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Opportunities

We are seeking prospective graduate students and funded postdocs with an interest in terrestrial ecosystems (forest, farmland, grassland, urban), biodiversity (plants, birds, mammals, insects), and global change (climate change, land use change, habitat degradation/fragmentation, landscape modification, etc.).
Both fieldwork and non-fieldwork approaches are welcome: see potential topics.
International Student Life in Hiroshima 
 

Prospective Students

Admission and General Information
（Hiroshima University）


MSc Opportunities

We are pleased to nominate motivated students for a national graduate-level scholarship in Japan to pursue a Master’s degree.
  • Japanese Government (MEXT) Scholarship for Graduate and Research Students
    Benefits: 1,716,000 JPY per year (up to 2-4 years, including preliminary training as a Research Student) + Tuition fee exemption + round-trip travel expenses from/to your home country.
 Please carefully review the university-provided instructions.
Note: Applicants are not required to contact their desired supervisors until they pass the initial screening with the embassy.


PhD Opportunities

Hiroshima University provides plenty of opportunities to financially support PhD students.  
  1. Research Scholarship for Doctoral Students fully covers tuition fees of 540,000 JPY per year for three years, guaranteed for every “non-funded” student (check out details in the link).
  2. Hiroshima University Postgraduate Advancement Project includes further extensive opportunities:
  • Next-Generation Fellowship (NEW SPRING) offers 190,000 JPY per month for living expenses + 400,000 JPY per year for an independent research grant, for three years.
  • Research Fellowship offers 150,000 JPY per month for living expenses + 300,000 JPY per year for an independent research grant, for three years.
  • STEM Female Research Fellowship offers 19,000 JPY per month for living expenses + 400,000 JPY per year for an independent research grant, for three years.
Note: Pursuing a PhD in our lab is possible by suggesting one of the senior faculty members (associate or full professors) as your formal supervisor, with Masumi Hisano as a co-supervisor (for Master’s degrees, he is qualified to serve as the primary supervisor).


Postdoc Opportunities

We do not currently have specific funding to hire postdocs. However, we are pleased to nominate outstanding candidates for a national postdoctoral scholarship in Japan.
  • JSPS: Postdoctoral Fellowships for Research in Japan (Standard Program)
    4.34 million JPY per year (~2 yrs) + an independent research grant (~1,6-2.4 million JPY for 2 years) + settling-in allowance (200,000 JPY) + round-trip air ticket + overseas travel insurance
Read more:
- Application Guidelines
- Schedules (deadline generally August and April)
- Selection Process
- List of Successful Fellows
 

Visiting Scholar Opportunities

 
 

Feel free to contact us for any consultation!

CV and publication records are greatly appreciated for the initial contact ☺
Email: mhisano[at]lakeheadu.ca



 

Potential Example Topics

The following research topics are ongoing and currently being pursued.
We also welcome any self-motivated topics beyond these areas, through collaboration with our colleagues and external institutes.

Forest Ecosystems

  • Impacts of climate change on forest ecosystem functioning and plant diversity
  • The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in forest ecosystems
  • Plant functional traits and climatic environmental factors

Birds

  • Patterns in avian communities in relation to agricultural land and urban greenspaces
  • Functioning of artificial wetlands (created agricultural wetlands) and corridors (hedgerows, greenbelts, small woodlands)
  • Basic ecology and habitat use of birds
  • Behavioural ecology and colonial nesting of kestrels
  • Ecosystem services provided by birds

Mammals (carnivores)

  • Any topics using camera traps
  • Any topics using field sign surveys and faecal sampling, e.g., dietary analysis
  • Developing novel methods to estimate population density of small mammals

Insects

  • Impacts of climate change and land use changes on diversity of butterflies and ground-dwelling beetles
  • Plant-insect interactions (e.g., pollination) in relation to landscape ecology
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