research proposal mext

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My Way to Japan

• Proposal Writing in MEXT Scholarship Application (Postgraduate)

Proposal Writing in MEXT Scholarship Application (Postgraduate) Lai Hung Wei Updated in December 2022

There are generally two types of MEXT scholarship for postgraduates, the typical embassy-recommended route and university-recommended route. Personally, I think both have respective pros and cons; for university-recommended route, one needs to have a much clearer view on your research proposal and at least a targeted laboratory of an institution due to the need of a preliminary interview/discussions with your potential supervisor. Unlike embassy-recommended route, not all institutions offer this application route and the number of successful applicants is also much lesser.

There is already plenty of guides on how to apply for a MEXT scholarship. Therefore, I will be focusing on proposal writing during MEXT scholarship application in this post (Life Science). Although proposals are generally written in English, it can be written in Japanese if you are feeling confident. Please be noted that the proposal format may change in the future, so this is generally for your reference.

1. Present field of study

This section requires the applicant to write on their current field of study, which is the first evaluation on the scientific capability of the applicant in his/her current research. Write an abstract on your current research field. Be sure to mention the title. Start off with background and problem statement of your current research. Then, move on to the aim and objectives, followed by results and discussion section. Lastly, end the proposal with a conclusion and future considerations. If your research is still not complete, write down the expected findings and conclusion. Include some figures or results if allowed. Inclusion on some of your academic achievements may be helpful as well.

2. Research theme after arrival in Japan

Write down the theme of your proposed research in Japan. You may include some background information on the theme, write down some of the currently faced problem in the field and how you intend to overcome them.

3. Study Programme in Japan in detail (Study/Research Proposal)

This is perhaps the most difficult part of all. First, you need to come up with a research proposal which is relevant to your potential laboratory in Japan. Prior discussion with the potential principal investigator (PI) is highly recommended. Please be sure to allocate adequate time before the application starts. Similar to the present field of study above, you need to write in detail on background, problem statement, aims and objectives, results and discussion and conclusion for your proposed research. Writing what is the speciality of your proposal (how important it is) and possible contribution to the community (how your research findings can help) would be an added advantage.

The preparation of a good proposal will require (1) vigorous reading and creativity by yourself; and (2) consistent discussion with both current and future PI as well. It is not an easy task, but it will definitely be worth it. All the best and good luck in your application!

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Ahmad amiruddin.

Example Field of Study and Research Plan Monbukagakusho/MEXT Scholarship

（別紙様式７）

Field of Study and Research Plan

Proposed study program in Japan (Outline your field of study on this side and the specific of your study program on the reverse side of this sheet. This section is one of the most important references for selection. The statement must be typewritten or written in block letters. Additional sheets of paper may be attached if necessary. If plagiarism or fraud is discovered after selection, the selection will be cancelled retroactively.)

（日本での研究計画；この研究計画は，選考の重要な参考となるので，表面に専攻分野の概要を，裏面に研究計画の詳細を具体に記入すること。記入はタイプ又は楷書によるものとし，必要な場合は別紙を追加してもよい。なお、採用後に不正、盗用等が判明した場合は遡って採用を取り消す。）

If you have Japanese language ability, write in Japanese. （相当の日本語能力を有する者は，日本語により記入すること｡）

１　 Present field of study （現在の専攻分野）

In 2016, I won a Full-Funded scholarship and graduated from Universitas Pertamina in 2020 with a Bachelor's Degree in Environmental Engineering. My final project is “Design of Auto Floating Garbage Collector (AFGC) in Pesanggarahan River, South Jakarta, Indonesia”. The project is about making tools to reduce waste in the Pesanggrahan River, mainly plastic waste, although the floating cube has been used as a garbage collection tool in the river, it is not effective in reducing waste because there is still waste that escapes with the purpose to design an AFGC that is efficient in the aspects of manufacturing cost and effective from the aspect of waste removal and collection as well as knowing the AFGC specifications in the Pesanggrahan River, Jakarta. The data from this project was collected from Joint Research About “Environment Dynamic Analysis: Estimation of Plastic Emission to The Ocean in Indonesia”, Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) between Universitas Pertamina and Toyohashi University and Technology. Expected, the results of this final project will become a reference for the Special Capital Region of Jakarta Government to provide an efficient and effective floating garbage collector to save the aquatic environment.

