1. For both CREST and PRESTO
(Indirect costs (overhead costs))
| Q | Will the indirect costs be paid to all research institutions entered into the research agreement? |
| A | The indirect costs will be paid to all research institutions entered into the research agreement to a maximum of 30% of the direct costs (contract research expenses). |
| Q | For what purposes will the indirect costs be spent? |
| A | Indirect costs are allocated to research institutes to cover necessary costs to improvement of the research environment of researchers participating in Research Subjects selected for this program and expenditures required for functional improvement of the overall research institution,. The principal purposes for spending indirect costs are exemplified as follows according to "the common guideline concerning execution of the indirect cost of a competitive research fund" (March 23, Heisei 17, Liaison conference of relevant ministries on competitive research funds).
1). Expenses incurred for the administration department
- Expenses for facility management and equipment preparation, maintenance and operation - Expenses required for management affairs
Office equipment, consumables, equipment lease, miscellaneous tasks, labor costs, communications and transportation, rewards, domestic travel, meetings, printing, etc.
2). Expenses incurred for the research department
- Expenses for shared goods
Office equipment, consumables, equipment leases, miscellaneous tasks, labor costs, communications and transportation, rewards, domestic travel, meetings, printing, newspapers/magazines and heating, lighting and water - Expenses required for promoting research activities through application of research
Labor costs for Researchers, research support, etc., office equipment, consumables, equipment leases, miscellaneous tasks, communications and transportation, rewards, domestic travel, meetings, printing, newspapers/magazines and heating, lighting and water - Expenses related to patents
- Expenses for preparation, maintenance and operation of research buildings - Expenses for preparation, maintenance and operation of laboratory animal facilities - Expenses for preparation, maintenance and operation of Researcher community facilities - Expenses for equipment preparation, maintenance and operation - Expenses for network preparation, maintenance and operation - Expenses for mainframe (including supercomputer) preparation, maintenance and operation - Expenses for preparation, maintenance and operation of mainframe building - Expenses for preparation, maintenance and operation of library - Expenses for preparation, maintenance and operation of cultivated land etc. 3). Expenses for other relevant business departments
- Expenses for developing business from research results - Expenses for publicity activities etc. In addition to the above, the indirect costs will be allocated to those expenses deemed indirectly necessary for carrying out the studies by the head of an institution, except those expenses funded more appropriately as direct costs. |
(Research location)
| Q | What are the criteria for judging that conducting the research would be difficult at a location other than an overseas institution? |
| A | Cases such as the following are bases for judgment that the research must be conducted overseas.
1. Necessary facilities are not available in Japan, but only at an overseas institution.
2. Field research that is only feasible overseas is required.
3. Research materials are available only at the research institution or location concerned, which cannot be transported into Japan. |
(Personnel changes after adoption)
| Q | Can research be continued even if the Research Director (CREST) or Researcher (PRESTO) has been assigned to a different job position (promotion, change of institution, etc.) during the research period? |
| A | The research can be continued on the condition that it be continued without difficulty at the new location. The Research Director (CREST)/Researcher (PRESTO) cannot be replaced for reasons of personnel changes. |
| Q | Can the equipment and/or other items provided by research expenses be moved to the new institution if the institution for the research must be changed because of personnel relocation or other reasons during the research period? |
| A | Equipment and other items provided by the research expenses can be moved. Equipment acquired through contract research expenses (direct cost), in general, can also be moved to the new research institution through transfer or other means. |
(Other)
| Q | Who is the Program Officer (PO) of this program? What role does that person play? |
| A | The Research Supervisor acts as the Program Officer (PO) assigned to the Competitive Research Fund program for the CREST and PRESTO studies in this program. For information on the roles of the Research Supervisor, please refer to Chapter II-B-1-(2) "Research Supervisor" and all of Chapter II-B-1 for CREST and Chapter II-C-1-(2) "Research Supervisor" and all of Chapter II-C-1 for PRESTO. |
| Q | What is the Researcher No. in Form 1? |
