JSPS Research Fellowships for Young Scientists (DC1 and DC2)

New DC1 and DC2 fellows starting in April 2027 receive 227,000 yen a month from JSPS. The stipend counts as employment income and is taxed in Japan. A fellow in the final year who has achieved excellent results may be awarded a further 30,000 yen a month for up to 12 months after an evaluation, and a fellow who earns the doctorate during tenure moves to the postdoctoral rate, expected to be 362,000 yen a month in fiscal 2027, for the rest of the term.

Fellows can also receive a Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows to fund their research plan, but only if they apply for it together with the fellowship. The standard budget is up to 2.4 million yen over three years for DC1 and 1.6 million over two years for DC2, and a larger budget of up to 4.5 million or 3 million yen can be granted where the plan justifies it.

Applicants of any nationality, including international students, must be enrolled in a doctoral course at a university in Japan. The test is enrolment status on 1 April of the year the fellowship starts. DC1 is for students in the first year of the doctoral stage, or the third year of a five-year integrated course, including those who will enter the doctoral stage that April. DC2 is for students in the second or third year of the doctoral stage, or the fourth or fifth year of an integrated course. Medical, dental, pharmaceutical and veterinary courses have their own year rules.

Former JSPS Research Fellows cannot apply again, and each person may submit only one application. Periods of leave from study are not counted as enrolment unless they total less than six months.

Fellows must focus on the research plan in their application and, in principle, may not change it. They cannot take a full-time job or hold any status other than fellow and graduate student, and they submit a research report at the end of each fiscal year and at the end of tenure. Other income and funding are allowed only within JSPS's conditions: international students holding a Japanese Government (MEXT) or foreign government scholarship must give it up on accepting, as must holders of student loans from the Japan Student Services Organization.

JSPS encourages research abroad. Stays of 28 days or more must be for research, supervised study elsewhere or a joint or double degree, and in most cases the total time abroad may not exceed two thirds of the tenure. Fellowships can be suspended for childbirth, childcare, injury or illness, and JSPS runs an aid programme for fellows during maternity. After the fellowship, former fellows are surveyed on their careers for about ten years.

Applications go through the applicant's university, never directly to JSPS. DC1 applicants apply through the university where they are enrolled or took their master's, and DC2 applicants through their host university. Each applicant gets an ID from the university, completes the application information in Japanese, and uploads a research plan in Japanese or English on the JSPS template. The current academic supervisor writes an evaluation report through the system, which the applicant cannot see.

Before applying, the applicant must obtain the consent of the researcher who will host them. Universities set their own internal deadlines ahead of JSPS's, which for the fiscal 2027 round was 5 pm Japan time on 3 June 2026.