3 Start-up research costs

Nurturing female leaders

Newly appointed
academic staff(females only)(1) AimThis program assists newly appointed female researchers with start-up research costs, the ultimate aim
being to nurture female leaders across a wide range of disciplines who have the potential to fill top
global leadership positions going forward. The hope is that by assisting researchers who have juststarted their research careers at this university, they will develop into full-fledged researchers capableof attracting funding from other sources.
(2) Program details
Funds will be provided to offset the start-up costs of research at Tohoku University.
 The maximum disbursement is 1 million yen. This amount may be reduced depending on the application
review, budgetary circumstances, and amounts awarded under other programs.
(3) Eligibility to apply
Female academic staff newly appointed during the period July 2, 2023 – July 1, 2024 (professors,associate professors, senior assistant professors and assistant professors), whose principal duties arewith Tohoku University. *1 This excludes specially appointed professors (management), and those whoseemployment is 100% funded by external sources and who are obliged to exclusively serve theorganization providing the funding.
*1 Excluding employees serving under the cross-appointment system and others whose principal employer
is an organization other than Tohoku University.
 Persons whose employment is fixed-term are not eligible to apply, if the date of “Renewal Limit” on their
Notice of Employment is on or before March 31, 2026.
 Those who have competitive funds (including university expenses) totaling 2 million yen or more in therelevant academic year are ineligible.
 Persons appointed on or after July 2, 2024, need to wait until the following academic year to apply.
 For persons who have been promoted from research associate to assistant professor or above, between
July 2, 2023 and July 1, 2024 they can apply for this program.
 Those who have been promoted to senior assistant professor or above within the university may apply,
if they have not previously been accepted for this grant.
 Those who have been previously selected for this grant may not apply again, regardless of any changes
to their department affiliation or post.
 Applications made not be made for both this grant and the Next Step Research Grant at the same time.
 If many applications are received, preference will be given to departments with a low proportion of
female academic staff.
(4) Application forms
 Attachment 3: Application for Start-up Research Costs: 2024 Academic Year
 Attachment 8: Survey of Cooperation in Gender Equality Activities Working condition agreement form (copy)(5) Deadline for submission of application
Friday, July 5, 2024

(6) Where to submit application
 Center for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Tohoku University (DEI Center) Fill out the relevant Google form and submit it to the DEI Center along with all required attachments (inPDF format). The Google Form will be posted on the DEI Center's website page as soon as the call for
applications opens.
(7) Application screening Documents will be examined by the screening panel within the DEI Center.
 During the screening process, you may be asked to prepare and submit additional documents or comefor an interview.
 Selections are scheduled to be announced at end-July 2024. The scheduled date for disbursing researchfunds is August 1, 2024.
(8) Year-end report
The awardee shall prepare a report, as separately prescribed, at the end of the academic year.

(9) Other information
 The awardee shall, as far as possible, cooperate with the following types of requests regarding thepromotion of DEI by the Committee for DEI Promotion and the DEI Center (may be taken into consideration inthe selection process):
Participation in symposiums and seminars, poster presentations, responding to questionnaires, writing
articles/comments for public-relations materials, and other requests..
 When announcing the results of research made possible by this program, the awardee must clearly
acknowledge assistance provided under the program. (Please refer to the attachment “Q&A” for apractical example.)