Sho Tsugawa (Assistant Professor, Faculty of Information and Systems, University of Tsukuba)
Fuji Xerox Award (2012)/Nippon Kenkyu.com Award (2017)

Writing the application form naturally clarifies the purpose and significance of the research

I applied for the first research grant in my first year as a faculty member. At that time, I didn't have any external funds and wanted to secure research funding somehow. There was a job offer for young researchers that matched my research theme, so I applied. Also, since I had little experience in applying for research funding, I wanted to gain experience in writing.

The second application was also aimed at collaborating with companies. In particular, we expect to expand the scope of our research by collaborating with companies that have data. I usually check the information page on campus to check the research funds that I can apply for and the deadline. Writing an application form naturally clarifies the purpose and significance of the research, so I feel that it has a positive effect on advancing the research regardless of whether the research funding is accepted or not.

Adoption of the Leave a Nest Research Grant Leads to Confidence

Leave a Nest research funds are very easy to use because of their high degree of freedom, and I used them mainly for travel expenses and conference participation fees. The first adoption was very helpful because it was a time when there were almost no other external funds. It was the first external funding that I received, but after that I was able to obtain KAKENHI as well as being selected for research funding from other foundations. The selection of the Leave a Nest research grant gave me confidence, and I believe it had a positive effect on my subsequent acquisition of external funding. In addition, the research conducted for the Fuji Xerox Award was selected for ACM CHI 2015, a top international conference.

研究費の採択をきっかけとして、企業の方とお互いに研究を紹介し合う機会を持つことができました。普段は参加する学会が異なる企業の方が意外と自分と近い研究をしていることが分かったのは収穫でした。（おわり）