Deadline: 18-Jun-21
The Toyota Foundation is seeking applications for its Research Grant Program 2021.
Objectives
- Daily lives have changed dramatically due to the unprecedented situation of the COVID-19 pandemic. The rapid utilization of digital technology for online lessons and teleworking is not only requiring them to become serious about tackling the full-scale expansion of education about and using IT and workstyle reform, which had been delayed. It is also pushing us to interact with people in ways we have never experienced before, particularly in the ways they communicate in the new setting of cyberspace. In addition, COVID-19 has also provided the opportunity for a fundamental reevaluation of the existing social systems and interactions between human beings and the natural environment.
- Dealing with the issues highlighted by COVID-19 and creating a new society will require innovation that transforms the perceptions, lifestyles and social systems of the past rather than superficial reforms. It is necessary to transcend existing ideas and perspectives and take on the challenge of issues focused on diverse connections (interlinkages), including those of people with people, people with nature, and people with things/technology to design a new future.
- Based on this awareness of the issues involved, the new Toyota Foundation Research Grant Program will support research projects led by young researchers based on the theme “Interlinkages and Innovation for Future Societies: Reevaluating Social Issues and Forging New Solidarity in the New Normal Era” starting from 2021. The program invites proposals for projects that will ambitiously address the transformation of social systems based on free-thinking perspectives unconstrained by conventional frameworks.
Funding Information
- Total allocated grant amount: 40 million yen;
- Maximum grant amount: 8 million yen/project.
Targeted Projects
- Joint research projects conducted by two persons or more are eligible.
- Project representatives must be 45 years old or under on the day of the beginning of the grant and must have a contact address in Japan.
- Project team members other than the representatives of project teams are not subject to any restrictions with regard to age or residency. Neither representatives nor team members of the project are subject to any restrictions with regard to nationality, academic or career background, or institutional affiliation. The research grant program is not restricted to researchers affiliated with universities and research institutes, and they welcome applications from a variety of people, including practitioners, who are involved in civil society activities such as those by NGOs or NPOs, and independent researchers.
- Grant recipients (project team representatives) are required to maintain close communication with the Toyota Foundation program officers during the grant period.
- Projects will have a clear idea of the social issues that need to be reevaluated in the New Normal era and will include concrete plans for engaging in research activities aimed at the transformation of social systems. Projects will also aim to actively share research findings with the wider society.
- They value trial and error and unintended developments in research activities. However, they require researchers to go beyond simply sticking to research alone to take into consideration the specific ways for sharing and implementing their research findings with the wider society. They place particular emphasis on sharing with society through policy recommendations, construction of models, and the development of platforms and/or networks.
For more information, visit https://www.toyotafound.or.jp/english/research/2021/