AY 2023
Support for Pioneering Research Initiated by the Next
Generation

Program for Developing Human Resource with
Rhizome-based Research Approach

Student Application Guidelines

Osaka Metropolitan University,
Office of Support forPioneering Research Initiated by the Next Generation
December 2022
* Contents are based on the previously estimated budget for FY2023. The contents of support may change
once the project budget is officially finalized.

1. Program Objective
This program actively supports students entering doctoral courses with the aim of helping
them develop the ability to solve social issues, create leading research fields, and cultivate andrealize a vision of the future for society. In this program, students will not only delve into thespecialized knowledge they have cultivated through research and other activities up to themaster’s level, but will also be motivated to deeply explore and develop their own research byenthusiastically absorbing expertise from other fields and disciplines, and organicallycombining diverse and interdisciplinary expertise.

2. Details of Support
The following support is available for eligible students in this program (within a standardyears of study).
1) Rhizome Research Incentive Payments: JPY 2.2 million yen per year (This includes JPY
2,000,000 for incentive payments (equivalent to living expenses) and JPY 200,000 forresearch funds)
2) Rhizome Activity Support Fund: application basis (with review)2)-1 Financial support for studying abroad or in Japan (approximately 3 to 6 months, up
to JPY 1.5 million during support period)2)-2 Financial support for long-term internship (approximately 3 months)2)-3 Financial support for travel and participation expenses for international conferences
and summer school overseas2)-4 Financial support for submitting research papers (includes translation costs)2)-5 Financial support for organizing and managing independent projects2)-6 Support for career and network development[Notes](1) The maximum period of support is 3 years (4 years in the case of 4-year doctoral course (medicaland veterinary doctoral courses). If you are enrolled in doctoral course for more than 3 years (or4 years in 4-year doctoral course), including years before this support starts, you will not be
eligible to receive supports after the end of standard years of study.
If you take a leave of absence during the support period, supports may be terminated dependingon the reasons.
(2) Support starts in April 2023 (October for students planning to enroll in October 2023).
(3) Support starts for those students who have passed this selection process and will be enrolled in thegraduate school listed in “3. Application Requirements” and not in leave of absence as of the
support starting date.

3. Application Requirements
Applicants must have excellent research abilities and a strong desire to dedicate themselves
to research and meet any of the following requirements.

11) Persons who plan to apply or have applied for doctoral course (3-year or 4-year doctoralcourse) at the Graduate School of Osaka Metropolitan University (OMU) for admissionin April 2023
2) Persons who plan to apply for doctoral course (3-year doctoral course) at the Graduate
School of OMU for admission in October 2023 (Note: Medicine and Veterinary not included)3) Doctoral students who enrolled in April 2022 (3-year doctoral course) at OMU(Note: Medicine and Veterinary are not included)4)

Doctoral students who enrolled in April 2021 (4-year doctoral course: Medicine andVeterinary only) at OPU/OCU.

However, the following students (as of support starting date) are excluded:
・ Students who have been selected as a Research Fellowship for Young Scientists (DC)of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)
・ Foreign students supported by the Japanese Government (Japanese Ministry ofEducation, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology [MEXT]) Scholarship Program・ International students who receive scholarships and/or other support from their homecountry
・ Working students who have been eligible to receive a stable and enough amount ofmoney as living expenses (2.4 million yen / year as a reference) from the company towhich they belong.
・ Students who are receiving support from the University Fellowship Founding Projectfor Innovation Creation in Science and Technology (Fellowship Program) or who
have applied for the Fellowship Program and have been accepted as prospective
students for FY 2023. Regardless of the preceding paragraph, this does not apply tothose who have submitted a notification of withdrawal of support or acceptance by thetime of application for this selection (support will end on March 31, 2023 at thelongest for students currently receiving support). The students who apply for this time
selection without submitting a withdrawal notice will have their applications
invalidated.

