April 14, 2016
Access to Sylff website and Tokyo Foundation website (both English and Japanese) will be temporarily unavailable from 10 pm to 11 pm on Friday, April 15 (Japan Standard Time), while our web server is being upgraded to enhance access speed. We apologize for the inconvenience.
March 18, 2016
SRA Awardees for Fiscal 2015, Second Round
The Tokyo Foundation is pleased to announce the 12 recipients of SRA awards in the second screening round for fiscal 2015. We received a large number of applications from fellows around the world, and the selection process was very competitive. All applications were carefully screened for eligibility, the feasibility of the proposal, and the relevance of the proposed research to the applicant’s academic pursuits. Congratulations to the winning applicants! We send you our best wishes and hope that the findings of your research abroad will further enrich and enhance your dissertation. The name of the awardees and their home and the host institutions can be viewed here.
March 2, 2016
Six outstanding students at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens were awarded Sylff fellowships under the New Sylff Fellowship Program in February 2016 (see details of the new program ). Athens was the second university to successfully switch to the new scheme.
Sylff fellows, from left to right: Maria Kyritsi, Anna Ventouratou, Nikolaos Galanopoulos, Vasiliki Gkeka, Evangelia Chaldaiaki, and Emilia Savva.
The Sylff program at Athens has been energized under the new financial scheme. The six latest fellows not only have excellent academic credentials but have also demonstrated strong leadership in their research and social activities, both locally and internationally. The Tokyo Foundation is visiting the university in April, and we are looking forward to learning more about their activities.
We wish them a great success in their graduate studies and their careers.
From left to right: Despina Karvela (Sylff program executive), Loukas Spanos (SSC member and Sylff alumnus), Professor Costas Dimitracopoulos (SSC member), Maria Kyritsi (Sylff fellow), Vasiliki Gkeka (Sylff fellow), Anna Ventouratou (Sylff fellow), Vice Rector Konstantinos Buraselis (SSC Chairman), Emilia Savva (Sylff fellow), Professor Andreas Helmis (SSC member), Evangelia Chaldaiaki (Sylff fellow), Professor Stavros Thomadakis (SSC member), and Nikolaos Galanopoulos (Sylff fellow).
February 15, 2016
From left to right, Takashi Suzuki, Sanae Oda, Andrezej Mania, Dorota Maciejowska, and Yoko Kaburagi.
On February 1, 2016, members of the Sylff steering committee at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland, visited the Tokyo Foundation during their trip to Japan.
Professor Habil Andrezej Mania, vice rector for educational affairs and chairperson of the Jagiellonian Sylff steering committee, and Ms. Dorota Maciejowska, head of the university’s international relations, shared stories of outstanding JU fellows who have gone on to become leaders in various fields through the skills and knowledge acquired during their Sylff fellowship years.
The Jagiellonian University joined the Sylff community in 1992 and has since successfully supported over 250 fellows. Many of them now assume important positions in academia and government, including international organizations, and have become role models for younger fellows.
The Sylff program at the university is very prestigious, the visitors noted, because it is the only fellowship that attaches great importance to leadership. The Jagiellonian Sylff steering committee looks for high-level language skills and leadership qualities in assessing candidates through application documents and interviews.
The meticulous selection process is very time-consuming, Professor Mania and Ms. Maciejowska noted, but Sylff steering committee members are committed to the task because they are eager to nurture future leaders through the Sylff program.
Congratulations to the Jagiellonian Sylff steering committee on its efforts to elevate the quality and status of the Sylff program thus far, and we look forward to further success in the future.
January 18, 2016
Dylan Corlay
Sylff fellow Dylan Corlay, a graduate of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris and a participant in the 2012 Together in Tohoku project was named the first prize winner at the 6th Jorma Panula Conducting Competition 2015, held at the Vaasa City Hall in Finland on November 13, 2015.
