumn (not in spring as in the past). 

In sum, the planned publication dates and deadlines for all upcoming calls are as follows:

Source: European Research Council Press Release (25 May)

Methodology

The authors performed a web based survey with 17,182 researchers in 16 countries during 2011. The paper aims to make a cross-country comparison of the role of foreign scientists and their country of origin. The survey method was adopted due to the inadequacies of national statistics on this topic.

The four fields of science covered were biology, chemistry, earth and environmental sciences, and materials. Authors who published papers in these four fields during 2009 were then contacted by email address. They were in sixteen countries: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, US.  They obtained a response of 35.6% from close to 50,000 contacts.

Country of Work in 2011

The country of origin was determined by asking the respondent to report country of residence at age 18. Data for the 17,182 (36.3 percent of the sample) scientists for whom country of origin and country of residence in 2011 are summarized below. Switzerland heads the list. More than one out of two scientists studying or working in Switzerland in 2011 lived abroad at age 18. Canada is a distant second, being 9.8 percentage points lower, followed closely by Australia (44.5 percent), and then by the United States with 38.4 percent and Sweden with 37.6. A number of countries have an extremely low percent of foreign scientists studying or working in the country. Particularly notable is the virtual absence of foreign scientists studying or working in India, followed closely by Italy with 3.0 percent, Japan with 5.0 percent, Brazil with 7.1 percent and Spain with 7.3 percent.

For foreign scientists working in Japan the most likely countries of origin are China and South Korea, accounting for 33.7% and 11.6% of the foreign scientists there.

Country of Origin and Emigration

Regarding the emigration patterns of scientists, the country with the highest such share is India (39.8%), followed by Switzerland (33.1%)the Netherlands (26.4%), Canada (23.7%) and Germany (23.3%). Japan has the lowest rate of outward migration. It is clear that the US is the major destination country for those researchers who have emigrated.  

Reasons for Moving Overseas and Possibility of Return

The study also explores some of the reasons why researchers leave their home country. The most important reason is the “opportunity to improve my future career prospects” and the presence of “outstanding faculty, colleagues or research team”. “Excellence/prestige of the foreign institution in my area of research” and the “opportunity to extend my network of international relationships” tie for third place. Family reasons or fringe benefits are last among reasons for going to work in a foreign country.

Migrants from Sweden and Canada are the most likely to report that they will return, while less than one in five of the migrant scientists from the UK, Italy, Denmark and Belgium state that they plan to return at some time in the future.

The full report is available from the National Bureau of Economic Research:

Franzoni, C., et al., (2012), Foreign Born Scientists: Mobility Patterns for Sixteen Countries, Working Paper 18067

We have reported these statistics over previous years (see 2011, 2010, 2009 or here for the originals from Thomson Reuters). The latest update mostly confirms previous trends, but there has been a slight decline in the international performance of Japanese institutions.

For the top institutes ordered by the number of publications, citations and average number of citations, the University of Tokyo is top, followed by Kyoto, Osaka, the JST, Tohoku, RIKEN, and Nagoya University. The University of Tokyo’s global position is now 16th, Kyoto University is 34th, and Osaka University is 44th. The average number of citations per paper for Tokyo Univ. is 14.73, 14.01 for Kyoto Univ., and 14.15 for Osaka Univ.

The rank order of Japanese institutions is virtually unchanged on 2011. However, in terms of global rank a slight decline can be observed for most institutions. For instance, the Univerisity of Tokyo drops from 13th to 16th; Osaka University from 40th to 44th.

By disciplinary field, citations for materials science, physics, chemistry, biology and biochemistry, and immunology are assessed. Unfortunately there is no coverage of the social sciences or humanities.

Nonetheless, the data is suggestive that many Japanese institutes are exceptionally strong and top class for obtaining citations in particular fields. Tohoku University maintains its strong performance in materials sciencs. Kyoto University maintains its top 5 rank for chemistry citations.

The full report and data tables are available from the following:

Thomson Reuters, (2012), 論文の引用動向からみる日本の研究機関ランキングを発表, 17 April, 2012

We referred to the MEXT survey and in doing this literally translated the original Japanese. The Japanese term used is the noun 震災 （しんさい), meaning earthquake. Usage of the term was also checked with Japanese speakers who confirmed this meaning and understanding. As there is no clarification or definition in the MEXT report on what is meant by this term (they simply use the phrase "influence of the earthquake"(震災の影響)) we took it at face value. Whether this is being used in a generic sense for the post earthquake period more generally is not certain.

Undoubtedly other events were also occurring at that time which may have motivated people to depart.  These factors are not expressly mentioned in the study referred to, but if the figure below is observed then it is apparent that other factors beyond the narrowly defined earthquake may account for people leaving Japan.  Factors “not related to the earthquake” or “unknown” gradually increase from April.

The report referred to does not explore what these factors are and readers are left to form their own conclusion.

However, in other reports, such as that by NISTEP (2012: 74) or in the recent Science and Technology White Paper by MEXT (2012), an acknowledgement of these other issues is plainly acknowledged without hesitation.

In our summary last month we should have given slightly more prominence to the other factors and included an additional sentence highlighting these tendencies as well as the vagaries of the term used. There was no intentional oversight on our part.

Source:

MEXT, (2012), 国際研究交流の概況(平成 22 年度), 18 May (in Japanese)

MEXT, (2012), 平成22年度 文部科学白書, 22 June

NISTEP, (2012), Science and Technology Indicators 2011,