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Deadline date
Amount
£7,000

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There are two Meiji Jingu Japanese Studies Research Scholarships available. Each scholarship is valued at £7,000 in total and will be paid to the awardee as a stipend.

Scholarships are for one year only, but it is possible to reapply if an award recipient has demonstrated outstanding potential for research. Please note that this scholarship cannot be held during the Extension of Writing-Up (Continuation) status.

Eligible programmes

  • Any full-time MPhil/PhD programme where the student will be working on some aspect of Japanese Studies.
  • Part-time programmes are not eligible.

Candidate criteria

  • This scholarship is open to Home and Overseas fee status applicants.
  • Current PhD students at SOAS and newly enrolling full-time MPhil students with an offer of admission are eligible.  Newly enrolling MPhil students may be given preference.
  • Applicant must possess an MA degree from SOAS or an equivalent institution in a relevant subject.
  • Candidates must have an offer of admission by the scholarship deadline.
  • Applicants (new admissions starting in September 2025) must meet the English language condition of their offer of admission to study at SOAS as soon as possible. If your offer is conditional on English, please arrange your English test and ensure you meet the English requirements as soon as possible.
  • Please note that this scholarships does not cover funding or even allow for pre-sessional courses. 

Candidate assessment

  • MPhil candidates will be assessed on academic merit and the strength of their proposal.
  • PhD candidates will be assessed on academic merit, the results of their research during the previous year and proposal.
  • All candidates will be assessed based on their skill in Japanese in the areas of reading, composition and speaking, as outlined by references and other information provided in your application.
  • Some consideration will be given to financial need.
  • New applicants only (new admissions starting in September 2025): You must also submit a complete application to your programme as soon as possible and then submit an application for the scholarship. Please note that complete applications for admission can take 4 weeks to be considered by the Department, although this duration can vary depending on the time of year.  You should be prepared to wait up to 6 weeks in busy periods. 
  • Late or incomplete applications will not be considered.

Scholarship application procedure

To apply for this scholarship, applicants should follow the following steps:

Step 1 - Apply for your programme (new students only)

To apply for an MPhil/PhD programme, please visit our Doctoral school. Guidance on how to apply and what makes a complete application can be found on how to apply (research).

Step 2 - Apply for the scholarship

You must apply for this scholarship by 12:00pm (midday) UK local time on 15 May 2025 via the online application form.

Step 3: Submit your academic reference (current students only)

Current SOAS MPhil/PhD students only: In addition to the online scholarship application form, applicants should submit one academic reference. The reference form will need to be completed by your nominated referee and sent by your referee to scholarships@soas.ac.uk by the scholarship deadline.

New Students: If you are applying to begin your MPhil/PhD course in 2025/26, your reference will be taken from your admissions application. New students will only need to complete steps 1 and 2 to apply for this scholarship. 

Please download the reference form here:

Meiji Jingu Scholarship Reference Form - 2025-26.docx

Word document, 26.47KB

Please note that if all the required steps are not completed, you will not be considered for the award.

Notification of results

The scholarship shortlisting and awarding period is expected to completed in July 2025, at the earliest. Successful candidates will be contacted first and once all awards have been allocated, the unsuccessful candidates will be notified.

Enquiries

For any enquiries regarding:

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