The event is one of the most prestigious contests for next-generation conductors in Europe. Jorma Panula, the competition’s artistic director and chairman of the jury, is a legendary conducting teacher who is considered the “maestro of maestros.” He has been training young conductors for nearly four decades, and many of today’s most illustrious conductors have studied with him. The competition gives young European conductors an excellent opportunity to gain valuable experience, promote their own work, increase their visibility as a conductor, and open new doors.
Corlay was also selected as the favorite orchestra conductor in the competition.
The 31-year-old French Sylff fellow is currently assistant conductor of the prestigious contemporary music ensemble, Ensemble Intercontemporain, and conducts student orchestras at the Conservatoire de Tours.
He volunteered his time to participate in the Together in Tohoku project in August 2012 as a French bassoon musician, during which he also led “sound painting” workshops for middle and high school musicians in tsunami-hit areas of northern Japan.
November 13 was, coincidentally, also the day of the Paris terrorist attacks. The great news of Corlay’s achievement is a ray of light on this otherwise sad and dark day. Our warmest congratulations to Dylan!
Visit Corlay’s website at: http://www.dylancorlay.com/
December 22, 2015
Wishing You Peace and Joy in the New Year!
(Back row, from left) Tomoko Yamada, Takashi Suzuki (Director), Kaoru Matsushita (Director), Akiko Inagaki; (middle row) Yoko Kaburagi, Sanae Oda (Executive Director), Masahiro Akiyama (President), Akiko Imai (Executive Director), Yukiko Otani;(seated) Keita Sugai, Aya Oyamada, Yumi Arai, Mari Suzuki (Director), Mana Sakamoto
We are pleased to announce that this past October, fellowships were given to five students at the University of Coimbra (Portugal), the under the new Sylff Fellowship Program. The program is being offered jointly by The Nippon Foundation and Tokyo Foundation to all schools in the Sylff program...(more...)
Three fellows were selected as Sylff Leadership Initiatives recipients in 2015 so far, and their reports can be read here. In addition, 28 Sylff Research Abroad grants were awarded. The reports of SRA awardees on the Sylff website are classified by fiscal year-round number. We look forward to receiving many more applications in 2016.
We're very happy to share news of outstanding achievements by Sylff fellows around the world, including:
February 24
Conductor Holly Mathieson, a Sylff fellow from New Zealand, organized a concert on March 18, 2015, in Berlin, Germany, to launch Horizont Musik-Kollektiv, an organization to celebrate the works...(more...)
June 1
At the Institute of Political Education in Italy, Sylff fellowships are granted through the “Idea-Action Research Program” to encourage research projects in the social sciences and...(more...)
September 5
Marisa Hamamoto, a 2007 Sylff fellowship recipient at Keio University, has launched Infinite Flow, America’s first professional wheelchair ballroom dance company. It is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that...(more...)
We welcomed many current and graduated fellows, and the comittee chairman to the Tokyo Foundation in 2015.
January 29
Violinist Johannes Fleischmann, a 2013 Sylff fellowship recipient at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, made a tour of venues around Japan in October 2014,including a special lunchtime...(more...)
February 24, September 8
Lindsey Lim, who received a Sylff fellowship in 2014 at Columbia University, visited the Tokyo Foundation in January 6 and June 4, 2015, to give presentations...(more for article on Feb. 24...) (more for article on Sep. 8...)
May 25
Numtip Smerchuar, a 2006 Sylff fellowship recipient at Chiang Mai University, visited the Tokyo Foundation on May 11, 2015. While working as a lecturer in the School of Political and Social Science...(more...)
June 26
Professor Ulrike Schaede, chairperson of the Sylff program at the School of Global Policy and Strategy (formerly the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies), University of California,...(more...)
December 18
On December 4, 2015, Ngo Hong Anh Thu, a 2014 Sylff fellowship recipient at Vietnam National University, Hanoi, visited the Tokyo Foundation and gave a presentation on her doctoral research....(more...)
December 18, 2015
On December 4, 2015, Ngo Hong Anh Thu, a 2014 Sylff fellowship recipient at Vietnam National University, Hanoi, visited the Tokyo Foundation and gave a presentation on her doctoral research.