For the next study and research, my proposed field of study is still about the aquatic environment but focusing on the coastal zone. With basic of environment, the research theme is about Numerical Simulation of Coastal Ecosystems Changes Due to Changes in Coastlines and Relation with Sediment Transport Model.  

　 ２　 Your research topic in Japan: Describe articulately the research you wish to carry out in Japan.

（渡日後の研究テーマ：日本においてどういった研究がしたいかを明確に記入すること）

Research Theme:

Numerical Simulation of Coastal Ecosystems Changes Due to Changes in Coastlines and Relation with Sediment Transport Model

1. Introduction

Communities are facing many challenges in today’s world. Sediment transport, for a long time considered for civil engineering (polders, ports, breakwater, jetty, groin, etc.) has now very sensitive issues for society, by the growing needs for sand resources, for environmental issues or safety, through extreme events that violently affect inhabited coastlines CITATION Oui18 \l 1033   (Ouillon, 2018) . As a valuable resource in coastal areas, coastlines are not only vulnerable to natural processes such as erosion, siltation, and disasters, but are also subjected to strong pressures from human processes such as urban growth, resource development, and pollution discharge (Sui et al.,2020). On the other hand, extreme events, such as tsunami waves and storm surges, can cause severe changes to coastal morphology (Rasyif et al., 2019).

  The sediment transport processes and the resulting morphodynamics of the nearshore coastal zone are quite complex. Besides field measurements, complex behaviors can be investigated with the help of numerical models. Hydrodynamic and sediment transport modelling lead us possible to know and estimate hydrodynamic behavior and quantify erosion, deposition, and sediment transport for the given period over a large or tight area (Fattah et al., 2018). Even today highly simplified formulas and models are applied, when the development of the coastline is to be calculated. It would be of great advantage to have a two-dimensional model that describes all the different modes of transport in a natural process-based manner. Because a large fraction of the sediment is transported along the bar, it is desirable to incorporate the bars in the simulation system.  

Understanding the dynamics of sediment transport and erosion-deposition patterns in the locality of a coastal structure is vital to evaluating the performance of coastal structures and predicting the changes in coastal dynamics caused by a specific structure. The nearshore hydro-morphodynamic responses to coastal structures vary widely, as these responses are complex functions with numerous parameters, including structural design, sediment, and wave dynamics, angle of approach, the slope of the coast, and the materials making up the beach and structures. Sediment transport in coastal areas is mainly influenced by dynamic nearshore processes and site-specific environmental conditions, including sediment characteristics, wind, currents, waves, tides, and the exchange processes between estuaries and nearshore regions (Fitri et al., 2019).  

This case happened at Lampuuk beach which coastlines transformation because of sediment transport that changes the coastal ecosystem. The tsunami in 2004 has resulted in coastline shifts along the west coast of Aceh. One of the beaches in the western region that undergoes a major coastline change, the results show that coastline changes occur very significantly during the 2004 tsunami and persisted until 2005, but after 2010 the coastline was back to normal. In 2005-2018 the sedimentation process at Lampuuk Beach was more dominant, these changes are gradually recovered by the presence of sedimentation assisting to adjust the shape of the coastal profile as before the 2004 tsunami (Adela et al., 2019).  

In this research, I will develop a Depth-Averaged Two-dimensional Hydrodynamic and Sediment Transport Model. A depth-averaged two-dimensional (2-D) numerical model for the simulation from the models and to provide confidence in the simulations of the current, waves, and patterns of suspended sediment concentration. The numerical model will develop with Phyton or Fortran.  

2. Objectives

• To Developed Depth-Averaged Two-dimensional Hydrodynamic and Sediment Transport Model to identified Changes in Coastal Ecosystems Due to Changes in Coastlines and Relation with Sediment Transport Model
• To Better Understand the mechanism and process involved in these movement and in successive transport phase, with some area-specific or sediment type-specific process.
• To Investigating the impact of the sediment transport on environment and ecosystem.
• To Quantify or even to anticipate the impact of sediment transport on environments and ecosystems. 

