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The Toyota Foundation

  • Research Grant Program

2021 Research Grant Program

The New Partnership Programme for Nurturing Professionals Begins

The Toyota Foundation and the University of Tokyo Institute for Future Initiatives (IFI) has established a new partnership programme under the theme of “Interlinkages and Innovation for Future Societies” and wish to recruits researchers who will conduct research to transform social systems.

For details, please visit URL

List of Grant Projects
TYTID Project Title Project Leader Position, Organization Grant Amount(yen)
D21-RC-0001 Partnership Programme: “Interlinkages and Innovation for Future Societies” Hideaki Shiroyama Director, Institute for Future Initiatives, the University of Tokyo 20,000,000

New Grant Program!

Interlinkages and Innovation for Future Societies:
Reevaluating Social Issues and Forging New Solidarity in the New Normal Era

Program Objectives

Our 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 us 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 we 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. Furthermore, in order to create a future society which promotes such innovation and fulfills these aspirations, it is important that the young researchers who will lead the next generation engage actively in research activities based on flexible and highly novel ideas, taking up the challenges of diverse issues to achieve a wealth of results.

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. It is our hope that the results of this research will be enthusiastically disseminated to society beyond the boundaries of academia.

Comments by Selection Committee Chair

The chairperson of the selection committee provides comments on the content submitted in the previous year's application and on projects that received funding. Please take a moment to read these comments as they may be helpful for this year's application. For information on submissions made before this period, please refer to the annual reports.

List of Grant Projects

TYTID Project Title Project Leader Position, Organization Grant Amount
(yen)
D21-R-0039 Seeking help when help is needed: Overcoming factors causing social isolation among older adults in Japan Tomoko Ikeuchi Researcher, Human Care Research Team, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology 6,200,000
D21-R-0040 Assessing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on compact cities and exploring pathways for a green and just recovery based on interlinkages between humans, the environment, and technology: Insights from Tokyo and Shanghai Ayyoob Sharifi Associate Professor, Hiroshima University, Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, International Economic Development Program 6,400,000
D21-R-0042 Realizing employment for people with severe physical disabilities requiring 24-hour care: A reexamination of the disallowance of assisted work from the viewpoint of people with disabilities Takuro Shimada Boad Member/Secretary General, Wawon Association
5,800,000
D21-R-0061 Proposal of co-creation of sustainable future visions using a gaming approach: A case study of the Mini SMART EARTH concept Kengo Suzuki Assistant Professor, Department of Engineering Mechanics and Energy, Faculty of Engineering, Information and Systems, University of Tsukuba 6,200,000
D21-R-0091 Development of a single-parent support program that realizes peer support and transcends regions: Verification of the process of realizing “new solidarity” from the restoration of “independence” Eri Sato Graduate Student, Division of Public Health Nursing Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicune 5,400,000
D21-R-0092 A Comprehensive Study of “Home” Environment Based on the Recognition Relationship between Humans and Things: From an Integrated Approach of Environmental Aesthetics, Architecture and Urban Planning Theory, and Art Practice Mao Matsuyama Research Associate, Mukogawa Institute of Esthetics in Everyday-Life 3,500,000
D21-R-0095 Learning in Community, Learning with Community: Development of a Network-Building Field Education Model Using ICT Tomohisa Abe JSPS Research Fellow (PD), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science/ College of Intercultural Communication,
Rikkyo University
4,500,000
D21-R-0097 Research on a Citizen-Participatory Local Governance Process Using DX to Solve the Disengagement of Young People from Politics, which Has Been Exacerbated by the Decrease in Interaction and Distrust of Politics in the Coronavirus Pandemic Rie Sato Representative Director, Group Mirai+Corona 6,000,000
D21-R-0109 Survey on Gender Inequalities and Working Conditions in the Japanese Film Industry Tatsuhito Utagawa Representative, Japanese Film Project 4,000,000

Grant Fremework

Program Theme Interlinkages and Innovation for Future Societies
Sub Theme Reevaluating Social Issues and Forging New Solidarity in the New Normal Era
Grant Amount (Total) 40 million yen (per project, up to around 8 million yen/two year)
Grant Periods Two years (Oct 1, 2021 to Sept 30, 2023)
Requirements Project representatives must be 45 years old or under on the day of the beginning of the grant.
Project representatives must have a contact address in Japan.
Project teams of two persons or more are eligible for the grant.
No limitations are placed on proposals with regard to the nationality of the project representative or participants; nor is there any restriction with regard to the their affiliation (or lack thereof) with a university, research institute, NPO/NGO, or other organization.
Proposal Submission Period April 12 to June 18, 2021, 15:00 Japan Standard Time
Grant Selection Formal decisions on the awarding of grants will be made at the Toyota Foundation Board of Directors meetings scheduled to be held in September 2021, based on the deliberations of a selection committee composed of outside

Proposal Guidelines and Project Proposal Form Samples

Please review the "Grant Overview," "Post-Selection Committee Chairman Evaluation," "List of Grant Recipients," "Reference Materials," etc. mentioned above. Once you have done so, please download the application guidelines, sample proposal, etc., and apply via the application entry.
※The application closed on June 18, 2021. Thank you for your interest.

 
Format Item Remarks
PDF Proposal Guidelines 2021このリンクは別ウィンドウで開きます  
PDF Project Proposal Form 2021 (sample)このリンクは別ウィンドウで開きます  

Application Form
Application Entry <The application period has ended>
*A blank word file is only available after registering applicant information.

Briefing Sessions

Online Briefing Sessions (not compulsory)

April 20, 2021 from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM (JST) closed
April 28, 2021 from 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM (JST) closed
May 13,2021 from 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM(JST) closed
  • The maximum participants is 100 for each session.
  • The online briefing sessions will be held in Japanese only.
  • *Application deadline of the information settion is at noon of the previous day of the session. Details of the zoom information will be send the previous day of the session to registered e-mail address.

Aside from the information session, applicants can consult with the program officers of the Toyota Foundation in advance of applying via email.
Please refer to the program guidelines for the details.

Outline of the Grant Selection Schedule

Outline of the Grant Selection Schedule in 2023

Apr. May June July Aug. Sep. Oct.
▸ Call for Proposals
▸ Proposal Submission Period
▸ Online Briefing Sessions (only in Japanese)
▸ Screening
▸ Interview and Selection
▸ Notification of the Selection Result
▸ Grant Award
Ceremony (tentative)
▸ Start of Granted Project

Recommended Documents

Recommended Workshop Films

We held a grantee's workshop on August 21, 2022. You can watch the whole program of the workshop on YouTube Toyota Foundation Channel. * The workshop is in Japanese.

Recommended Documents

The article of the online roundtable discussion

We have invited three grant projects and the selection committee chair to discuss the new theme of the Research Grant Program and motives for applying to the grant (held on March 10, 2022). The article of the online roundtable discussion is here

Click here for a printable PDF (layout version)PDFファイル(1195KB)

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