Call for Applications: 2026 Young Scientist Award (Division 5, JPS)

Dear Colleagues,

Opening Announcement
Division 5 of the Physical Society of Japan (JPS) has opened applications for the 20th (2026) Young Scientist Award.
The submission deadline is Friday, 25 July 2025 (documents must arrive by this date).
We welcome many applications—both self-nominations and nominations by others. Researchers who applied in previous years but were not selected are also encouraged to re-apply.

Masaaki Ashida, Vice-Chair of Division 5
Graduate School of Engineering Science, The University of Osaka
Division 5 website: https://www.r5.div.jps.or.jp/

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0. About the JPS Young Scientist Award
To encourage promising young researchers who will lead the future of physics and to invigorate the Society, the Physical Society of Japan has established the Young Scientist Award for its early-career members.
Each division forms a screening committee that evaluates application materials together with the applicant’s activities at domestic and international conferences. The committee recommends candidates to the JPS Board, which makes the final decision.
Division 5 will recommend up to two candidates (approximately 50 in total across all divisions) to the Board.
Each awardee is asked to give an award lecture at the first JPS Annual Meeting after receiving the prize.

1. Eligibility of Research
The award is conferred for outstanding research achievements carried out by a young member of the Physical Society of Japan. The research must be published in one or more papers, and part or all of the work must have been presented orally or by poster by the applicant at a JPS meeting in the relevant division (Note 1).

Note 1: The eligible conference presentation must list the applicant as the presenter (for oral/poster) or first author.

2. Applicant Qualifications
The applicant must be a member of the Physical Society of Japan.

In principle, the applicant must be 37 years old or younger as of 31 March 2026 (Note 2).

Note 2: If the applicant’s research career was interrupted for childbirth or childcare leave, the age limit may be extended to 39 years.

3. Application Documents
Applications may be submitted either by self-nomination or by nomination.

Required documents:
Curriculum Vitae, List of publications, Copies of up to three key papers,
List and one-page summaries of relevant JPS presentations (include date, presentation number and division; no limit on the number of presentations),
Recommendation letter (for nominations) or Self-recommendation letter (for self-nominations) — see format below (Note 3).

Note 3 – Format of the recommendation/self-recommendation letter

Date of preparation,Candidate’s name, Affiliation (institution, position, address), JPS membership number,
Contact information (phone, fax, e-mail),Title of the research to be considered (Japanese, within 40 characters, and English),
Division for evaluation: Division 5, Reason for nomination/self-nomination (up to 2,000 Japanese characters or in English)

For nominations only, additionally provide:
– Nominator’s name
– Nominator’s affiliation (institution, position, address)
– Nominator’s contact information (phone, fax, e-mail)
– Relationship to the candidate

A nominator may recommend only one candidate in the same division.
A self-nominated applicant may not apply to multiple divisions in the same year.

4. How to Apply
Prepare the above documents in PDF, MS Word, or Excel, and contact the e-mail address below (Note 4). You will receive instructions for uploading your files (Note 5).

Note 4: Please use the subject line “Application for Division 5 Young Scientist Award”
Note 5: If you do not receive upload instructions within 24 hours, please resend your e-mail. After we confirm receipt of your documents, we will send a confirmation reply.

5. Submission Address
Masaaki Ashida
Vice-Chair, Division 5 (Chair of the Division 5 Young Scientist Award Screening Committee)
Graduate School of Engineering Science, The University of Osaka
1-3 Machikaneyamacho, Toyonaka, Osaka, 560-8531, Japan
TEL: +81-6-6850-6506
E-mail: ashida@mp.es.osaka-u.ac.jp

6. Deadline
Friday, 25 July 2025 — documents must arrive by this date.

For further details of the award regulations, please refer to the JPS journal or the Society’s website:
https://www.jps.or.jp/english/meetings-and-awards/award.html
https://www.jps.or.jp/english/docs/Guidelines_theYoungScientistAward.pdf