3. Methodology

a. Data Collection

In this study, field-measured and secondary data were collected and analyzed to understand the hydrodynamic and sediment transport patterns. Field-measured data include sediment sampling along the research coastline; fine resolution bathymetry data survey along the coastline; measurement of current, waves, water level fluctuations, suspended sediment concentration (SSC) and sediment bed characteristic near the research sites; water samplings near the research sites; and monitoring of coastal sea-bed profiles. The secondary data included the weather data consist of wind and wave data, rainfall data, tide data, and bathymetry data for offshore zones.  

b. Monitoring of Sea-Bed Elevation

The sea-bed elevations in the region were monitored using a total station (theodolite) and bed-profiler for a period. The sea-bed elevation monitoring was mainly concentrated at more significant sea-bed level changes was expected, like Structure (Jetty, groin region, breakwater, and seawall) or Mangrove Degraded Area (MDA). We make several profile lines to obtain accurate bed surface data. The profiling outcomes used to analyze the erosion-deposition patterns in the locality of the monitoring structure/area by determining the elevation differences between the bed profiling measurements obtained and the initial sea-bed elevations.  

c. Numerical Modelling

Accurate prediction of hydrodynamic and sediment transport characteristics under the influence of wave-current interactions in coastal regions is a challenging task due to multifaceted nearshore dynamic process which are varying on both temporal and spatial scales. In this study, Phyton or Fortran will use for simulating the flow hydrodynamics and cohesive sediment transport for the case study. The modelling approach adopted for study is based on the numerical solution of the two-dimensional incompressible Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes equation with the assumption of Boussinesq and hydrostatic pressure.

1.      Model Setup

The numerical model is used to investigate the impact of Structure or MDA on the hydrodynamics and sediment transport patterns in the locality of the jetty, groin region or mangrove degraded area. In this study, the hydrodynamic characteristics, including currents and waves, were simulated in presence of the Structure or MDA and without Structure or MDA to quantify the impact of the Structure or MDA on the nearshore processes. Separate models were developed to simulate the conditions for the neap and spring tides. The suspended sediment concentrations (SSC) were also simulated in the vicinity of the Structure or MDA for both seasons and tidal conditions. The numerical results were compared to the data obtained from field measurements, for calibration and validation purposes.  

2.      Model Input

Model input data consisted of bathymetry data; climate data, including wind characteristics, water level and wave characteristics; sediment data, including sediment characteristics, SSC and TSS; and water discharge from research sites. The bathymetry data obtained from previous research. These data were further integrated with bathymetry data. Following successful model calibration and validation, the model was set up by using the dominant wind and wave characteristics and the average SSC.  

3.      Computational Domain

The computational domain was developed with the use of bathymetry data and by adopting a flexible mesh technique. The computational domain developed for hydrodynamic and sediment transport modelling. This study set the computational domains beyond the study area. Therefore, the computational domain developed for the simulation. To improve the cost-e ffi ciency of the modelling, smaller computational domain was generated for the sediment transport model. The computational domain developed for hydrodynamic, wave and sediment transport modelling.  

4.      Model Calibration and Validation

To check the accuracy of the simulation results from the models and to provide confidence in the simulations of the current, waves, and patterns of suspended sediment concentration in the locality of the existing detached jetty, groin region, or mangrove degraded area, the simulation results obtained from the models were calibrated initially against measured conditions.

The calibration of the hydrodynamic model was carried out by adjusting the values of the bed roughness/Manning number over the whole computational domain. The calibration of the wave model was carried out by adjusting the values of the wave breaking parameters, bottom friction parameters, and white-capping (deep water wave breaking) parameters. The calibration of the mud transport model was carried out by adjusting the values of the erosion coefficient, power of erosion, settling velocity, and critical shear stress for deposition and erosion. To check the accuracy of the simulation results, the Theil’s inequality coefficients, R Squared (R2), and Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) were calculated.

Now, compares the simulated and measured water level, current characteristics, wave characteristics, and SSC at each station. Make the result table to the values of Thiel’s coefficient, R2 and RMSE obtained during the model calibration and validation. Based on the standard error allowed by Guideline for Hydrodynamic Modelling from Government Department, for hydrodynamic and sediment transport modelling, to prove that the models we calibrated and validated are correct.

