THE BEGINNINGS OF JSPS

THE JAPAN SOCIETY for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) was established in 1932, in response to calls for the promotion of academic activities, in order to support academic research. While government finances at that time were under severe pressure, the Emperor (Hirohito) donated a sum of 1.5 million Japanese yen for the promotion of arts and sciences. One of the main projects of JSPS in its early years was the provision of grants for individual research. These grants were awarded to research projects based on the original ideas of individual researchers, who were pioneers in their areas, and represented various research fields ranging from arts, humanities and social sciences to natural sciences, engineering and medicine. The spirit of JSPS as a non-profit, governmental organisation to support bottom-up curiosity-driven research without setting priority areas has been maintained and JSPS has consistently been Japan's core institution for supporting basic scientific research.

ESTABLISHMENT OF JSPS IN LONDON

In the 1960s, JSPS greatly expanded and developed its ability to strengthen its international credibility and to work closely with government policies related to science. Based on the success of the visiting research associate programme that began in 1960, JSPS established some programmes to involve researchers from outside Japan. Since there were no programmes at that time inviting foreign researchers to Japan, JSPS's new programmes constituted a landmark in promoting international academic exchange. In 1963, the Japan-US joint research programme (a bilateral programme with the USA) was launched. In the 1970s the JSPS concluded agreements with The Royal Society and the British Academy to promote Japanese science in the UK. The Royal Society and the British Academy have since then acted as nominating authorities for JSPS bilateral programmes and fellowships and have undertaken the entire selection process with the aim of sending high calibre researchers from the UK to Japan to carry out collaborative research activities.

In 1994, JSPS Tokyo headquarters decided that a JSPS London office should be opened to promote knowledge in the UK of Japan's scientific research strengths and forge a greater level of exchanges between the UK and Japan in the natural sciences as well as in the humanities and social sciences.