Application Deadline: November 30, 2008
Requirements (To be considered for the scholarship, the student must satisfy ALL of the requirement criteria below.)
1. The student is registered to attend a graduate school in Japan and does not possess Japanese citizenship. His or her academic achievement as well as moral character is exemplary. He or she must be considered to be in need of financial aid due to extenuating financial circumstances.
2. The student must be registered to attend or have been accepted to attend a graduate school after April 1, 2009. He or she must be able to provide any of the following documentation: a certificate of enrollment, letter of admission or a letter attesting to the fact that the student has been accepted.
3. To be eligible, students enrolled in a PhD Program must have been born after March 31, 1973. Those enrolled in a Master’s Program must have been born after March 31, 1978.
4. The student must be able to assure the committee that he or she will be able to secure employment in his or her home country after graduating from a graduate school.
5. The student must have a deep understanding of international friendship and goodwill, and be committed to make his or her contribution.
6. The student must be able to carry an everyday conversation in Japanese. Interviews will be conducted in Japanese.
Other Rules
1. The student is not permitted to receive any other scholarship in conjunction with the scholarship offered by the Honjo International Scholarship Foundation.
2. The student cannot gain employment other than part-time work related to his or her studies such as teaching assistant, research assistant, translator or interpreter while receiving this scholarship
Amount and Duration of Scholarships
1. ¥200,000 per month for1 or 2 years
2. ¥180,000 per month for 3 years
3. ¥150,000 per month for 4 or 5 years
- The period is set in accordance with the shortest period of time required to complete the intended degree. The student, once awarded the scholarship will be able to choose either option 1 or 2.
- An extension will not be given on the pre-determined scholarship period nor would the student be allowed to change his or her courses after the scholarship period has commenced.
Selection Process
1. Applications are accepted between October 1, 2008 and November 30, 2008.
2. First selection: The first selection will be conducted with documents submitted by applicants. The results of the first selection will be announced by the end of January, 2009.
3. Second selection: Interviews will be conducted between February 1 and 15, 2009, in Tokyo. Its detailed schedule will be communicated at a later date directly to those who passed the first step of the selection process.
4. Scholarship awarded: Mid-March, 2009.
How to Apply
1. Please send by mail the documents listed below to the Administration Office.
a) Scholarship application form (provided by the Foundation). Please make sure to affix your photo to the form as instructed.
b) Your resume (provided by the Foundation)
c) Personal information form (provided by the Foundation)
d) Academic transcript: Please provide the transcript i) from the university where you graduated AND ii) any other courses that you are currently taking or have taken in the past. Photocopies are acceptable.
e) Research plan: In Japanese, describe focusing around following four points; i) an outline of your research; ii) projected schedule between now and graduation; iii) plans and goals for the future; iv) research you have conducted in the past (if any). There is no limit on the number of pages or style. Typed or hand-written.
f) One letter of recommendation from a professor. (This confidential letter should mention the applicant’s academic achievements, character/personality, and his or her potential for the future.)
g) A certificate of enrollment or a letter of admission. (Photocopies are acceptable.)
2. Your application package will be not returned to you.
3. Your personal information provided by you for the purpose of applying for our scholarship will be not used for any other purposes than for the scholarship selection process except for the following cases.
a) During the scholarship selection process, individuals on the selection committee may obtain/view your application package.
b) In order to avoid awarding multiple scholarships to an individual, we provide a list of the names of the students who were awarded the scholarship to the universities and other foundations also offering scholarships.
4. Please make sure you enclose all the necessary documents listed above as your application package will not be eligible if it was found to be incomplete.
5. As soon as we receive your application package, an e-mail will be sent to notify you of your application number. We will announce the results of the first selection on January 31 by posting on our web site the application numbers of the students who will continue to the next step of the selection process.
Application Deadline: Postmarked on/by November 30, 2008.
Receiving the Scholarship
1. The payment of the scholarship money will be issued starting from April, 2009.
2. The scholarship winners are under no obligation to repay the amount they receive from the Foundation.
3. Scholarship payment will be stopped if circumstances listed below arise.
a) Due to sickness or other reasons, the student is no longer able to continue his or her studies and/or research.
b) When the supervising professor of the student deemed him or her unsuitable for his or her studies and/or research.
c) When the student suffered from low academic achievement or displayed dishonorable behavior.
d) When the student behaved in a way that endangers the reputation of the Foundation and the other scholarship winners.
Please send your application package to:
Honjo International Scholarship Foundation
1-14-9, Tomigaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 151-0063
Tel: +81-3-3468-2214
Fax: +81-3-3468-2264
Send inquiries to honjo-zaiban[at]mui.biglobe.ne.jp
AFRICAN HUMANITIES SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM IN GHANA, NIGERIA, SOUTH AFRICA, TANZANIA, AND UGANDA 2008-2009
Application Deadline: December 1, 2008.
Eligibility criteria
• The proposed project must be in the humanities.
• It must propose a written scholarly product such as a dissertation or monograph.
• Research and writing under terms of the fellowship award must be undertaken in Africa. (AHP fellowships may not be used for travel outside the continent.)
• Dissertation applicants must be African nationals residing in Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, or Uganda, and pursuing a doctorate in one of those countries. They must have begun to write the dissertation and be within one year of completion of the writing.
• Postdoctoral applicants must be African nationals residing in Ghana, Nigeria, South Af-rica, Tanzania, or Uganda, affiliated with a university, research center, museum, or other institution in one of those countries. They must have defended the dissertation by the submission deadline and be no more that five years past the date of receiving the Ph.D. degree. They may propose a combination of research and writing, or writing only.
