Abe Fellowship

The Social Science Research Council (SSRC), the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership (CGP), and the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) announce the annual Abe Fellowship Program competition. Funding for the Abe Fellowship Program is provided by CGP.

The Purpose of the Fellowship

The Abe Fellowship is designed to encourage international multidisciplinary research on topics of pressing global concern. The program seeks to foster the development of a new generation of researchers who are interested in policy-relevant topics of long-range importance and who are willing to become key members of a bilateral and global research network built around such topics. It strives especially to promote a new level of intellectual cooperation between the Japanese and American academic and professional communities committed to and trained for advancing global understanding and problem solving.

Research support to individuals is at the core of the Abe Fellowship Program. Applications are welcome from scholars and non-academic research professionals.The objectives of the program are to foster high quality research in the social sciences and related disciplines, to build new collaborative networks of researchers around the three thematic foci of the program, to bring new data and new data resources to the attention of those researchers, and to obtain from them a commitment to a comparative or transnational line of inquiry.

Successful applicants will be those individuals whose work and interests match these program goals. Abe Fellows are expected to demonstrate a long-term commitment to these goals by participating in program activities over the course of their careers.

Eligibility

• This competition is open to citizens of the United States and Japan as well as to nationals of other countries who can demonstrate strong and serious long-term affiliations with research communities in Japan or the United States.
• Applicants must hold a Ph.D. or the terminal degree in their field, or have attained an equivalent level of professional experience at the time of application.
• Previous language training is not a prerequisite for this Fellowship. However, if the research project requires language ability, the applicant should provide evidence of adequate proficiency to complete the project.
• Applications from researchers in professions other than academia are encouraged with the expectation that the product of the fellowship will contribute to the wider body of knowledge on the topic specified.
• Projects proposing to address key policy issues or seeking to develop a concrete policy proposal must reflect non-partisan positions.

Please Note: You may hold only one fellowship sponsored by the Japan Foundation, which includes the Abe Fellowship, during any one Japanese fiscal year, which runs from April 1 through March 31. Current recipients of a Japan Foundation Fellowship and those who will commence that fellowship by March 31, 2013 are ineligible to apply for an Abe fellowship in 2012. Fellowship awards are contingent upon receipt of funding from the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership.

Fellowship Terms

Terms of the Fellowship are flexible and are designed to meet the needs of researchers at different stages in their careers. The program provides Abe Fellows with a minimum of 3 and maximum of 12 months of full-time support over a 24 month period. Fellowship tenure must begin between April 1 and December 31 of a given year. Fellowship tenure need not be continuous, but must be concluded within 24 months of initial activation of the Fellowship.

• The Fellowship is intended to support an individual researcher, regardless of whether that individual is working alone or in collaboration with others.
• Candidates should propose to spend at least one third of the Fellowship tenure in residence abroad in Japan or the United States. In addition, the Abe Fellowship Committee reserves the right to recommend additional networking opportunities overseas.
• Abe Fellows will be expected to affiliate with an American or Japanese institution appropriate to their research. Fellowship funds may also be spent on additional residence and field work in third countries as appropriate to individual projects.
• Fellows will be required to attend specific Abe Fellowship Program events.

Applications

The application deadline is September 1 annually. Applications must be submitted on-line at http://soap.ssrc.org. For further information, please contact the program directly at abe@ssrc.org.

IN THE US

Abe Fellowship Program
Social Science Research Council
One Pierrepont Plaza, 15th Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11201 USA
Email: abe@ssrc.org
Tel: 212-377-2700 / Fax: 212 377-2727

IN JAPAN

Abe Fellowship Program
SSRC Tokyo Office
c/o Japan Foundation
Center for Global Partnership
4-4-1 Yotsuya
Shinjuku-ku
Tokyo 160-0004, Japan
Email: ssrcABE@gol.com
Tel: 3-5369-6072 / Fax: 3-5369-6042

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