https://sylff.org/

The Sylff website has been renewed with a new, easy-to-read design and was relaunched on September 1.

The site has new features to encourage networking among Sylff stakeholders and to facilitate the sharing of insights, knowledge, and experiences with fellows in countries around the world.

Some new features include:

• Easier access to Sylff announcements on a variety of platforms (PCs, smartphones, etc.)
• A profile page enabling fellows to share information about academic and social engagement achievements
• Tags to identify fellows by research field or keyword
• Posting of comments on Voices articles

A profile page has already been created for fellows who have submitted a bio and photo when contributing a Voices article or upon receiving a support program grant. Please check your page and update any information as needed. If you don’t yet have a page but wish to be included in the directory, please send us your bio and photo using the profile template available at https://sylff.org/fellows.

Please also tell us what you think about the new site by mailing us at sylff[a]tkfd.or.jp. 
*[a] must be replaced by @

https://www.sylff.org/support_programs/lans/

The Sylff Association is pleased to announce the launch of Local Association Networking Support (LANS).

LANS is a new support program intended to facilitate the organization of gatherings and other activities by groups of Sylff alumni, including local Sylff associations. Groups of five or more fellows/alumni from the same institution can apply to the Sylff Association for a maximum of US$5,000 per gathering to cover the long-distance transportation costs of participating fellows. Click here for details of the announcement.

We look forward to receiving your applications!

Professor Daniela Ostatnikova, center, with Sylff Association secretariat.

Professor Daniela Ostatnikova, Vice-Rector for International Relations at Comenius University in Bratislava and chairperson of the Comenius Sylff steering committee, paid a courtesy visit to the Tokyo Foundation on May 18, 2017.

Comenius University joined the new financial scheme in November 2015. The Sylff program at the university is mostly used to support PhD students’ research in foreign countries. Fellowships contribute not only to enriching academic research but also to developing top students into future leaders, Professor Ostatnikova explained.

Internationalization and democratization are still major challenges for Slovakia, almost 30 years after the collapse of the communist regime. By studying in a foreign country, fellows can learn how things are organized and function in a democratic society, equipping them with the capacity to contribute to turning Slovakia into a sustainable democracy.

As the Sylff Association secretariat, the Tokyo Foundation is delighted to learn that the Sylff program plays an important role in Slovakia’s development and democratization. We are grateful to the Comenius Sylff steering committee for actively putting into practice Sylff’s leadership development mission and for using Sylff funds effectively.

The Sylff Association secretariat is very pleased to have received many applications for an SLI grant. We see this as a sign that fellows share the ideals of the Sylff mission and are eager to take the small steps that can make a big difference in people’s lives.

To facilitate the task of describing initiatives and their expected outcomes, we have slightly revised the Call for Applications and application forms: https://www.sylff.org/support_programs/sli/call-for-applications

The new Call for Applications highlights the importance given during the screening process to whether the proposed project was actually initiated by the fellow and the extent to which it can be expected to have real-world impact.

When submitting a preliminary application (concept paper), please use the form downloadable from the above website.

We look forward to receiving your application and to supporting your initiatives!

A survey on Sylff Research Abroad was conducted in early 2017 targeting all SRA awardees believed to have already graduated from a doctoral program. The aim of this survey was to ascertain the usefulness of SRA in helping recipients gather information for their doctoral dissertation. Responses were received from 69 awardees. The results of the survey, along with some of the comments of awardees are cited below. Thank you to all fellows who turned in responses!

Personal Information

Approximately 87% of respondents said they had earned their doctoral degree by January 2017, and 11.6% expected to do so within the next three years. As for their current affiliation, 81% of PhD holders said they are working in academia as a lecturer, associate professor, or post-doctoral researcher, while the remaining 19% were active in other fields, such as working for an international organization or a publishing firm. A small number left school before receiving a doctorate to work for a private company.

Usefulness of SRA

The figures show that SRA was viewed positively by a large majority of recipients. Although 8.7% of respondents in question 3 gave poor marks for the usefulness of SRA, all of them made positive comments. This suggests that they may have misunderstood the rating system, believing that 1 meant “excellent” rather than “poor.”

