Researchers at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) and four other universities in Southeast Asia can now apply for the Dissertation Doctorate Program for Agriculture and Natural Resources at Tokyo University of Agriculture (Nodai) in Japan.
The dissertation doctorate scholarship is a joint project of Tokyo Nodai and the Southeast Asian University Consortium (UC)for Graduate Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources, whose secretariat is the Philippine government-hosted Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA).
The scholarship is also open to researchers working full time at UPLB, Universiti Putra Malaysia in Malaysia, Universitas Gadjah Mada and Institut Pertanian Bogor in Indonesia and Kasetsart University in Thailand. All five are founding members of the UC. To be eligible, the applicants must hold a master's degree in agriculture or related fields and published three peer-reviewed scientific papers in scholarly journals, and have made a substantial progress in a research project that will deserve a dissertation doctorate. The scholarship provides funds for research, as well as annual travel to and accommodation at Tokyo Nodai for one month, to consult with their assigned academic adviser in order to complete their research within the three-year scholarship duration. Applications must be sent to Los Baños-based SEARCA not later than March 2017.
The scholarship is one of the many academic grants provided by the UC. SEARCA initiated the UC in 1989 to pursue agricultural human-resource development in Southeast Asia by linking top agricultural universities in the region to facilitate free exchange of information, facilities and expertise.
Tokyo Nodai is a UC associate member, while University of British Columbia in Canada and Georg-August University of Hohenheim in Germany are affiliate members.
