On August 5, 2021, Kyoto University Research Administration Office (KURA) held the online ‘‘KAKENHI August Seminar’’ in English. Mainly targeted at international researchers on campus, this seminar was the second of the two held this year by KURA, and 54 people (including 43 researchers) participated in the seminar.

KURA’s explanation of KAKENHI , JSPS’s Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research, and application support services was followed by Professor Tatsuro Fujikura at the Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies (ASAFAS), Kyoto University, who had in the past been appointed as a reviewer for Grant-in-Aid, and who gave a presentation from a reviewer’s perspectives on major points to note and to be evaluated including how to prepare budget documents when preparing an application. Junior Associate Professor Amit BANERJEE at the Graduate School of Engineering, then followed with a presentation on his own experience of, thought process and tips on applying for a grant shortly, which led to its successful adoption.

In the Q&A session that followed, there were questions about the impact of COVID-19 on the budget plans, and about the selection of the KAKENHI categories and so on (see KAKENHI FAQ for further reference). The seminar ended with KURA’s guidance on ‘‘How to prepare the application ’’ focusing on the writing skills as well as steps for completing online submission.
In the post-event questionnaire, the experiences of the reviewers and recipients were found particularly useful by the participants and after participating the seminar, participants said, ‘‘I felt to have more confidence in writing a research proposal’’ and ‘‘I now understand what is required in a research proposal.’’ Planning, public relations and moderator of the event was done by OYAMADA Aya jointly with NISHIDA Miya and the team for supporting international researchers (SASAKI Yu URA, KUWATA Osamu URA, SAITO Chisato URA, UEMURA Ayana Administrative Staff).

KURA will continue to make efforts to create an environment for international researchers to maximize their research capabilities through organizing the grant briefing sessions and providing the brush-up services for their grant proposals.

Click here for briefing materials and videos.