  BIBLIOGRAPHY Adela, I., Nugraha, G. S., Irham, M., & Syahreza, S. (2019). Spatial Analysis of Post Tsunami 2004 Coastline Changes in Lampuuk, Aceh Besar. IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 273 . doi:10.1088/1755-1315/273/1/012046

Fattah, A. H., Suntoyo, Damerianne, H. A., & Wahyudi. (2018). Hydrodynamic and Sediment Transport Modelling of. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science .

Fitri, A., Hashim, R., Abolfathi, S., & Maulud, K. N. (2019). Dynamics of Sediment Transport and Erosion-Deposition Patterns in the locality of Detached Low-Crested Breakwater on a Cohesive Coast. Water . doi:10.3390/w11081721

Ouillon, S. (2018). Why and How do We Study Sediment Transport? Focus on Coastal Zones and Ongoing Methods. Water . doi:10.3390/w10040390

Rasyif, T. M., Kato, S., & Syamsidik, T. O. (2019). Numerical Simulation of Morphological Changes due to the 2004 Tsunami Wave around Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Geosciences . doi:10.3390/geosciences9030125

Sui, L., Wang, J., Yang, X., & Wang, Z. (2020). Spatial-Temporal Characteristics of Coastline Changes in Indonesia from 1990 to 2018. Sustainability.  

（研究計画：詳細かつ具体に記入し、特に研究の最終目標について具体的に記入すること。）

I would like to start as Research Student at Coastal Engineering Laboratory at Department of Environmental Engineering, X University , under guidance of Professor X in October 2021. I plan to start as Research Student first, because during the Research Student Program I can do some preparation before taking Master Degree. I plan to study the researches at X Laboratory first so that I can know more about the detail of the researches, the research working environment, the people at the laboratory and their works. During the Research Program, I also plan to study and prepare myself for winter examination for taking Master Degree, and to study Japanese language which is really important for daily lives during my stay in Japan. I would like to take the winter examination for taking Master Degree which is around January-February 2022, and start my Master Degree in April 2022. I plan to take the courses which support my research in every semester. Generally, the plan is shown as time table below.  

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TranSenz: MEXT Scholarship and Visa Information for Moving to Japan

How to create a research proposal for the mext scholarship in 10 steps, questions about research plans.

Here are some of the questions I get on a frequent basis in the comments of this blog:

• I want to study a degree in X, but I don’t know how to create a research plan. Can you help?
• Can you help me write a research plan in field X?
• Do you have a sample research plan?
• I want to study a taught master’s do I need a research plan?
• I’ve never written a research plan before. Where do I start?

The Field of Study and Research Program is the most important document in your MEXT Scholarship application. This is what the scholarship reviewers and professors will use to determine your potential as a MEXT scholar, so it can make the difference between whether or not you succeed in your scholarship application. But many applicants don’t know where to start. Does that sound like you?

How to Create Your Field of Study and Research Program Plan in 10 Steps

In the past, I have written articles about how to format your final Field of Study and Research Program Plan for the Embassy-Recommended MEXT Scholarship and the University-Recommended MEXT Scholarship . But those articles assume you already have a finished research proposal.

In this article, I will walk you through the 10 steps to go from simply having an idea of the field you want to study all the way through to a complete research question that you can use to write your Field of Study and Research Program Plan.

I have said this before in other articles, but I want to mention it again: It is most likely that I am not an expert in your field of study. (My degrees are in history and Japan studies and that was 15 years ago.) So, I cannot give specific advice about your research topic. But I can tell you how to go through the process of developing a research question using a method that should work for any field!

Steps to Develop Your MEXT Scholarship Research Plan

Here are the steps I will cover below:

• Decide on your goal
• Select your field of study
• Conduct initial literature review
• Write draft research question
• Find potential professors in Japan
• Conduct focused literature review
• Refine your research question
• Determine your research target/sample
• Determine your research methodology and methods
• Create a hypothesis
• Write up your plan

Want More Detail, Worksheets, and Sample Analyzed Plans?

Need help with your Field of Study and Research Program Plan? How to Write a Scholarship-Winning Field of Study and Research Program Plan will walk you through choosing a field, developing a research question, and completing the final report to give you the best chance of success!

