UNESCO/Japan Young Researchers’ Fellowships Programme

Benefits & funding

• Each fellowship provides a lump-sum grant of up to US$10,000 for a research stay of 3–9 months in Japan between February and December 2027.
• Eligible costs include approved international and domestic travel, accommodation, subsistence, local transport, incidental expenses, and applicable research costs.
• UNESCO arranges mandatory medical insurance and deducts its estimated cost of about US$75 per month, or US$225–675 for the full stay, from the grant before disbursement.
• Tuition, equipment including computers, and publication costs are excluded; conference costs qualify only when integral to the research and directly significant to the project.

Eligibility

• Applicants must be nationals of an invited state or territory: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cabo Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Togo, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Bahrain, Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, New Caledonia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Curaçao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sint Maarten, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Türkiye, or Ukraine.
• Applicants must be no more than 40 years old when applying and hold at least a Master’s degree or equivalent in a field relevant to the proposed research.
• Applicants must demonstrate sufficient reading and writing proficiency in the language of instruction or supervision at the proposed Japanese host institution.
• An academic supervisor at a Japanese university or research institution must accept the applicant and agree to provide supervision.

Application process

1. 1
   Read the Cycle 2026 application guide and contact the National Commission for UNESCO in your home country for its national pre-selection procedure and local deadline.
2. 2
   Obtain acceptance from an academic supervisor at a Japanese university or research institution.
3. 3
   Prepare the official application form, certified diplomas, transcripts, a referee recommendation, the host acceptance letter, language evidence, and a research proposal of no more than three pages with a USD budget.
4. 4
   Submit the dossier to your National Commission at least two weeks before UNESCO’s 30 September 2026 deadline.
5. 5
   If nominated, send the online application form and supporting documents to the programme email address as instructed.
6. 6
   The National Commission must send its nomination letter and the complete dossier to UNESCO by midnight Paris time on 30 September 2026.

Program timeline

1. Applications open.

   6 July 2026

2. National Commission nominations and complete dossiers are due to UNESCO at midnight Paris time; candidates should submit locally at least two weeks earlier.

   30 September 2026

3. Evaluation and selection.

   October–November 2026

4. Fellowships awarded.

   December 2026

5. Applicants not notified by this date should regard their application as unsuccessful.

   31 January 2027

6. From February 2027

   Research stays may begin.

7. Research stays must be completed.

   By December 2027