THE SUMITOMO FOUNDATIONFISCAL 2024 GRANT FOR
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH PROJECTSApplication Guide
The Sumitomo Foundation (“The Foundation”) offers this grant program to address the global
environmental issues, one of the most critical issues facing humanity in accordance with thefollowing terms and conditions:

1. Research Project to Grant

The global environmental issues are one of the most critical issues facing humanity, which
include the problems such as global warming, ozone layer destruction, acid rain, decrease ofspecies, food and population, desertification, and pollution as well as the challenges such asconservation of biodiversity, use of renewable resources and energy for the realization ofcarbon neutrality, and achievement of SDGs. We believe it is necessary to analyze and build
countermeasures with a multifaceted approach in order to solve these problems and challenges,
and seek for research projects from various perspectives of social sciences, humanities andnatural science.
General Research
Research projects which fit the purpose of this grant programas described above for any field or theme
Special Subject Research
Research projects on the below subject (please refer topage 3 for detail)<FY2024 Research Subject>“Interdisciplinary research and/or international collaborative
research to control the accumulation of greenhouse gases in
the atmosphere as an urgent task for humanity.”
Notes) The following research projects are not eligible:
1) Research projects for profit making or those likely to lead to profit making.
2) Research projects entrusted by a third party.
3) Research projects which have been substantially completed.

2. Grant Amount & Grant Period
Budget total

GeneralResearch¥70 milSpecial Subject
Research¥30 mil

Amount per project

Max ¥5 mil

Max ¥10 mil

Number of projects

App.40App. 3Grant Period(to be selected)

1 year or
2 years

2 years or
3 years

Left over amount for Special Subject Researchwould be used for General Research.
These amounts are the upper limits of the appliedamount, respectively.
If necessary during the grant period, Grant Period
can be extended to a total of 3 years and 4 years
respectively together with the initial period.

Notes)
1)Grant Period will start from the date of grant receipt (scheduled in November this year).
2)If there is an interruption of research due to maternity leave or childcare leave, theextension will be allowed separately from the above.

3. Qualifications of Applicant

Any applicant (sole researcher or representative of research group) who falls under either (1)or (2) described below is qualified to apply.
(1) Regardless of the nationality, anyone who belongs to a university, a college or a research
institution in Japan with an approval from an authorized person representing theaffiliation to apply for this grant program.
(2) Anyone other than (1) above who has Japanese nationality or a permission for permanent
residence in Japan.
Provided that anyone who belongs to a profit-making organization fully or even partially is
not eligible to apply.
Notes)
1) The Applicant should be responsible for carrying out proposed research project andmanaging the whole process including financials and reporting.
2) Anyone cannot apply for duplicates of our grant programs including this grant program,
while the Applicant can be a collaborator of other applicants.
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4. Applicable Expenses

Direct expenses for the proposed research project are applicable except the followingexpenses.
(i) Remuneration for services rendered by the Applicant and the Collaborator(s).
(ii) Administrative expenses incurred by research institutes to which the Applicant and theCollaborator(s) belong.
(iii) Expenses to purchase any instrument, apparatus or equipment for general use such as
PC, Server, Printer, Camera and so on.

5. Duties of Applicant (as Grantee)

The Grantee shall provide a consent letter to the Foundation and comply with the duties
stipulated in the letter, which include reporting the research result and accounting result to theFoundation in the designated format when the grant period has expired, acknowledging thegrant from the Foundation on the publishment of research results, and allowing the Foundationto reprint the reported research result (summary only) on its home page as well as post it on
the data base of The Japan Foundation Center for publication. Furthermore, if an event
sponsored by the Foundation such as a results report meeting is held, please understand inadvance that you may be required to participate in the event and/or submit materials.

6. Selection Process

The Selection Committee of Foundation will review and assess the applications from theseveral perspectives such as Sociality, Feasibility, Originality, Interdisciplinary andNecessity, and propose its selection to the Board of Directors of Foundation, scheduled inOctober 2024 for final solutions, which will be immediately notified to the Applicants byemail. Applied amount may be reduced as a result of the valuation by the Selection Committee.
The Foundation shall not accept any questions about the reasons of selection/ rejection.

7. Procedure for Application

The Applicant should apply through the website of the Foundation in Japanese or English.
1) Please access to the website of the Foundation, and submit application in Japanese orEnglish. Please take note the research subject of English application should be written inJapanese, and the contact person should be designated the person whom the Foundation cancontact in Japanese language.
2) The Applicant should submit application document of (1) Application and (2) Approval
from Affiliation (if applicable). For details, please refer to “Procedure & Instruction forApplication”.
3) Neither the application documents nor other material submitted shall be returned to theApplicant.
<Personal Information>
The personal information provided in the application is to be used strictly for the purposes ofselection as well as notification of the results of evaluation to the applicants. The Applicants
will be asked to show their consent on the website to the Foundation’s policy of the protectionof personal information. Please note, however, that the name of grantees (successfulapplicants), their affiliation, title, theme of research project and grant amount will beannounced to the public in due course.

7. Application Term

Commencement Date: April 15, 2024 (Access to URL is available on the Commencement Date.
Deadline:
June 30, 2024 17:00pm (Japan Time)
After the receipt of application documents, the registration number will be notified to theApplicant by email. Unless the Applicant receives it within one day after the submission,please inquire to the Foundation by email, or the Applicant would fail in the registration.
Please take note that the Foundation may cancel its registration of the application which does
not comply with Application Guide and/or Procedure & Instruction for Application.

8. Contact for Inquiry

The Sumitomo Foundation/Environment Research Program Officer
1-12-16 Shibadaimon Minato-ku, Tokyo JAPAN 105－ 0012
Telephone: 81-3-5473-0161 Facsimile: 81-3-5473-8471
Email: environment@sumitomo.or.jp
URL: https://www.sumitomo.or.jp/e/－ 2－

FY2024 Special Subject<Subject>“ Interdisciplinary research and/or international collaborative research to control
accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere as an urgent task for humanity.”

the<Explanation>
While the signs of the convergence of the COVID-19 pandemic are finally recognized, we arestill in a challenging situation, such as the crisis of global food and energy supply andincreasingly frequent disasters due to severe weather. Especially, extreme weather phenomena
worldwide are threatening a sustainable future, which was warned by UN Secretary-General
Antonio Guterres saying “the era of global warming has ended and the era of global boiling hasarrived.” The international community needs to work on controlling the accumulation ofgreenhouse gases in the atmosphere that causes global warming and climate change as a toppriority.
This is a difficult problem that cannot be solved enough with just a single specialty because awide range of aspects such as climate, ecosystem, society, economy and policy are intertwined.
To understand these aspects comprehensively and integrate relevant information and insights, aninterdisciplinary approach is essential. Experts in different fields must work together and grasp
the problem from a comprehensive perspective. To mitigate the situation and build a sustainable
future, various approaches based on scientific insights are needed, such as the spread ofrenewable energy, improvement of energy efficiency, promotion of sustainable agriculture andurban planning, promotion of carbon dioxide resourceization and storage, measures against
greenhouse gases accelerated by permafrost melting due to global warming and forest fires, andutilization of carbon pricing. Furthermore, from the perspective of social implementation, it isessential to form a social consensus that takes into account legal, political, economic and socialfactors.
In this context, the Grant Program calls for creative and interdisciplinary research to control
the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere as an urgent task for humanity. If it is aworld-wide issue or an issue related to certain overseas area, internationally cooperative
research is expected. The Grant Program also welcomes not only natural scientific approach
but human/social scientific approach which explores the change of human conducts andsocio-economic system, or combined approach.

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