Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI)

Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research, better known as KAKENHI, is the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science's flagship investigator-led research program. It is Japan's main competitive route for academic research funding, and it spans humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences under a national framework that still reflects shared administration with MEXT. The program uses grant funding across roughly 15 tracks, from Specially Promoted Research and Transformative Research Areas to Scientific Research A/B/C, Challenging Research, Early-Career Scientists, Research Activity Start-up, Fostering Joint International Research, and other KAKENHI categories. Awards range from a few million yen for smaller projects to hundreds of millions of yen for the largest tracks, and applications move through affiliated Japanese institutions via the JSPS electronic application system. Selection is peer reviewed by the Scientific Research Grant Committee, with roughly 8,000 reviewers drawn from each academic field. The annual cycle rewards proposals that fit the chosen category cleanly and are backed by a host institution that can manage the submission process. It is best suited to researchers already embedded in Japan's university or research-institute system who can match the scale of the project to the right KAKENHI track.

Each grant below is a distinct funding opportunity with its own eligibility, scope, and deliverables.