THE
JAPAN FOUNDATION
ENDOWMENT COMMITTEE (JFEC)
ABOUT THE JFEC
In 1974 the Japanese Government, through the Japan Foundation, made a donation of 300 million yen (then worth £455,000), the income from which was to be used for the promotion of Japanese Studies in higher education within the United Kingdom. The disbursement of this income is the responsibility of the Japan Foundation Endowment Committee, whose members are drawn from the UK Japanese Studies academic community. The Committee operates independently of any particular higher education institution. It is a separate body from the Japan Foundation itself. The Committee's broad remit is to provide small grants to support research in the academic field of Japanese Studies within degree-awarding institutions in the United Kingdom. The term 'Japanese Studies' is interpreted as covering research on any aspect of Japan within the humanities or social sciences (which may include comparative studies).
APPLICATION INFORMATION FOR THE 2008 SECOND ROUND OF FUNDING WILL BE UPDATED LATER IN THE YEAR
- Further Particulars (2ND round 2008)
- Application Form (2ND round 2008) - DEADLINE 15 October 2008
Forms should be downloaded, completed, printed
out, relevant signatures obtained, and then posted to the address shown on the
Application Form.
ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS ARE NOT ACCEPTED - original signatures are required.
Queries can be addressed to the Executive Secretary at
jfec@bajs.org.uk
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CONTENTS
Click on highlighted text
- Membership of the Committee
- Details of the Research Grant Scheme
- How to apply for Grants
- Reporting back
- Addresses and Links
ENQUIRIES
JAPAN FOUNDATION ENDOWMENT COMMITTEE
c/o Mrs Lynn Baird , Executive Secretary (JFEC)
University of Essex
Wivenhoe Park
Colchester CO4 3SQ
Essex UK
answerphone: +44 (0)1206 872543
fax: +44 (0)1206 873965
e-mail : jfec@bajs.org.uk
MEMBERSHIP OF THE JAPAN FOUNDATION ENDOWMENT COMMITTEE (currently under review)
Constitution from 1 September 2001
Chair:
The Chair shall be appointed by the Committee without formal restriction as to
the nature of her/his employing institution’s involvement in the academic
field of Japanese Studies. A Chair shall normally be appointed for a
four-year term, renewable annually for up to three further years. No
Chair shall serve for more than seven years.
A Chair shall if possible be chosen at such a time as will allow her/him to attend meetings of the Committee for one year before assuming office. An incoming Chair shall be encouraged to attend in this way unless already a member of the Committee or otherwise fully conversant with the Committee’s current business and range of activities.
Other Members:
Regional Members (currently under review)
One member nominated by the British Association for Japanese Studies (1)
Two Elected Members (2)
Elected through a constituency made up of the BAJS membership but not
representing BAJS.
May come from any UK higher education institution other than those named in
the regional groupings above.
Co-opted Members:
The Committee shall have the power to co-opt, and the Chair shall have the
power to invite, individuals to particular meetings as deemed appropriate for
the transaction of business.
Periods of Service:
After the initial staggering of rotations, members of the Committee, other
than the Chair, to serve for two years, renewable once in the case of elected
members and the member nominated by BAJS.
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DETAILS OF THE RESEARCH GRANT SCHEME
General
The Committee offers a Research Grant scheme for staff in UK HE institutions in accordance with the guidelines given below. This includes partial support for the work of doctoral research students. Note that the Committee does not fund coursework, Master's dissertations, or course development.
All applications must be made by a member of staff: direct applications from students are not considered. Grants are made formally to the institutions concerned, which are required to administer the grants on behalf of the grant holder.
Definition of Japanese Studies for the purpose of considering applications
The Committee will consider requests for grants only towards research projects essentially related to Japan: it is not able to consider requests which have only tenuous connections with that country, or requests to support work in other academic fields which will not further the subject of Japanese Studies. In this context, the Committee interprets "Japanese Studies" broadly, as covering research on any aspect of Japan within the humanities or social sciences (including comparative studies).
Applications of a scientific or technological nature should be addressed to other bodies (e.g. the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science).
The
Japan Foundation Endowment Committee is a separate body from the Japan
Foundation itself, which has a wider remit and offers a range of funding
programmes. The address of the Japan Foundation is Russell Square House,
10-12 Russell Square, London WC1B 5EH
(tel:
020-7436-6695, Fax: 020-7323-4888)
General purposes for which JFEC grants may be used
The Committee is willing to consider requests for funds to cover travel and subsistence in or between the UK and Japan, the purchase of research materials and the partial support of doctoral research students. However, the Committee cannot enter into long-term commitments, and requests for finance to support the establishment of permanent posts or for the erection of permanent or temporary buildings are not considered.
It is a condition of any grants that they will be additional to any expenditure on Japanese Studies already made or planned by the applicant's institution. The Committee takes careful note, in considering applications, of the extent and nature of institutional contributions.
Value of awards
The resources available to the Committee are limited, and the Committee will not necessarily support the whole cost of a project. Grants in excess of £5,000 are unlikely, and in practice most awards are less than this.
Support for doctoral research students
Applications will
be considered on behalf of doctoral research students for supplementary
funding towards additional costs arising from their research, such as those
associated with fieldwork in
Japan. An
application for other partial support of a doctoral student may be made, when
the student's research is at an advanced stage and further funding is
required, for a few months to bring the work to a successful conclusion.
NB Applications from individual students are not accepted, and the
Committee cannot support coursework at any level.
Language training
Grants may be given towards the cost of essential but otherwise unfunded Japanese language training for postgraduate students undertaking doctoral research within the broad area of Japanese Studies as defined above. (If a visit to Japan is involved in this context it is not necessary to submit a prior application to the Japan Foundation.) It is, however, at present unlikely that the Committee will be able to fund any significant period of language training in its entirety.
