U.S. Mission to Japan: Strategic Education Policy-focused Speaker Program

Deadline: 30-Aug-2023

U.S. Embassy Tokyo’s Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Department of State announces an open competition for organizations to submit applications to carry out its Education Policy-focused Speaker’s Program.

The Education Speakers’ Program brings dynamic U.S. citizen experts to Japan and Japanese presenters to engage professional audiences throughout the country on education-related strategic topics of importance to the United States and Japan.

Specifically, the program seeks to influence local audiences to:

• enhance student mobility, both inbound and outbound;
• boost the pursuit of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education in Japan at the graduate level;
• promote great cooperation in science and technology between U.S. and Japanese universities and protect research and improve export controls; and
• build stronger partnerships between universities and the private sector, including strengthening workforce development, promoting research and development, and supporting Japanese universities looking to translate basic research into commercially viable and societally beneficial services.

The program also seeks to establish concrete networking and contact-building opportunities among U.S. experts and local audiences. Programs may take place in person or virtually. They highly recommend potential applicants to collaborate and coordinate with project partners in Japan in order to implement the requested programs successfully.

Objectives

• Potential applicants should propose detailed specific, measurable, achievable, and relevant (SMART) project objectives for their proposed programs. Potential applicants should develop outcome-based objectives that incorporate measurable outcome indicators and propose methods to measure them.
• Please note that Public Affairs Section will make a final decision about the selection of speakers and the selection of audience.
• Proposals should seek to meet all the following goals:
  • Objective 1
    • Within two years from the start award date, conduct one U.S. speaker program on increasing STEM graduate students in Japan.
  • Objective 2
    • Within two years from the grant start date, conduct one U.S. speaker program on science and technology cooperation between universities.
  • Objective 3
    • Within two years from the start award date, conduct one U.S. speaker program on building stronger partnerships between universities and the private sector.
  • Objective 4
    • Within two years from the grant start date, conduct one U.S. speaker program on enhancing student mobility.
  • Objective 5
    • Within two years from the grant start date, conduct one U.S. speaker program on a topic of mutual interest as determine by the newly created binational U.S.-Japan Education Working Group.
• The Education Policy-focused Speaker Program for Japan supports both traveling and virtual speakers, and a combination of both. Proposals should clearly state whether organizations are requesting to conduct traveling or virtual speaker programs or a combination of both.

Funding Information

• Length of performance period: Up to 24 months
• Number of awards anticipated: 1 award (dependent on amounts)
• Award amounts: awards may range from a minimum of $50,000 to a maximum of $150,000
• Total available funding: $150,000
• Anticipated program start date: No later than January 31, 2024.
• Program Performance Period: Proposed programs should be completed in 2 years or less.

Participants and Audiences

• Established opinion and emerging leaders in education, business, technology, government, media, and public administration. All programs must engage Japanese audiences.
• All programs must include a U.S. element or connection with U.S. experts that will promote increased understanding of U.S. policy and perspectives. Programs may take place in person or virtually. If you apply from outside of Japan, they highly recommend potential applicants to collaborate and coordinate with project partners in Japan to implement requested programs successfully.
• The applicant should budget for interpretation and translation.

Priority Region

• Japan

Eligibility Criteria

• The following organizations are eligible to apply:
  • Not-for-profit organizations, including think tanks and civil society/nongovernmental organizations o Public and private educational institutions.
  • Public international organizations and governmental institutions.

For more information, visit Grants.gov.