NSTC Graduate Research Fellowship Pilot Program

NSTC Graduate Research Fellowship Pilot — Seed

Supports Taiwan researchers with structured pathways in innovation, from planning to deployment.

The NSTC Graduate Research Fellowship Pilot Program is a stipend scheme administered by Taiwan's National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) to support incoming first-year doctoral students at Taiwanese universities across all academic disciplines. The program targets students entering PhD programs in February or September of the relevant academic year, including those admitted through direct-entry doctoral pathways. NSTC funds the fellowship entirely, with no co-funding requirement from the host university.

The program selects 400 recipients per annual NSTC Selection cycle. Each recipient receives a monthly stipend of NT$40,000, beginning in the first semester of doctoral enrollment and continuing for up to three years or until graduation, whichever occurs first. At the maximum duration, the cumulative award per recipient reaches NT$1,440,000. The application window for the 2025 cycle ran from October 1 to November 15, 2024, with results announced in late January 2025. Disqualifying conditions include full-time paid employment, part-time student status tied to an employer, concurrent receipt of any ROC government scholarship, leave of absence, and student citizenship from Hong Kong, Macau, or Mainland China.

The fellowship is positioned as a recruitment and retention instrument for Taiwan's doctoral pipeline rather than a project-based research grant, meaning there is no discipline restriction or technology readiness requirement. Applicants must submit a research proposal alongside their enrollment documents through the NSTC online portal. Organizations seeking to place doctoral-level researchers in Taiwanese programs, or universities building pipelines with NSTC, should note the October-to-November annual submission window and the hard disqualification for concurrent government funding.