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Research Grant Program
Information for Applicants

Information for Applicants

This is the 'Information for Applicants' for Fiscal 2009. We might change its contents for Fiscal 2010.
If you wish to apply for the 2010 grant program, please feel free to ask the Toyota Foundation.
We will announce its detail, approximately in the end of March 2010.

1. Program Objectives

After undergoing large-scale reforms for the first time in 12 years, the Toyota Foundation Research Grant Program adopted a new theme in fiscal 2006: "The Search for the Richness of Human Life and Activity." What sort of society is one that abides in the richness of human life and activity? We feel this is not one in which things are assessed merely in terms of narrow standards like economic or material indices, but a society brimming with diversity, in which people respect and try to understand different value systems.

The phenomenon of widening disparities in society, which has attracted much attention in recent years, is nothing other than the result of our excessive faith in a single value system, represented by economic indicators. By chance, the financial crisis befalling the world of late has revealed the dangers of embracing the standardized values of globalism. It is now time to come back down to earth and to focus once again on creating a society of substance.

Based on this understanding of the situation, the Research Grant Program is devoted to discovering the shape of a better society for us all through the pursuit of research activities rooted in our own intellectual curiosity. In the face of the various problems confronting society, the Toyota Foundation has a particular desire to help create energetic, vital communities where people can support one another. In this connection, "The Search for the Richness of Human Life and Activity" in fiscal 2009 focuses on "Revitalizing Local Communities Under Globalization." The Foundation is soliciting proposals for research projects that can help to show how, amid the tide of globalization, local communities can harness their latent vitality through flexible restructuring.

By research, however, we do not mean activities conducted within narrowly defined academic circles by specialist scholars. We take an independent point of view, as befits a grant program run by a private foundation, welcoming not only scholars and people with practical expertise but also activists and practitioners from outside the establishment, as well as others with a strong commitment to the cause of generating new knowledge. Our interest is in appealing projects that provide a specific handhold on the concept of richness, which tends to be discussed in abstract and ambiguous terms, and that can help increase humanity's inventory of intellectual assets.

2. Project Areas (Application Categories)

For the fiscal 2009 Research Grant Program, devoted to the theme "The Search for the Richness of Human Life and Activity" and focused on "Revitalizing Local Communities Under Globalization," we are soliciting research projects in the areas listed below. We are interested in research, whether basic or applied, that reflects original thinking and has broad social significance.

Please note: All categories are open to both individual research and joint research conducted by multiple parties. There are no restrictions based on nationality, affiliation, or location of residence.

A. Transmission and Formation of Culture

Whether tangible or intangible, community-based culture represents the crystallization of wisdom cultivated in the course of daily life. We support research in this area that actively draws forth the potential of this type of culture and presents contemporary society with new paradigms.

B. Society's Frameworks

Social systems, including administrative, judicial, legislative, educational, and financial systems, must be compatible with the communities to which they are applied. In this area we support research that helps to create better models for local communities, not only in terms of the aforesaid types of public systems but also the informal mechanisms that connect people to one another, as well as projects addressing the issue of procuring funding for efforts to revitalize local communities.

C. Individual and Interpersonal Development

Vigorous human activity, which expands interpersonal connections and promotes the formation of new networks, is the primary foundation for the creation of richer community life. We support research in this area focusing on relationships between people and communities, including projects focusing on tourism, immigration, and other cross-community movements and projects concerning approaches to educating or training people who can work from various angles to provide the vitality that communities need.

D. Other

We also welcome attractive proposals for research projects that do not fall within any of the three areas described above, provided they contribute to "Revitalizing Local Communities Under Globalization," this year's theme.

3. Project-Based Research

In this program, regardless of whether the project is an individual or a joint effort, grants are awarded for project-based research activities only, and not for ordinary research activities. Project-based activities are those conducted within a limited period of time and on a limited budget, with clearly and specifically defined tasks, methods, and objectives. Applicants are required to prepare written project proposals, based on a firm grasp of what project-based research entails, clearly explaining the activities that will be undertaken to achieve the proposed objectives within a grant period of one or two years.

4. Requirements for Grant Projects

• Research must be in accordance with the objectives of the program.
  
• Proposals must be broad in outlook but also entail detailed fieldwork. Projects designed merely to burnish researchers' achievements will be given low priority.
  
• Projects must be designed with the expectation of producing results by the end of the grant period, and these results should have a constructive ripple effect on society.
  
• Projects in this program must be the sort for which public funding is not readily available, and for which grant assistance from a private foundation is therefore highly important.
  
• Sufficient effort must be made to ensure the suitability of project representatives (or participants), schedules, and budgets, and there must be a high probability of achieving the project's intended objectives.
  

Please note: Information on past grant projects can be found on the Toyota Foundation website (http://www.toyotafound.or.jp/search/).