Books and other library materials
Applications may be made for funds to assist with the purchase of books and other library materials provided that these are needed specifically for defined research purposes and that an adequate case is made for purchase rather than borrowing. If the library materials requested are already available in a reasonably accessible place, they are unlikely to be funded by the Committee. Any books or other library materials, videos, etc purchased with JFEC grants must normally be deposited in the grant-holder's own institutional library (or in another library capable of handling Japanese language texts if the grant-holder's own library is unable to do so).
Applications must include a list of the materials to be purchased and a statement of the provision currently made by the applicant's institution for similar materials relating to Japanese Studies. It should be noted that:
a) the Committee perceives itself as providing "pump-priming" funds for particular lines of research, and institutions should not rely on regular funding from the Committee for the provision of materials;
b) therefore, the Committee will not provide funds for the purchase of serials, which by their nature represent such a commitment.
FULL INFORMATION ABOUT ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA CAN BE OBTAINED IN THE FURTHER PARTICULARS
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Timetable
The Committee
considers applications on a twice-yearly basis, at meetings in late
May and late November .
Closing dates for each round are 15 April and 15 October respectively.
Calls for applications will be notified on research mailing lists and web
pages commonly used by researchers (e.g. COS-REFUND – see
http://www.refund.ncl.ac.uk/RefundNew/index.htm).
Details of the Research Grant scheme are circulated to all
UK higher education
institutions.
Application forms and further particulars ***
Application forms and further particulars are available to download (specific to each round of applications).
Forms should be downloaded, completed, printed out, relevant signatures
obtained, and then posted to the address shown on the Application Form.
Electronic submissions are not accepted.
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If required, hard copies may be obtained by writing to:
JAPAN FOUNDATION ENDOWMENT COMMITTEE
c/o Mrs Lynn Baird, Executive Secretary (JFEC)
University of Essex
Wivenhoe Park
Colchester CO4 3SQ
Essex UK
answerphone: +44 (0)1206 872543
fax: +44 (0)1206 873965
e-mail : jfec@bajs.org.uk
General enquiries about eligibility can be made at any time.
General rules about applying
In formal terms, grants are awarded to institutions for the purposes specified and for the use of the persons named. This places financial as well as academic responsibilities on institutions and grant holders. All application forms, therefore, must be countersigned by the applicant's Head of Department and by an identified "Administrative Authority", usually a Finance Officer, who is empowered to commit the applicant's institution to the management of any grant awarded. In particular, as grants are reimbursed in arrears, there is an initial financial commitment by the institution concerned, pending satisfactory completion of the work for which the grant is awarded.
The Committee requires brief curricula vitae for each applicant and for all others fundamentally involved in the project proposed (including research students where appropriate).
All applications
for grants to support students must be submitted through the supervisor or
tutor concerned and must be accompanied by a confidential statement of support.
Direct applications from individual students are not accepted and the
Committee cannot support coursework at any level.
Completed application forms should be submitted to the Executive Secretary by the closing date specified. Late applications will be deferred until the next meeting, and early application is welcomed in case additional information has to be sought. All material submitted must be typed. All applications will be acknowledged, and the reference number specified in the acknowledgment must be quoted in all subsequent correspondence.
Grants holders are required, as a condition of acceptance, to submit an annual report to the Committee, which includes a financial statement signed by the Administrative Authority.
-
FINAL REPORT FORM (for applicant)
-
FINANCIAL REPORT FORM (for Finance completion)
Full details about the application procedure and conditions of grants will be given in the published further particulars on each occasion the grants are advertised.
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Useful addresses are given below, with links where appropriate
Gateway to HE institutions in the UK
This provides entry to the NISS gateway of UK HE
institutions. Access to the relevant academic department of institutions
represented in membership of the Committee can be obtained under the
MEMBERSHIP section.
Association of
International Education, Japan (AIEJ)
Exchange and Follow up Division, Programme and Activities Department
4-5-29 Komaba
Meguro Ku
Tokyo 153
Japan
Tel 0081 3 5454 5214
Fax 0081 3 5454 5234
British
Association for Japanese Studies
c/o
Mrs Lynn Baird
University of Essex
Wivenhoe Park
Colchester
CO4 3SQ
Answerphone 01206 872 543
Fax 01206 873 965
E mail bajs@bajs.org.uk
British Council
2- Kagurazaka 1- chome
Shinjuku-ku
Tokyo 162
Tel 0081 3 32358031
Fax 0081 3 32358040
Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation
(including
Bridge to Japan index)
13/14 Cornwall Terrace
London NW1 4QP
Tel +44 20 7486 4348
Fax +44 20 7486 2914
E mail office@dajf.org.uk
http://www.daiwa-foundation.org.uk
Department for Education and Employment
Economic and Social Research Council
Great Britain
Sasakawa Foundation
Dilke House
1 Malet Street
London W1E 7JN
Tel +44 20 7436 9042
E mail gbsf@gbsf.org.uk
Japan Foundation
The
London Office
Russell Square
House
10-12 Russell Square
London
WC1B 5EH
Tel +44 20
7436 6695
Fax +44 20 7323 4888
E mail info@jpf.org.uk
Embassy of Japan London
Japan Information and Cultural Centre (JICC)
101-104 Piccadilly
London W1J 7JT
Tel +44 20 7465 65043/6544
Fax +44 20 7491 9347
E-mail: info@embjapan.org.uk
http://www.embjapan.org.uk/en/embassy/jicc.html
British Association
for Teaching
Japanese as a Foreign Language (BATJ)
c/o Mrs Kazuko
Sorensen
Japanese Studies Language Centre
Royal Holloway, University of London
Egham
Surrey TW20 0EX
Tel +44 1784 443 812
Fax +44 1784 577 640