With regard to question 4, approximately 4% of respondents said SRA was not particularly helpful in refining a methodology for their dissertation, noting that it had already been developed before embarking on their research trip.

Areas of Improvement

To question 5 on areas requiring improvement, many chose “other,” saying that they were satisfied with the existing program. Some of the suggestions respondents did offer included holding an event at a Sylff institution where all SRA awardees would have an opportunity to present their SRA experience, developing a new program to support the post-doctoral careers of awardees, and renaming the program so that it can be used to describe recipients, say, as a Sylff International Research Fellow.

The second most popular response with 32% was increasing the amount of the award. Respondents noted that living costs and tuition often exceeded $5,000 when conducting research at a host institution in a developed country—especially when their research lasted more than three months. The amount of the grant may need to be reconsidered in order to more fully support awardees’ research activities.

Respondents also said they hoped to see changes to the application process and restrictions on local research. The results suggest that fellows sometimes find it difficult to contact a steering committee member at their respective Sylff institutions when a number of years has elapsed since graduation. There was also a comment suggesting that online applications be introduced.

The Sylff Association values all comments from SRA recipients, and they will be used to design support programs that better meet the needs of doctoral students conducting research abroad. Thank you very much for your contributions.

Presentation at the Tokyo Foundation.

Matthew Winters, a 2007 Sylff fellowship recipient at Columbia University who is currently an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, visited the Tokyo Foundation during his sabbatical as a Council on Foreign Relations/Hitachi International Affairs Fellow. He conducted research at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo for three months from August 2016.

During his visit, he gave a presentation on “Japan’s Local Public Diplomacy in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from Uganda,” focusing on the effectiveness of communication efforts regarding the provision of externally funded and non-state-implemented services. In order to survey the role of public diplomacy in development interventions, he implemented an interview-based survey targeting randomly selected citizens, asking them about the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (GGP) program of Japan’s official development assistance. This research design incorporated a verification experiment enabling him to draw inferences on the dissemination of information about GGP.

The survey results showed that the source of GGP funding was not recognized by Ugandan respondents, despites the prominent branding initiatives taken by Japan. People had low expectations of the project, since most believed it was implemented by their local government. They viewed the project more favorably, however, when they learned that Japan was the original funding source. The survey revealed, therefore, that information about foreign funding can improve perceptions of the local government’s capacity, since local residents have a positive image of foreign involvement. Winters plans to continue his research on how average Ugandans think about the role of their local government in securing resources from abroad and its impact on the local community.

Mathew Winters, right, with Mr. Sasakawa.

The Sylff fellow also had an opportunity to meet with Chairman Yohei Sasakawa of the Sylff Association, who is actively engaged in addressing international issues as special envoy of the government of Japan for national reconciliation in Myanmar. Winters is also familiar with East Asia though his extensive fieldwork in Indonesia, and the two exchanged views on the best form of foreign assistance, particularly for Southeast Asia.

From left to right, Mr. Sasakawa, Prof.Nowak, Prof. Kistrin, Prof. Mania with Polish performers

Jagiellonian University has, from the very start of the program, continued to implement the Sylff program successfully and has already graduated many active leaders, in the spirit of our program, noted Yohei Sasakawa, Chairman of the Sylff Association* and the Nippon Foundation.

He made the remarks during a ceremony commemorating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Sylff program at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland, held on May 17, 2017. Jagiellonian University became the forty-second member of the Sylff community when it signed the Sylff Agreement in May 1992.

The ceremony was attended by the university Rector Professor Nowak, Sylff steering committee members, Sylff fellows from Poland and other countries, and members of the Nippon Foundation and Tokyo Foundation, as well as Japanese Ambassador Matsutomi to Poland.

The ceremony was held in the venerable Main Hall of Collegium Maius—the oldest building of this university that was founded in 1364.

The celebration began with a congratulatory address by Professor Andrzej Mania, chair of the Sylff Steering Committee, followed by Vice Rector Professor Kistrin’s remarks.