Step 0: Decide on your goal

I labeled this “Step 0” because you should be clear on your application goal before you start your application.

Your goal should never be “earn the MEXT Scholarship” or “Study for my degree in Japan.” Those are only steps toward the goal that you should have in mind.

Your application goal should be how you want to serve the world/your community in the future. For example, it could be something like “improve access to potable water for rural villages.” Or “strengthen the research infrastructure at universities in my country.” As you can see, these are long-term goals that you could work towards in a few different ways. Even the research that you complete during your degree won’t achieve a goal like this all at once, though it should contribute to it and set you up for a career working to achieve your long-term goal.

I go into much more detail on setting your goal as part of your application strategy in my article, “ How to Maximize Your Chances of Earning the MEXT Scholarship “, so I recommend that you read that, first.

Step 1: Select your field of study

Now that you have your overall goal for how you want to contribute to society in the future, you are going to build your Field of Study and Research Program Plan around a specific research goal that will enable you to accomplish your future career goals.

The first step is to decide on your field of study. There are a few basic restrictions on the fields you can choose, listed below:

• Your field of study must be offered by a university in Japan at the graduate level and in a language you are fluent in. If you can find at least one university (more is better) that offers a program in that field in English , then this requirement will be no problem.
• Your field of study must not be related to developing weapons of mass destruction, weaponry, or dual-use technology with military applications. (Researching WMD proliferation and policy is fine, you just can’t do research that could lead to creating weapons!)
• Your field of study cannot require practical training, including training at factories, etc., as well as training in arts, such as kabuki performance.
• Additional field of study limitations may be imposed by your home country in the case of the Embassy-Recommended MEXT Scholarship.
• Your field of study in Japan must be a field that you have majored in at university in the past or its related field. In the case of “related fields” it is up to you to establish the relationship in your Field of Study and Research Program Plan in the “Past and Present Field of Study” section.

Once you get past the basic rules, you should select a research field that is essential to the application goal I described in Step 0. You will need to justify why you need to conduct this research/earn this degree in Japan in order to accomplish your application goal. For the example about improving access to potable water in rural villages, several potential fields of study come to mind: researching how to create a low-cost, low-maintenance water purification device; researching how to combat specific water-born illnesses; researching new materials to improving pipe infrastructure; researching conflict mediation case studies in water wars, etc. You could justify each of these research topics as essential to achieving your future goal.

Of course, the examples I listed above are not going to be the names of specific majors or graduate schools at Japanese universities, but as long as you can find a program in Japan where you would be able to conduct that research, you will be fine.

Step 2: Conduct initial literature review

Once you have your field of study, the next step is a literature review to narrow down the field of study that you identified in Step 1 to a sub-field where you can conduct specific, original research that will contribute to the body of knowledge in the field. You need to understand current trends of research in that field and know what has already been researched in order to identify an opportunity for your own research.

I recommend that you start with at least two to three full-length scholarly secondary sources in your field that cover your research field. Recent sources are best, of course. The more specific your sources to your field, the better you will be able to develop a research question in the next step, but if you are still searching for a research idea, it’s fine to be broad for now and choose more specific sources in the second literature review below.

Ideas for to find sources for your literature review:

• Ask your current academic advisor for recommendations,
• Refer to textbooks in your field, including the sources those texts cite,
• Read recent journal articles in your field and see who the authors refer to as the leading authorities in the field.

When reading, you should be looking for research gaps (areas that need further research) or conflicts between researchers where additional research is needed to determine which is correct. Take notes on any particular areas that interest you and where you think you might be able to contribute additional research.

Step 3: Write draft research question

Hopefully that literature review wasn’t long and tedious for you, but rather exciting and inspiring!

Your literature review should have left you with a grasp of the state of your field and given you enough background to determine a research problem that you can address. Your research problem should be focused on a research gap or research conflict that you identified in the previous step that requires additional data to address. Your research cannot simply be recombining what others have previously researched (secondary research), you must get into the field or conduct an experiment to generate new data. So, you should be looking for a research problem where that is possible.

Once you have your research problem, it is time to create your draft research question. You will validate this question in a later step, so it doesn’t need to be perfect yet, but obviously the closer it is now, the easier your work will be moving forward.