5. Grant Amounts and Periods

Total amount of grants

¥150 million

Amount per grant

Individual research: ¥1 million to ¥2 million
Joint research: ¥2 million to ¥8 million

Please note: The above figures are general ranges, not strict limits. Depending on the project, a higher amount may be deemed acceptable. For grant projects determined to be particularly valuable, the Toyota Foundation may approve continued grant funding the following year, either through this program or under another program, as set forth in 6.E. in the following section.

• Project period

Projects will begin on November 1, 2009, and run for one year (to October 31, 2010) or two years (to October 31, 2011).

6. Communications with the Toyota Foundation

A. Grant initiation (exchange of memorandums)

Each principal member (or representative) of a project for which a grant is awarded will exchange memorandums of agreement with the Toyota Foundation and then carry out the project in accordance with this agreement.

B. Consultation and coordination

If necessary, a Toyota Foundation program officer will visit the main members or representative of a project to discuss the project's progress and its prospects for achieving results.

C. Progress report meetings, workshops, and symposiums

Progress report meetings are held at the Toyota Foundation, where the main members or representatives of projects report on their progress and prospects for achieving results and take part in discussions with experts. Various workshops and symposiums will also be scheduled.

D. Presentation of reports (interim and final)

The Toyota Foundation requires the principal project member to prepare and submit a written interim project report, final project report, and financial report (using the prescribed forms).

E. Continued funding

A project member who devises a plan for a new project closely related to a current or previous project may apply for continued funding in the following fiscal year or thereafter, either under this program or under another Toyota Foundation program. The decision to approve or decline the application will be based on a comprehensive review of the status and results of the original project, as set forth in consultations and the interim and final reports, as well as on standards used in screening new projects. When applying for continuing funding, please confer with the program officer overseeing the original project. The Toyota Foundation secretariat may recommend continued funding for projects that are expected to yield particularly meaningful results.

7. Application Procedures and Screening

A. Application period

The application period is from Friday, March 20, 2009, to Wednesday, May 13, 2009. Applications must be postmarked by this final date.

B. Application forms

Applications must be filed in either Japanese or English. The application form can be downloaded from the Toyota Foundation website (http://www.toyotafound.or.jp/english/) during the application period.

C. How to apply

After filling out the application form with all required information, please send the completed form to the Toyota Foundation (at the address below), in care of the Research Grant Program, by EMS, courier service, or another delivery service that leaves a record of delivery.

D. Selection process

Formal decisions on the selection of projects to be awarded grants will be made at Toyota Foundation Board of Directors meetings in September or October 2009, based on the deliberations of the Toyota Foundation Research Grant Program Selection Committee; the committee, chaired by Shiro Kuniya, a lawyer with the firm Oh-Ebashi LPC & Partners, consists of outside experts. The selection of projects is primarily based on the information contained in the submitted applications, but when necessary the committee may ask to interview an applicant about a project proposal or ask an applicant to make a presentation at Toyota Foundation.

E. Selection results

Applicants (or their designated contacts) are scheduled to be informed in writing of the selection results within the month following the aforesaid Board of Directors meetings. Telephone inquiries are not accepted.

F. Other points to note

-Applications must be filed on the provided application forms only. Do not add pages.
-As the application forms will be copied in the selection process, please do not attach the form sheets, such as with staples or glue.
-If you format your application by pasting print-outs onto the form, please make a copy of the complete form and send the copy.
-Application forms should be printed on one side of the paper; please do not use double-sided printing.
-Do not bring your application to the Toyota Foundation in person or submit it by fax or e-mail.
-Please submit only one copy of the application form. No additional documents should be included with an application.
-Applications cannot be replaced or updated once they are submitted.
-Applications postmarked after Wednesday, May 13, 2009, will not be accepted.
-Submitted applications will not be returned.
-The "application number" space at the top right of the application form is for Toyota Foundation use. We will mail you a postcard by early June to inform you of your application number.
-If any statement in an application is found to be untrue or misleading, the application may be rejected, and even if the project proposal has been approved, the grant may be cancelled.
-The Toyota Foundation will not respond to questions about the reasons for its approval or rejection of project proposals.

PRIVACY NOTICE
The personal information you provide on the application form will be used by the Toyota Foundation for project selection, statistical analysis, and administrative activities, such as contacting applicants. This information will not be used for any other purpose without your consent, except in cases provided for by law.

Address to Send Applications (Contact Details for Inquiries)

Research Grant Program, The Toyota Foundation

Box 236, Shinjuku Mitsui Building 37F
2-1-1 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku
Tokyo, Japan 163-0437
Phone: +81-(0)3-3344-1701
Fax: +81-(0)3-3342-6911
Attn.: (Mr.) Kusuda, (Ms.) Nishida