Mr. Sasakawa then commented on the changing environment of Poland and how Sylff leaders who understand diverse and shared values, can shed light on emerging issues that arise from those changes in society. Mari Suzuki, the Tokyo Foundation’s director, offered her remarks on the great leadership displayed by many Sylff fellows of the university.

*Sylff is a joint Tokyo Foundation-Nippon Foundation program. The Association is an initiative by the Tokyo Foundation (which serves as the secretariat) to create a more personalized program.

An award ceremony was held on April 19, 2017, for five Sylff fellows of the Institute of Political Education “Pedro Arrupe” for the 2017–18 academic year: Giuseppe Rizzuto, Chiara Digrandi, Giulia Crisci, Bruno Buffa, and Francesca Lotta.

(From left to right) Giuseppe Rizzuto, Chiara Digrandi, Giulia Crisci, Bruno Buffa, and Francesca Lotta.

The five are receiving their fellowships under the new financial scheme, which was introduced in 2016–17. In switching to the new scheme, the institute established what it calls the Idea-Action Research Program whose theme is “Urban Leadership: Understanding Futures, Governing Cities Starting from the Margins.”

The program is designed to encourage research in the social sciences and humanities that addresses issues from a strictly scientific point of view but, at the same time, provides mechanisms and operational instruments to promote practical implementation (hence the name, "Idea-Action"). The program supports the development of a new generation of researchers who are interested in transforming society for the better.

The new Sylff fellows are a diverse group of scholars addressing issues from their own area of expertise, such as Asian and African language and culture; psychological intervention in development and socio-educational institutions; methodologies of art history; regional, urban, and environmental planning; and urban and regional planning.

A Sylff orientation and presentation meeting was held, during which Massimo Massaro, president of the Sylff steering committee at the Arrupe Institute, informed the five fellows of the mission of the Sylff program and the availability of support programs, including SRA and SLI. Addtitional programs are currently being developed.

Agnieszka Batko, middle, with members of the Tokyo Foundation.

Agnieszka Batko, a current Sylff fellow at Jagiellonian University in Poland, is now conducting research on the Japan-Korea relationship at Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo. She is in the second year of PhD program in political science at the Jagiellonian and is focusing on the role of NGOs in promoting reconciliation between the East Asian neighbors.

She became interested in her current research topic when she participated in a group study tour to East Asia in 2015 on the theme of post-war reconciliation, organized by the Exchange Program for Regional Integration in East Asia and Europe (EPRIE) and funded by the Robert Bosch Foundation.

Jagiellonian University sees leadership potential as a vital criterion in the selection of Sylff fellows and encourages students to go abroad to broaden their perspectives. Batko has amply demonstrated this potential by leading and organizing various student activities, including a photography workshop for high school students aimed at promoting awareness of contemporary social issues.

The Sylff Association is happy to support Batko’s initiatives and wishes her great success in her research of international relations.

Sylff fellows and steering committee members are always welcome to stop by the Foundations’ office while visiting Tokyo.

From down left and clockwise:
Ioannis Kourtis (Sylff fellow), Dimitrios Athanasiou (Sylff fellow) , Professor Stavros Thomadakis (SSC member), Venetia Sakellariou (Sylff fellow), Iason-Spyridon Xygkis (Sylff fellow), Georgia Despoti (Sylff fellow), Ergina Bonori (Sylff fellow), Loukas Spanos (SSC member and Sylff alumnus), Dimitrios Karagkounis (Sylff fellow), Andreas Vasileiou (Sylff fellow), Maria Vardaki (Sylff program executive), Professor Costas Dimitracopoulos (SSC member).

Loukas Spanos, graduated Sylff fellow and SSC member, presents Sylff program to the new fellows.

Eight outstanding students at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens were awarded Sylff fellowships under the New financial scheme in March 2017. This is the 2nd year of fellowship under the scheme after it was successfully introduced to Athens in 2016. (see details of the program ).

The eight latest fellows not only have excellent academic credentials but have also demonstrated strong leadership in their research and social activities, both locally and internationally. We wish them a great success in their graduate studies and their careers.