Background and Description of International Research Training Groups
International Research Training Groups (IRTGs), in which German universities cooperate with research institutions in other countries and regions, combine innovative top-level research and the structured promotion of excellent researchers in early career phases. As bilateral collaborations set up by experienced researchers, IRTGs promote systematic scientific cooperation through joint research programmes and corresponding qualification measures for doctoral and postdoctoral researchers. A central feature of IRTGs are coordinated and reciprocal research visits by doctoral researchers at the respective partner institutions. IRTGs can only be established by universities, universities of applied science and research institutions entitled to confer doctoral degrees.
Structure of Japanese-German Research Training Groups
Proposals for Japanese-German IRTGs intended for JSPS-DFG funding are open to all subject areas covered by the JSPS, and interdisciplinarity in joint projects is encouraged. An IRTG should be run by two teams of participating researchers in Japan and Germany, respectively. Each team should have members with proven expertise both in the IRTG’s main research topic and in providing outstanding supervision to doctoral researchers. The participating researchers’ expertise at the two locations should be complementary and provide added value to the IRTG. Each team of participating researchers in an IRTG should be based at a single institution in Japan and Germany, respectively. In convincingly justified cases, an IRTG may be based at more than two institutions.
The Japanese and German teams in an IRTG should jointly formulate a high quality and coherent research and training programme to be implemented at both sites. The teams should have common research interests and objectives, and these must be reflected within a common framework and joint project. Proposals are submitted by the host institutions. For every IRTG, one member of the team on each side serves as spokesperson, being responsible for the proposal and the scientific coordination of the IRTG. This also includes the responsibility to report to the JSPS and the DFG, respectively.
The programme should provide for regular exchanges of academic staff and doctoral researchers for the purposes of joint research and training. Doctoral researchers should spend a period of at least six months (and up to one year) in total during their PhD project at the respective partner institution for research and training, and each doctoral researcher should have both a Japanese and a German supervisor. On the German side, approximately ten to fifteen doctoral researchers will be funded by the DFG within a single IRTG in parallel. The partner site in Japan should support a group of doctoral researchers of roughly the same size.
Please note: Proposals are only open to consortia that are planning to establish a novel joint degree or double degree programme for the doctoral researchers between the two institutions within the framework of the IRTG.
Submission and Evaluation of Proposals
The Japanese-German consortium will firstly need to submit a joint IRTG draft proposal to the DFG. Submission will be possible at any time without calls or deadlines, and proposals are processed continuously. Draft proposals will be evaluated by means of written peer review carried out by reviewers selected by both the JSPS and the DFG. On average, around six to nine months are needed for this process, in which the DFG evaluates the draft proposals according to its established procedures. The DFG and the JSPS will share information about the submission of proposals and their evaluation outcome. In case of a positive outcome of the review process, the JSPS and the DFG then invite the consortium to submit a joint full proposal. The joint full proposal must be sent to the JSPS and the DFG simultaneously. Submission must be in accordance with the respective funding organisation’s guidelines and through the established submission systems. Full proposals will be evaluated separately by the JSPS and the DFG.
