Philipp Franz von Siebold Award

Nominations for the Philipp Franz von Siebold Award may be made by the heads of all universities or national research organisations (kenkyu kaihatsu houjin) in Japan; Siebold Award winners; the directors of the Goethe Institutes and the German Institute for Japanese Studies in Japan; furthermore, the Consul General and the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Japan.

Alumni of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation may suggest suitable candidates for the award to the executive committee of a Japanese university or the management of a research organisation.

Self-nomination is not possible, nor may you nominate close relatives or your marital/registered partner.

No. However, nominees should be no older than 50.

Career breaks to raise children can be taken into account; please outline these in the nomination documents.

The voluntary disclosure of private circumstances may help increase equal opportunities during the selection process. The consideration of personal circumstances allows for a fairer assessment of academic achievements.

Yes. The assessment of academic achievements is always made on an individual basis. Therefore, when filling in the application form, please specify all periods in which the nominee partially or completely interrupted academic activities after finishing a doctorate in order to rear children.

The voluntary disclosure of private circumstances may help increase equal opportunities during the selection process. The consideration of personal circumstances allows for a fairer assessment of academic achievements.

Please contact daad-tokyo[at]daadjp.com if you have any questions.

Yes. The assessment of academic achievements is always made on an individual basis. Therefore, when filling in the application form, please specify all periods in which the nominee partially or completely interrupted academic activities after finishing a doctorate in order to perform military or alternative service, to care for close relatives or due to long-term illness. Job hunting, unemployment and non-academic employment do not count as career breaks.

The voluntary disclosure of private circumstances may help increase equal opportunities during the selection process. The consideration of personal circumstances allows for a fairer assessment of academic achievements.

Please contact daad-tokyo[at]daadjp.com if you have any questions.

Yes. There are no quotas for specific subjects. Nominations can be made in any academic discipline.

Academics who have already received a (research) fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation are eligible for nomination. A nomination is possible five years after completion of initial sponsorship (if applicable, including extension) in a fellowship programme at the earliest, and will typically occur later.

Academics who have already received a (research) award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation are not eligible for nomination.

At the time of nomination, the nominated candidate must have been predominantly living and working abroad for at least five years. Previous and short-term stays in Germany (such as visiting professorships) do not usually exclude a candidate from nomination. The nominee must not have held or accepted permanent employment in Germany at the time of selection. In cases of doubt, please contact us at daad-tokyo[at]daadjp.com so we can advise you.

You may nominate academics with German citizenship if they have been working abroad in an academic position for at least five years. Please send us a CV and a list of publications before you nominate the candidate so we can advise you: daad-tokyo[at]daadjp.com

Nomination is possible if a doctorate is either not customary or not possible in the nominee's country of origin or discipline, and if the nominee can prove that his or her academic performance is equivalent to a Ph.D., e.g. by academic publications for internationally reviewed journals and publishing houses.

The award amount is €50,000.

The award money is paid in instalments. The first instalment is normally transferred to the cashier’s office of the host university at the beginning of the research stay in Germany and can be collected there by the award winner.

For the payment of further instalments, award winners are asked to open an account at a bank of their choice as soon as possible after arriving in Germany, and to provide the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation with their account number, bank address and bank code.

The research award is granted in recognition of the academic achievements and the personality of the award winner and may only be claimed by the award winner personally. Similarly, payment of the award amount may also only be made to the award winner personally and exclusively. Claims to the award may not be transferred.

Award winners are responsible for all matters pertaining to their taxation.

However, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation would like to point out that according to German tax law, awards are not usually subject to income tax in Germany if they are primarily granted in recognition of the award winner's lifetime achievement or entire academic work, personality, convictions, or function as a role-model. This is precisely the intention of the Humboldt Foundation in granting the Philipp Franz von Siebold Award, which honours the entire life's work of award winners in their capacity as internationally outstanding researchers who have made exceptional contributions to better mutual cultural and societal understanding in Germany and Japan. Japanese legislation may contain special regulations on the taxation of awards. If in doubt, a tax accountant in Japan should be consulted.

As soon as the DAAD Regional Office in Tokyo has received your nomination we will notify you by e-mail. We will also notify you if any important documents or information are missing from your nomination.

Unless you expressly object, your nomination documents will be archived for a period of seven years and then destroyed in a manner compliant with data protection regulations. All documents are, of course, treated with utmost confidentiality. Peer reviewers and committee members are also obliged to observe strict confidentiality.

Yes. Nominations can be submitted until the deadline given on the website of the DAAD Regional Office in Tokyo. For more information on the current call for nominations please visit www.daad.jp.

An independent Selection Committee chaired by the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Japan meets once a year in spring to decide on the submitted nominations.

The nominee should have a working knowledge of German. The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation moreover strongly encourages its award winners and their partners to learn German during their research stay so that they can participate in social and cultural life in Germany beyond their research work. Upon request, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation can pay the cost of a German language course.

Your nomination will be reviewed by independent peer reviewers who are appointed by the DAAD Regional Office in Tokyo for this purpose.

The final decision on all nominations is made by the Selection Committee that is appointed by the DAAD Regional Office in Tokyo for this purpose.

The Selection Committee consists of academics and researchers from a variety of disciplines and a smaller number of members who are not associated with any specific discipline. This committee is comprised of the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Japan, three presidents of Japanese universities (or individuals of comparable status), a Siebold award winner, three further alumni of the Humboldt Foundation and the management of the DAAD Regional Office in Tokyo, among others. The Selection Committee decides on all submitted applications. An award is granted if two thirds of the committee members vote in favour of an application. Neither the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation nor the DAAD Regional Office in Tokyo have a vote on the Selection Committee.

The nominee will not be informed of a rejection. Communication during the selection process takes place between the DAAD Regional Office in Tokyo and the nominator only. In case an award is conferred, the winner will receive the award documents approximately four weeks after the selection meeting.

Yes, if the nominee has shown significant academic development since their previous nomination was rejected for reasons pertaining to their academic achievements.

The research stay in Germany should start within 12 months after conferral, if possible. The date must be agreed with an academic host in Germany in advance.

The duration of the research stay of up to one full year may be divided into segments. However, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation will only cover travel costs once. Please inform the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation about the time schedule for the research stay early on so that all necessary preparations can be made in good time.

Should the award winner wish to teach during the research stay, he or she may do so.

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation pays a lump sum to cover the Siebold award winner's travel costs (return tickets). The conferral documents contain information on lump sums for travel. The relevant sum will be transferred to the award winner's German bank account (which the award winner will have to open) after the research stay in Germany has begun.

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation can only cover the costs of one return journey, regardless of the number of trips to and from Germany.

A lump sum towards the travel costs of marital partners and children under the age of 18 accompanying the award winner may be granted if they stay with the Siebold award winner in Germany for at least six months. Fifty per cent of the lump sum will be paid for children between the ages of two and eleven, ten per cent for children under the age of two. The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation will not cover any additional expenses for the transportation of luggage.

Towards the end of the research stay, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation asks Siebold award winners to give personal feedback about their experiences in Germany and to describe their impressions of academic collaboration and daily life in Germany. For this purpose, the award winners will receive an e-mail in good time that contains a password-secured web link to an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation online questionnaire. With regard to the content of the report, comparisons with conditions in the award winners’ own countries are of particular interest. Comments on the design and organisation of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation sponsorship and funding programmes are welcome.

Similarly, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation also asks academic hosts in Germany to report on how they have experienced cooperation with the award winners.