RIKEN's Special Postdoctoral Researcher (SPDR) Programme is aimed at young, creative, independent researchers who will help to further RIKEN's research activities. The programme provides salary and research budget to enable Postdoctoral researchers to work at a RIKEN host laboratory in Japan for three years to conduct independent research.

The involvement of young scientists is critical in pioneering new frontiers of science and technology. As such, the SPDR Programme seeks to foster the development of researchers who will become internationally active in the future. It provides creative young scientists with the opportunity to be involved in autonomous and independent research on a topic of their own choosing that is in line with RIKEN objectives and research fields. The research fields are:

• Mathematical Sciences (Pure Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Computer Science, Information Science, Artificial Intelligence etc.)
• Physics (Physics I: particle, nuclear, astrophysics etc., and Physics II: condensed matter)
• Chemistry
• Biology (cell biology, developmental biology, plant biology, structural biology, microbiology, imaging, measuring etc.)
• Medical science (brain science, psychology, immunology, oncology, genome science etc.)
• Engineering that relates to research conducted by RIKEN

Fellows must be able to commence the fellowship in FY 2023 (1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024)

Funding covers:

• Annual salary paid in monthly instalments of ¥487,000 (including social insurance premiums and taxes).
• Commuting allowance (actual cost up to maximum of ¥55,000 per month).
• Housing allowance (partial payment of rent).
• Travel costs to take up the appointment at RIKEN.
• A research budget of ¥1 million per year.

Applicants travelling to Japan from overseas for a selection interview are eligible for subsidies to help cover travel costs:

• Travelling from China, Korea or Taiwan: actual cost up to ¥30,000.
• Other parts of Asia: actual cost up to ¥50,000.
• All other countries and regions: actual cost up to ¥70,000.

Funding is available to support around 60 SPDR positions.

The funding contract lasts for three years from 1 April 2023

Applicants must have a PhD awarded on or after 1 January 2017, or expect to be awarded a PhD by the date of hire.

Applicants who acquired their PhD prior to 31 December 2016 may also apply if there was a lapse in their research activity (eg time off for childcare, maternity, working in private industry) that would account for the time difference.

Qualified candidates of all nationalities in any country are able to apply.

Employee's period of fixed term employment at RIKEN cannot exceed ten years from the initial date of hire (or ten years from 1 April 2013 for fixed term employees already employed at RIKEN).

Individuals who have previously participated in the SPDR/Foreign Postdoctoral Researcher (FPR) programmes are not eligible to apply.

Application forms and guidelines are available from the RIKEN website. Applications are submitted online via the given registration link.

Interested parties must initially contact a RIKEN host laboratory participating in the current annual call for applications to ensure they have the ability to host a SPDR. Applicants should consult the 'Laboratories with SPDR Openings' document to check for available positions. The research topic must take into account the work being conducted within the host laboratory.

Applicants must first complete the online registration form. After registration, applicants will be sent a link to update the application documents, which may be completed in English or Japanese.

The following key dates apply:

• Deadline for registering basic information: 7 April 2022
• Deadline for revising or uploading application documents and letters of reference: 14 April 2022 (5pm Japan time)

Interviews for selected applicants will take place in late July/early August 2022. Notification for successful applicants will be in late August/early September 2022.