| A | Those with a Researcher's Number of Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research are to enter it. Those without this number are to enter the 8-digit Researcher No. provided when registering researcher information on e-Rad (Electronic system of Research and Development [http://www.e-rad.go.jp/](Japanese only now)). Applications are effectuated through e-Rad; however, whether having a Number of Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research or not, before using e-Rad, it is necessary to register researcher information on e-Rad. Those without e-Rad login ID should contact their affiliated research institute administrative staff or the e-Rad Helpdesk (see Application Guideline Appendix 3) without delay. The registration procedures may take several days; therefore, please start the registration procedures at least two weeks in advance. |
| Q | Please provide information about the Research Subjects selected and state of applications for the last year's project. |
| A | Please visit the JST website (iPS cell research areas "http://www.jst.go.jp/pr/info/info511/" , Other research areas" http://www.jst.go.jp/pr/info/info551/" (Japanese)) . |
| Q | Can a representative of an applicant take the interview if the applicant cannot be present on the interview day? Alternatively, can the interview be rescheduled for another day? |
| A | A representative will not be accepted for the interview. The interview schedule is finalized after adjusting a number of evaluators and, for that reason, cannot be rearranged. |
2. CREST
(Research expenses to be indicated in the proposal)
| Q | Must the basis of calculating the research expenses and annual budget be presented in the research proposal? |
| A | Although no basis for research expenses is necessary, indicate research expense schedules for each item of expenditure and for each endowed institution in form-6 of Research Proposal Application. Those who have been selected for the interview shall separately prepare supplementary information materials that include details of the research expenses. |
(Research framework and budget allocation)
| Q | Please give examples of an unacceptable collaborative research group composition or research expenses allocation. |
| A | A research framework whose researcher group does not play a central role in the proposed research concept, a framework that involves outsourcing a substantial portion of the research externally, a framework that does not clearly define the role and position of the collaborative research group with respect to the research concept, or a research expenses that equally distributes research costs among the collaborative research group without regard for role or position. |
| Q | Would it be possible to change the research framework appearing in the application form at the time of the interview or after adoption? |
| A | Selection is effectuated based on the information appearing in the research proposal application form, and we ask that the information to appear in it be carefully thought through prior to submittal so as to avoid changes. However, a change request can be made at the time of adoption as per Research Supervisor. |
(Applicant requirements)
| Q | Are part-time researchers (e.g., a visiting researcher) eligible for application? Is a researcher reaching mandatory retirement age during the research period eligible for application? |
| A | Such researchers are also eligible as long as they have a domestic research base and are able to carry out the research throughout the research period. |
(Research team organization)
| Q | When subscribing for CREST, is it possible to put into a team by making PRESTO researcher under research implementation into a main research collaborator? |
| A | . |
(Research expenses)
| Q | Does the amount indicated as "Total Research Expenses" and "Research Expenses Plan" (entered into the electronic application system and written in CREST Form 1 and CREST Form 6 ) in the research proposal include the indirect costs paid to the research institutions when the research agreement is signed? |
| A | The Total research expenses do not include the indirect costs. Please indicate the direct costs only. |
| Q | How are the research expenses allocated within a team determined? |
| A | The allocation of research expenses within a team is determined according to the research plans established annually after the adoption of research proposals. Please refer to II-B-1-(3) "Research plans" for information about the research plans. |
(Purposes of research expenses)
| Q | Can the patent application and maintenance fees for patents applied by the research institutions be paid from the research expenses? |
| A | Fees for patent application, examination order, maintenance, attorney, etc. cannot be paid as direct costs, but as indirect costs. |
| Q | Can some tasks such as programming be outsourced to an external party? |
| A | Outsourcing is allowed when necessary for promoting the research. In such cases, however, the outsourced tasks must be based on a service agreement that does not include any part of research and development. Please consult JST in advance if any part of research and development is included in the tasks, which must be subcontracted. |
(Research agreement)
| Q | Does the research agreement with the Main Research Collaborator's institution take the form of "subcontract (*)" through the institutions of the Research Directors?