A research question should always address the “how” or “why” of a specific problem. It should never be something that you can answer with a single data point or a yes/no question, since that is too simple. In addition, your research question should match the following criteria:

• Clear: Leave no doubt about what question you will answer.
• Focused: Narrow enough that you can answer it in a single research project within the course of your degree.
• Arguable: Address an area of uncertainty.
• Significant: Contribute meaningful data to your field and research problem.

So far, you have only completed the initial literature review, reading broad, secondary sources in your field, so you might not have enough knowledge yet to write a question that meets all of the criteria above. That’s fine. There’s another literature review and question refininf step coming later.

Step 4: Find potential professors in Japan

You can have the best research question in the world, but if there is no university in Japan doing research on that subject (in English) or no professor who can supervise your research, it will be nearly impossible to get a university to accept you!

Before you get too far into further developing your research question, stop and make sure there is a professor in Japan who could be your supervisor. You do not need to get in touch with the professor or get their approval at this point – in fact, I recommend you do not contact them until you have a complete draft research proposal. But at this point, you want to make sure that there are professors in the field active in Japan.

If you create a list of potential supervisors in Japan and read up on their current research, that can also help you as you move forward with your research proposal. You can customize your proposal to be closer to your potential supervisors’ ongoing research and better appeal to them.

I have an article about how to find universities and professors in Japan that teach in English in your field as well as a book about finding and contacting professors that should help with this process.

Step 5: Conduct focused literature review

Now that you have a draft research question and target professors in Japan, it’s time for a second, more specific literature review.

In this step, your goal is to collect as much specific knowledge about the current state of research related to your question as possible. (In fact, if your research question doesn’t change, this step can overlap with the literature review that is often the first step of your research proposal in Japan.) This literature review should help you validate or revise your research question so that you can be sure you are not duplicating existing research and that your new data will contribute to the field.

In this step, you should be looking for recent journal articles including specific case studies and other primary sources. If there are academic conferences or organizations related to your research field, look for the results of their most recent conferences or publications.

As you read these articles, look for any research that has addressed your research question or problem and find the limitations to existing studies that you can address. Every research project should leave unanswered questions or areas for further research. Does your question fall into one of those?

Step 6: Refine your research question

Step 7: determine your research target/sample, step 8: determine your research methodology and methods, step 9: create a hypothesis, step 10: write up your plan, related posts.

Louis Lecailliez

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MEXT Graduate Scholarship: Research Project (3/3)

Finally, here’s the post about the most important part of the application: the research project. There is multiple difficulties to writing it, one pertaining to the format, the other one to the content.

Format of the proposal

The first issue is to understand how the proposal is physically structured. Two documents are required: one named « Field of Study and Research Program Plan » (FSRPP) and another you have to write yourself on a blank sheet (let’s call it BSRP). The FSRPP contains three questions and it doesn’t help that the last two of them are quite similar. Compare Your research topic in Japan: Describe articulately the research you wish to carry out in Japan vs Study program in Japan: (Describe in detail and with specifics — particularly concerning the ultimate goal(s) of your research in Japan) . Because they are so similar I treated them a one question, but put emphasis on details in the second one. However, I would recommend you not to start with this sheet, actually. The fact is, you can fill it quite easily after you write a sound research project. And this is exactly what is asked for the BSRP.

What is a research proposal?

Research proposal is a short description of the subject you intent to tackle, the methodology to carry it and the expected results. It should include context and explain why it matters. After all, you’re asking for money and people/organizations want to spend their money wisely. Moreover, it should be understandable by non technical people (most reviewers of your proposal won’t be scientists) but still shows you know your shit.

Let’s look at some example. It found this proposal on the web and anonymized it. Its author asked for feedback, so here is my feedback.

Study Field Example

Do you understand what its author want to do?

I don’t. And it is the third or fourth time I read it. What is clear is that the author doesn’t really know more than us. There isn’t even the embryo of a research project in there. It is an example of what would lead to direct rejection. Indeed, he was rejected after tests and interview.

What not to do

Biggest errors here (no particular order): A) He doesn’t seem to master anything in his field. Even if he applied for a master level scholarship and thus couldn’t really know how to do research, it’s clear his proposal was not readed by any academics for correction.