Fellowship awards
• The base stipend for Dissertation-Completion Fellowships is $9,000, with cost of living adjustments for each of the five countries, as appropriate.
• The base stipend for Early Career Postdoctoral Fellowships is $16,000, with cost of liv-ing adjustments for each of the five countries, as appropriate.
• The Residential Allowance is $4,000, which will be paid directly to the residential center hosting the AHP fellowship recipient. A list of recommended centers is available from ahp@acls.org, though applicants may also propose residence at other institutions. Appli-cants who will work at their home institutions are not eligible for residential allowances.
Selection criteria
• the intrinsic interest and substantive merit of the work proposed
• the clarity with which the intellectual agenda is presented
• the record of achievement of postdoctoral scholars and the promise of Ph.D. candidates
• the contribution the work is likely to make to scholarship in the region and internationally
• the feasibility of the workplan.
Preparing the application
Begin preparation early. Applications must be received by the African Humanities Program at the American Council of Learned Societies in New York by December 1, 2008.
All applications must be typed (no handwriting, please). ACLS encourages the submission of applications via email. Application forms may be downloaded in either Word or Acrobat. Ap-plication forms downloaded in Word may be typed on a computer, then saved in a Word file and submitted via email attachment to ahp@acls.org. Please observe specifications for font and line-spacing, as well as the page and space limits represented in the original application form. Appli-cation forms downloaded in Acrobat or received via Air Mail may be printed, then typed on a typewriter and returned to ACLS via Air Mail or courier service. Applicants should remember to sign and date the completed application.
An application consists of the following elements, provided on request from ahp@acls.org in electronic or printed form. Elements are numbered and should be submitted in order. Incom-plete applications will not be considered.
I. Applicant information - cover sheet
II. Personal history: education, research, teaching, and service (as applicable)
III. List of applicant’s publications
IV. Intellectual autobiography [One page maximum: single spaced, 11 pt. type]
A description of the applicant’s academic career, detailing the ideas and experiences that shaped and motivated the applicant’s intellectual work and plans for the future. The autobiography should conclude with a separate paragraph answering the question: “What do I see myself doing five years from now?”
V. Project proposal [Two page maximum: single spaced, 11 pt. type]
1. Main Thesis: State the main thesis and the argument or problematic guiding the proposed research and writing.
2. Body: Explain the research problem in more detail. What is already known about the problem and what more needs to be known? Justify the research focus and approach.
3. Literature and sources: Locate the proposed topic in the context of existing literature and identify potential new sources. What will be the criteria for determining which sources are relevant? How will the project extend, modify, or challenge existing scholarship?
4. Methods: Describe in detail the methods to be used. How will they be deployed to ad-dress the main thesis or argument of the project?
5. Significance: Discuss the importance of the proposed work to central issues in the disci-pline, to the African humanities, and to humanities scholarship in general.
6. Workplan: The concluding section of the essay should specify a plan of work with a time-line for the research and/or writing during the fellowship period. How much has the ap-plicant already accomplished on the project and how much remains to be done? What steps are anticipated during the fellowship period? What is the expected result?
VI. Bibliography and sources
VII. Request for residential allowance
Applicants may request a residential allowance to spend all or part of the award tenure at a research/writing site (a research center or other institution) away from the home institu-tion. The allowance, which will be paid by ACLS directly to the residential site, will fund travel to and from the site as well as housing during residency.
The African Humanities Program recommends several research/writing sites, and has made arrangements with them to host AHP fellows. The list of recommended sites along with additional information is available from ahp@acls.org.
VIII. Writing Sample (for dissertation-completion applicants only)
Dissertation applicants must submit a completed chapter of the dissertation or a signifi-cant section of a chapter. The writing sample, preferably submitted in electronic form, must be a maximum of 15 numbered pages, single spaced, 11 pt. type, with the appli-cant’s name at the top of every page.
IX. Two letters of recommendation
Each applicant should request letters from two scholars familiar with the applicant and the proposed project. For Ph.D. candidates, one letter must be from the dissertation su-pervisor and must attest to the likelihood of completion of the dissertation during the fel-lowship period. Applicants should submit the letters with their applications.
Submitting the application
Applications may be submitted electronically (via email attachment) or on paper (via Air Mail or courier service). Incomplete or late applications will not be considered.
Applications submitted electronically should be sent to ahp@acls.org. Letters of recommenda-tion and the applicant’s signature may be scanned for electronic submission.
Applications sent by Air Mail or courier service should be addressed to:
African Humanities Program
American Council of Learned Societies
633 Third Avenue, 8th floor
New York, NY 10017-6795, USA
Very important: Whether you submit electronically or on paper, pease send a separate email to ahp@acls.org requesting confirmation that your application has been received.
Applications must be received at the African Humanities Program/ACLS
in New York by December 1, 2008.
Supporting Documentation
Before receiving fellowship funds, AHP award recipients will be required to submit several addi-tional documents. IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO SUBMIT THESE DOCUMENTS WITH THE APPLICATION. Detailed instructions concerning this documentation will be included in the letter announcing the award.
Supporting documents required for receipt of fellowship funds:
1. A letter from the applicant’s institution (university department or faculty, museum, or other research center), which indicates acceptance of the terms of the award and support for the applicant’s project. This letter must be composed on institutional stationery and must be officially stamped and signed.
2. A photocopy of the highest university degree obtained by the applicant. The photocopy must bear an official university stamp.
3. A photocopy of relevant pages of the applicant’s passport.
4. A statement, composed and signed by the applicant, declaring that the applicant will work full-time on the project during the tenure of the fellowship, forgoing any other em-ployment, consultancy, business, or extended travel away from the site of the project.