Now a lecturer at the university, Thu was selected as an SRA awardee in the first round of 2015. Her three-month research abroad is being conducted at the Tokyo Institute of Technology through December 2015, and she is focusing on changes in membrane surfaces that may have applications in the treatment of polluted water.
The research environment in Vietnam is still beset by inadequate supplies of equipment, Thu said. The SRA award has enabled her to access the advanced equipment at Tokyo Tech and to focus on data collection and analysis. To make the most of the opportunity, she is spending from 9 am to 11 pm at the lab on weekdays. Using the findings of her research in Japan, she will concentrate on writing her dissertation next year in Vietnam. 
Thu said she also enjoyed interacting with Japanese and foreign researchers at Tokyo Tech, which has given her an opportunity to broaden her cultural perspective.
After earning a doctorate, she plans to pursue her research as a postdoctoral fellow in Japan. She hopes that her research will help solve water-related issues, especially in developing countries.
November 9, 2015
We are pleased to announce that this past October, fellowships were given to five students at the University of Coimbra (Portugal), under the new Sylff Fellowship Program.
The program is being offered jointly by The Nippon Foundation and Tokyo Foundation to all schools in the Sylff program, and the University of Coimbra was the first institution to take advantage of this opportunity. Five students were nominated by the university, all of whom were approved by The Tokyo Foundation for funding.
Sylff Fellows at the University of Coimbra (left to right):
Paulo Jorge Nogueira Ramos, Valéria Barancelli, Nuno José Henriques Baetas da Silva, Francisca Rosendo de Carvalho e Silva and Felipe Figueiredo Martins
The new initiative has been developed as an alternative to the conventional Sylff Program, enabling participating schools to pass on the burden of fund-management to the Tokyo Foundation, and thus focus solely on running the fellowship itself. Participating schools first of all return their endowment to The Nippon Foundation, following which fellowships are distributed directly to students from out of a Tokyo Foundation-managed fund established through a grant from The Nippon Foundation. Under this program, up to USD 30,000 in fellowships is provided annually to outstanding students at each participating institution.
Candidates are nominated by their institution, following which the Tokyo Foundation conducts a review and makes the final selection. Successful nominees receive funding directly from the Tokyo Foundation.
It is important to note that fellows and institutions under the new program enjoy equal status as those under the conventional Sylff program. For fellows, this includes eligibility for support programs, while institutions are encouraged to continue to play active roles in Sylff administrators’ meetings.
At present, approximately 10 institutions are in the process of introducing the new program. We would like to congratulate Coimbra University and its five new fellows for the landmark role that they are playing in the Sylff Fellowship Program, and we wish the fellows every success in their academic careers.
Sylff secretariat on November 9, 2015
University of Coimbra fellows and board members for Sylff in front of the university
September 28, 2015
SRA Awardees for Fiscal 2015, First Round
The Tokyo Foundation is pleased to announce the 12 recipients of SRA awards in the first screening round for fiscal 2015. We received a large number of applications from fellows around the world, and the selection process was very competitive. All applications were carefully screened for eligibility, the feasibility of the proposal, and the relevance of the proposed research to the applicant’s academic pursuits.
Congratulations to the winning applicants! We send you our best wishes and hope that the findings of your research abroad will further enrich and enhance your dissertation.
The name of the awardees and their home and the host institutions can be viewed here.
September 15, 2015
First click (1) Voices, and then the (2) Guidelines banner in the left-hand column.
“Voices from the Sylff Community” is a special section of the Sylff website featuring articles by Sylff fellows about their academic and social-engagement activities. Fellows can also share their analysis of or perspectives on global and grassroots issues. The Tokyo Foundation hopes that many more of you will submit articles to this site and create greater synergies among the fellows.
For the fellows who would like to write a “Voices” article, we have posted the General Guidelines for Writing a “Voices” Article on the Sylff website. Please read the instructions carefully and submit all requested data.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Tokyo Foundation at any time. We look forward to hearing from you and receiving your article!
Leadership Development, Tokyo Foundation
Email: leadership[a]tkfd.or.jp (replace [a] with @)