The understanding of your academic supervisor is essential for the promotion of this program.
Before submitting your application, please obtain the consent of your prospective supervisor.
In addition, please make sure that you fully understand the objectives of this program byreviewing the “Program Descriptions” materials on the program’s website before applying.
Visit https://www.omu.ac.jp/spring/info/2023_recruitment/[Notes](1) Other financial supports from such as scholarships of JASSO and other foundations
Since this program is targeting to "create an environment where students can concentrate on theirresearch" and JASSO scholarships has the different nature, you may basically receive the support
from this program and either of loan-type or benefit-type scholarships at the same time. However,JASSO may not allow you to receive scholarships at the same time. Please make sure to check withJASSO as well. Regarding scholarships from other foundations, those foundations may not allow you
to receive scholarships together with this project. Please make sure to check with the foundations.
2(2) University Fellowship Founding Project for Innovation Creation in Science and TechnologyApplicants applying for this program may not apply for the University Fellowship Founding
Project for Innovation Creation in Science and Technology (Fellowship Program). If you apply forboth programs, you must withdraw one of your applications prior to selection process.
However, when applying for this program, you may indicate on the application form your secondor third choice of field for the Fellowship Program. Only if you are not selected for this project andthere is a vacancy in the field you entered as your second choice, you will be considered for selectionin the field of your second choice. If you are not selected in your second choice and there is avacancy in your third-choice field, you will only be considered for selection in your third choice
field. Please note that the second and third choices cannot be the same.

4. Projected Number of Students to be Accepted
1) Students enrolling in April 2023:

About 21 students

2) Students enrolling in October 2023 (3-year course):

About 2 students

3) Students enrolled in April 2022 (3-year course)
or in April 2021 (4-year course):

About 2 students

5. Schedule
1) Application period
Application Form Submission: Friday, January 20 – Tuesday January 31, 2023, 12:00 JST
Essay and Photo Submission: Friday, January 20 – Tuesday January 31, 2023, 15:00 JST
2) Notification of interview date and time
Notification will be sent by Friday, February 10, 2023, to the email address provided on
the application form.
3) Interview
Specific date and time between Tuesday February 14 and Thursday March 2, 2023, 9:0017:30. The interview will take approximately 25 minutes.
4) Announcement of AcceptanceFriday, March 17, 2023: Successful applicants will be notified at the email addressprovided in the application form.
* We will not respond to any inquiries regarding acceptance or rejection by phone.

3

6. Application Process1) Where to apply
Please visit https://forms.office.com/r/X4mGRK94GX and submit the required information.
Submission deadline: 12:00 JST on the last day of the application period
Once you have successfully submitted it, you will receive an email to the email address you
entered to confirm that your application has been received. Please submit the following twofiles in section 2) as follows by returning the email above:
Submission deadline: 15:00 JST on the last day of the application period
Email to: gr-knky-rhizome-su@omu.ac.jp*Receipt confirmation email for these files will not be sent out.
Please send the two files encrypted and send the password for decompression in a separate
email. Once you submit these two files within the application period, your application will
be complete.
* The above form has many fields and may take longer time to complete than you imagine.
Please fill out the form well in advance so that you do not miss the deadline.
Please note that only the last completed form will be considered valid if you fill out the above
form multiple times during the application period.

2) Files1.

Essay using Form 1 (attached)
Please name the file "Student ID Number_Name.pdf" (in .pdf format only).

2.

Face Photo (above shoulders) (jpg, bmp, png format).
Please name the file "Student ID Number_name.jpg” (or bmp, png).

If you belong to another university at the time of application, you do not need to enter yourstudent ID number.
Form 1 can be downloaded from https://www.omu.ac.jp/spring/info/2023_recruitment/
Notes for special caution(1) Incomplete application documents will not be accepted.
(2) Documents submitted at the time of application will not be returned.
(3) No revisions of documents are allowed after the application procedure has been completed.
(4) If it is confirmed that the information entered in the application form, or the information
contained in the submitted documents, is not true, the applicant's eligibility to participate in thisproject may be revoked.
(5) Personal information provided by applicants will be used only for the purpose of selection.
(6) No application fee is required for the selection process.

47. Selection Method
1) Examination contents
Subjects for
Scoring
examination
Essay

Interview

Outline etc.

100 points

To be prepared accordance with Form 1.

100 points

This will be conducted online. You will have seven minutes
at the beginning to present your essay (using power point
slides allowed), followed by a thirteen-minute question-andanswer session.

2) Evaluation method
Evaluation (scoring) will be performed in accordance with the results of the essay andinterview. Scoring will be based on the Rubric Evaluation Table.