B) He doesn’t say which problem he wants to solve . «  The continued research into metallurgy is of grave importance for any country that wants to be one of the leading countries in the field as it is a field that grows with an exponential speed right now with all from making alloys that we didn’t thought was possible before to ways of production we couldn’t imagine before, I want to be part of this journey and do all I can to help it along.  » It doesn’t inform the reader about anything nor what he wants to do. Every field is progressing fast these days. Also the sentence is too long.

C) Next sentence «  The reason why I want to do this in Japan is to accumulate the knowledge of two of the leading countries, Sweden and Japan, when it comes to metallurgy to be able to drive the development forward and bring both countries research communities closer together be the dominant forces in the industry.  » Yeah, ok, you’re supposed to say that you will bridge a gap between two countries, but you aren’t supposed to say it that directly. Moreover with no concrete way to achieve it in the slightest fashion, it just seems like empty talk.

D) Me, me, me . Look at how many « I » and « I want » there is. This is a one stone two birds mistake: first the scholarship is not only about you. It is in the end how Japan earn something by supporting you through funding. Secondly, Japanese culture tend to lower the individual vs the group. So try not to be too self-centered in your proposal; put the accent on your project instead.

E) Citing professors in Sweden. Hey, Japanese not only doesn’t know them but they don’t care either . If you want to interest them, speak about Japanese professors . They will know them and/or research about them. In addition, it demonstrates (1) you did your homework of finding professors in Japan and (2) your project is related to Japan. If Dr Foreigner, PhD is the worldwide expert on something, why not studying under him instead of Japan?

I cannot emphasise this point more. Japanese professors are the key to your application. I didn’t speak of them directly in my written application but mentioned them during the interview. One jury member told me something around this line: it is good you speak about the prof in your presentation, because it was missing in your application. So it is a very important point.

F) Timetable. This is internet bullshit advise. In addition the jury don’t want to know the class you will take (you’ll go for research, earning a degree is more like a side effect). In that document, putting everything related to the field in a big list showed more that he doesn’t master anything about his domain. Of course, you can show that you’re willing to learn things that you don’t know yet, but it should not sounds like you don’t know anything either.

Not writing a timetable was advised to me by a Japanese professor. If you can find one, whatever his field is, ask him to have a look to your proposal. He will read it with his Japanese-eyes, process it with his Japanese-brain and give you a Japanese-advice. It can’t hurt you because you’re applying to do Japanese-research in the Japanese-country.

E) References not found! Hey dude, you’re applying for a research scholarship . What make something immediately research y ? References, you named it. Your proposal must include some bibliographic items, not only to make it looks serious but also to ground it in the current research landscape.

Don’t do it alone; ask for feedback

Let’s speak frankly, your project need to be reviewed otherwise you’ll likely make big mistakes. The more the better. Find an English native speaker or a friend better than you in English and make him check the language of your final proposal. Ask your current professors about the soundness of your project. Make them read your proposal. Make your friend majoring in History of Art read it. If he don’t understand it, rewrite it so he could get the gist of it. A random people should be able to understand basically what you want to do and be enthusiastic about it.

You don’t need the proposal to be written yet. Speak about your ideas. If you can’t express your project in two/three sentences, it’s a red fag. Then put more thought on it. It is an iterative process.

Thanks to feedback I ditched an entire project . It was not easy. I spend months on that idea, it was the following of one of my master thesis, but it wasn’t good enough. So I thought about why I wanted to do that project, extracted the motivation behind it and wrote a brand new proposal from scratch. I read a lot of papers to valid my intuition and find something that haven’t been done before. This was a lot of stress in particular because I started running out of time. But I did it and I’m glad I changed project because the other one would have failed. So, it leads us to the next point.

Start early and take your time

This scholarship is hugely time consuming and to some extend sanity crushing. So, start really early, like a year before the year you want to apply. It mean if your project is to got in Japan in 2020, start working on it in 2018 so you can apply on the 2019 recruiting session. You’ll need a lot of time to fill the paperwork and 10 times more to write a good project. Especially the paperwork is really annoying so get them as soon as possible to avoid last minute problems with printers or the administration.