* "Subcontract" under the research agreement is a form in which JST signs a contract only with the institution of the Research Director and such institution in turn signs another research agreement with the institution of the Main Research Collaborator. |
| A | The research agreement for this project does not take the form of "subcontract"; instead, JST enters into individual research agreements with institutions of both the Research Director and Main Research Collaborator. |
(Research evaluation)
| Q | How do you evaluate the researches and how do you use the results? |
| A | The evaluation of CREST Research Subjects, in general, consists of 1. a midterm evaluation conducted approximately three years from the start of the studies, and 2. ex-post evaluation conducted after the research period ends. Please refer to II-B-1-(4) "Research subjects Evaluation" for details. In addition, the evaluation of Research Areas (II-B-A-(5). "Research Area Evaluation" ) and a follow-up evaluation after the a fixed period from research termination will be conducted. All evaluation results will be posted on the JST website. |
(Duplicated Applications)
| Q | Can the applicant apply the proposal for CREST as a Research Director while he participates in other research proposal as Main Research Collaborator.? |
| A | Yes, it is possible. If such proposals will be shortlisted, there is a possibility that any adjustment may be made taking the scope and scale of each research into consideration, for instance, to reduce the research expenses or to select one research to be implemented out of such proposals. |
3. PRESTO
(Applicant requirements)
| Q | Do many female researchers apply for the project? |
| A | For PRESTO, 1,240 researchers have taken part since its inception in 1991. Of them, some 115 are female. In 2008, 12.6% of PRESTO applicants were women and 16.2% of those whose proposals were adopted were women. JST hopes to have many great applications from all walks of life regardless of gender or research history. A special homepage about PRESTO female researchers is available. Please have a look. (URL: http://www.jst.go.jp/kisoken/presto/nadeshiko/(Japanese)) In addition, from last year ,JST appeals to children, youths and those involved in science and technology that "Scientists and engineers, both male and female, are admirable figures" through a "Role model". Through these efforts, JST has been promoting gender equality vigorously since last year, under the philosophy to encourage as many people as possible to become "attractive and charming researchers and engineers." (URL: http://www.jst.go.jp/gender(Japanese)) |
| Q | Are there any age restrictions to apply for PRESTO? |
| A | No particular age restrictions apply to the PRESTO application. However, the researches are performed primarily by young researchers in their 30s, who are expected to achieve great success through this program. |
| Q | Are part-time researchers (e.g., visiting researcher) eligible for application? |
| A | No restrictions on the applicants' status apply to PRESTO. |
| Q | Is it possible to subscribe for PRESTO as a researcher and to participate in CREST as a main research collaborator? |
| A | The application to PRESTO is possible.However, when it has already participated in CREST as a main research collaborator and the becomes an adoption of PRESTO candidate this time, or when both PRESTO for which self has subscribed, and CREST which is having participation planned as a main research collaborator become an adoption candidate simultaneously this time, it may adjust choosing the cut of a research cost, and one research which the researcher concerned does, after taking the details of research, a scale, etc. into consideration etc. |
| Q | Are Japan Society for the Promotion of Science(JSPS) Research Fellowships for Young Scientists eligible for application? |
| A | They are eligible for application. Please inquire to each organization about the propriety of duplication to PRESTO in the program of organizations other than JST if any program of organizations other than JST is already in use, or applied for. |
(Research expenses to be indicated in the proposal)
| Q | Must the basis of calculating the research expenses and annual budget be presented in the research proposal? |
| A | No basis for research expenses is necessary. Those who have been selected for the interview shall separately prepare supplementary information materials that include details of the research expenses. |
(part-time/full-time engagement)
| Q | Are there any conditions for the researcher to belong to JST as part-time researcher? |
| A | The condition is that permission for the additional job is granted by the research institution. The applicant must comply with the institution's regulations concerning part-time work hours. |
(Purposes of Research Expenses)
| Q | Can the patent application and maintenance fees for patents applied by the research institutions be paid from the research expenses? |
| A | Fees for patent application, examination order, maintenance, attorney, etc. cannot be paid as direct costs, but as indirect costs. JST will separately bear such fees corresponding to the JST share if JST holds a share of the patents such as those with full-time researchers. |
| Q | Can some of the tasks such as programming be outsourced to an external party? |
| A | Outsourcing is allowed when necessary for promoting the research. In such cases, however, the outsourced tasks must be based on a service agreement that does not include any part of research and development. |
(Employment of researchers with a doctoral degree)
| Q | Can researchers with a doctoral degree (postdoctoral researchers) be employed for PRESTO Type projects as research assistants? |
| A | In PRESTO, it is not possible to make a research team with any doctoral degree (postdoctoral researchers). However, postdoctoral researchers could be employed as a research assistant supporting an independent study of an individual applicant researcher. If you want to employ postdoctoral researchers, you need to make contact with JST. |
(Other)
| Q | Can the researcher suspend PRESTO research because of so-called life events (e.g., childbirth, childcare and nursing care) and resume the research later? |
| A | If a life event occurs to a PRESTO researcher during the research period, that researcher may suspend the research upon consultation with the Research Supervisor for up to the period specified for each type of life event and resume the research after such period. In such cases, JST will appropriate funds when the research is resumed, in the amount equal to the Research Expenses that were unused because of the suspension. |
| Q | Will salary for the researcher be paid from Research Expenses? Approximately how much will they be? |
| A | The researcher will be paid by JST separately from Research Expenses. Payments to full-time researchers will vary depending on their age, which should range between approximately 7 and 8 million yen per year. |
Electronic system for Research and Development (e-Rad)
See the website below for information on the operation of the system (e-Rad), the registration of affiliated research institutes and researchers, and the use of e-Rad.
http://www.e-rad.go.jp/ (Japanese only now)