8. Date and Place of Interview· After the application documents are received, the date and time will be designatedsometime between February 14 (Tuesday) and March 2 (Thursday), 2023.
· If, during the abovementioned time periods, you are unable to attend an interview for
legitimate reasons such as presentations at academic conferences, please specify yourunavailability for the interview with the reason in the designated column of theapplication form (you may be asked to submit documentation to verify the reason later).
However, this does not guarantee that the interview will be held at a time other than thespecified time slot.
· The interview will take approximately 25 minutes.
· We will inform you of the date and time of the interview and the URL for the Zoom
meeting by Friday, February 10. If you do not hear from us by 4:30 p.m. on that day,please contact us by 5:00 p.m. on the same day at the e-mail address listed in “11.
Contact Information.”
Notes:(1) In the event that an interview cannot be conducted as scheduled due to a natural disaster, etc., an“emergency notice” will be sent out via e-mail, so please check.
(2) Emergency contact information on the day of the interview is the same as in “11. ContactInformation.”59. Student Obligations
Students selected for this program are responsible for the following. Failure to adhere tothese obligations may result in termination of support and a request for support funds to bereturned.
1) Determine associate supervisor and promote the research activities of complex(multidisciplinary) knowledge
It is possible to determine your associate supervisor by consulting your main academicsupervisor or mentor after you have been accepted to the program.
2) Obtaining a certain number of credits from common education courses at graduate school3) Study abroad or in Japan for approximately 3 to 6 months
4) Long-term internship (approximately 3 months): Recommended
5)

Attend research progress report meetings

6)

Attend JST research ethics training and compliance training courses dedicated by theuniversity

10. Notes
The purpose of this program is to support research after admission to the doctoral course of
the graduate school. Even if you are accepted to this program before admission, you will not
be exempted from the graduate school entrance examination. Acceptance or rejection of thisprogram has nothing to do with the graduate school entrance examination. In addition, thisprogram does not provide reduction, exemption, or assistance for entrance and tuition fees.
(For information on other financial aid programs including entrance and tuition fees offeredby OMU, please contact the respective section in charge of each program.)

11. Contact Information
Please inquire at the Support Office below.
Please note that inquiries will be accepted only by email in order to avoid any discrepancies in
the information shared by the Support Offices.
We thank you in advance for your understanding.

Office of Support for Pioneering Research Initiated by the Next Generation
Email: gr-knky-rezhome-su@omu.ac.jp6(Form 1)

Essay
Name
Affiliation

Graduate school of ＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿
Major in ______________________

Academic supervisor
Subject of research
Research keywords (about 5)*Name of associate supervisor and/orassociate graduate school (major)*If you have not decided these at the application stage, be sure to enter the name of the expectedcandidate associate supervisor or the name of the expected associate graduate school, etc.

This is the end of the information to be included on this page.
Please start your essay from next page in accordance with the instructions below.
⚫ There is no set format.
⚫ Explain your research and thoughts described in 1) through 5) below in simple terms sothat it is easy for people outside your area of expertise to understand.
⚫ The essay should be maximum 3000 word long and up to 3 pages in A4 format including
figures, tables and graphs (total up to 4 pages including this page). When describing
achievements in your essay, please write "Applicant" to refer to yourself. Do not include
your name.
⚫ Please include the following five points in your essay.
1)

2)

3)
4)

Describe your research in a concise and easy-to-understand manner, including the purpose ofyour research, research methods, research content, and the characteristics and originality of yourresearch (comparison with previous research, expected impact upon completion of the research,future prospects, etc.). Then, please describe in detail what and to what extent you intend toclarify by the time you receive your degree. Those who have applied for JSPS Research
Fellowship for Young Scientists (DC1) for FY2023 may attach the application form as
supplemental materials in addition to your essay.
Describe how you think the research results obtained through this program will result in one ormore of the following: (1) solutions to social issues, (2) creating leading research areas, and/or(3) creating a future vision of society concretely.
Describe what kind of "complex (multidisciplinary) knowledge" you think is necessary inaccordance with the purpose of this Rhizome Program and how you plan to acquire it.
Describe the transferable skills* you plan to acquire through this program and explain thereasons why you want to obtain these skills and how to acquire them.
(*Transferable skills in this program include skills that can be widely transferred and applied,such as originality, flexible mindset, rising to challenges, ability to identify research needs,
research management skills, data analysis skills, presentation ability, leadership skills to attract
people, and other skills that are required in developing innovative human resources.)

5)

Describe your ideas about your career path after completing your doctoral course, and how you
would like to be active and contribute to society.