Actually, I made it this as far as to take a year off and live on social welfare (btw, I don’t advice you to do that, high level autism skill is required to live without speaking with people for weeks and without a structured schedule). That wasn’t totally easy especially because some people didn’t understood that choice and were against it. But I known that I needed my full attention and the liberty to travel at anytime, which was not compatible with having a job. And indeed this liberty was used more than once because I traveled two times within France to meet professors (the second meetings led to my project rewrite), once to Japan again were I spoke with multiple professors and attended an international conference and multiples times to Paris for documents, languages tests (the embassy one and the JLPT) and the final interview. It also cost some money, so I advice you to take that in account and save accordingly if this is a problem for you.

Of course, you probably don’t need to take a year off especially if you have academic support in your current institution. But be prepared to work a lot on your application if you want to but successful.

A good proposal example

Let’s now have a look to a good proposal. It’s mine and I got embassy recommendation with it.

My Research Proposal

First, notice the formatting of the document. Each subsection has its own header. Every section is at most two paragraphs long. The document starts with the research problem to solve and ends by a list of references.

Now, look at the Context section. It serves multiples purposes: (1) demonstrating my knowledge of the field, (2) exposing technical words and concepts that will be used later on, (3) explaining what the field is about.

The intended approach section explains how I plan to achieve to solve the stated problems. It is an important part because you should demonstrate that your research is achievable and that you can pursue it.

The details section could have been named buzzword instead. Contrary to the other parts of the document, this one is more targeted at specialists. It is here to show some technical expertise by using key words from the field (client-server, algorithm, shell) with some trendy words added (clustering, which is a machine learning technic) for good mesure. Of course, they are used in a way that it make sense, I wasn’t writing some parody of a GAFA newest press release.

Finally the impact section details in layman terms what is the expected, concrete and long-term effect of the research. This is the only part were I allowed myself to write trivia (e.g. In a world globalizing more quickly than ever ) and some far-fetched implication ( smoother international business and relationships ). This is the sell dream section. Everybody should be able to understand it, and moreover to find something attractive to it. Here people, governments and businesses have one of their concern addressed.

Of course, don’t copy my proposal . This is not a 100% pass method so don’t copy every section, the whole structure or anything literally. You should take some inspiration but write your proposal in your own way. The main point is to write something appealing and understandable by a wide audience that is properly structured.

Back to the Field of Study and Research Program Plan

One you wrote a proposal that way reviewed by multiple people, you can wrote the document 5 of the application. Here is mine .

The present field of study question is the easiest to answer. Just put down the best keyword(s) to describe your field. I choose to a do it in a hierarchical fashion so people could understand the relation to my degrees. I advice to do so if your speciality is not well known. For instance: Mathematics, Algebra, Group Theory instead of just Group Theory . If you wrote your bachelor/master thesis or papers related to this field, write them below to show some expertise.

Question 2: Your research topic in Japan

Once you wrote your full proposal, answering this question should be easy. Just take your main ideas and rewrite them as paragraphs of two/three sentences. Notice how I make use of headers again and how the first sections (Context, Issue, Research Questions) are actually the same as in the proposal (Research Questions, Context, Problems) in a different order. Of course, you don’t have to proceed in the same exact way, but at this point your application must show congruence: don’t raise questions that won’t be in the full proposal.

Question 3: Study program in Japan

It looks like the same, but the parenthesis in English and the Japanese instruction speak about details. The Japanese mention another important word: 具体 (gutai) which mean concrete. So this is the section where so should give details on how your project will be done, were and with who. In this part I gave information that are not in the research proposal per se .

Writing the proposal is hard because it must be short. Everyone can write a ten pages proposal, but writing a compelling one in two pages is way harder. It is an iterative process, you can’t write something meeting the passing bar on your first try without any review. Produce intermediate documents if it helps (personally, I wrote a one page draft in French to send it to some prof to gauge the water). And start early.

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1 réflexion au sujet de “MEXT Graduate Scholarship: Research Project (3/3)”

Merci, Louis! I plan to apply for a master’s program for 2022 and I have been reading a lot about how to approach the field of study and research plan part of the MEXT scholarship application. Your blog was quite easy to follow and clear. It also helped me greatly that your field of study is similar to mine, so I could better understand how to structure it.

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