NSTC Chair Professorship and Yushan Fellowship

NSTC Yushan Fellowship / Chair Professorship — Seed

Supports Taiwan researchers with structured pathways in prestigious academic leadership fellowships, from planning to deployment.

The NSTC Yushan Fellowship and Chair Professorship programme is a talent-attraction instrument operated by Taiwan's National Science and Technology Council, designed to recruit internationally leading researchers to Taiwan through long-term collaboration agreements or physical relocation to Taiwanese universities and research organisations. The programme reflects NSTC's international cooperation mandate and Taiwan's policy priority of strengthening its research base by drawing on global academic talent. Unlike NSTC's project-focused Research Project Grant, this instrument is structured around the researcher's person rather than a specific research project, providing compensation and operational support packages intended to make Taiwan-based academic positions competitive with those at leading international institutions.

Eligibility is explicitly international — researchers worldwide are eligible to apply, regardless of citizenship or current institutional affiliation, provided the recruiting institution is a Taiwanese university or research organisation. Individual researchers may apply, and the receiving institution must be NSTC-eligible. The award package combines salary support, a research budget, and operating allowances; specific TWD amounts are not available in the current source material and require verification from NSTC's live fellowship documentation. As with other NSTC instruments, bilingual administrative materials are provided with the Chinese version prevailing in cases of discrepancy.

The programme targets researchers who are recognised as leaders in their fields internationally — the Yushan Fellowship name signals an aspiration to summit-level academic distinction — and who are willing to make a substantive, long-term commitment to collaboration with or presence in Taiwan. Researchers at mid-career and senior stages with strong international profiles and research areas complementary to Taiwan's national science and technology priorities are the most competitive candidates. The recruiting Taiwanese institution plays an active role in identifying candidates, supporting applications, and providing the institutional home for the fellowship.