LOS BAÑOS, Laguna—-The Philippine government-hosted Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture announced recently that the scholarship tenable at Tokyo University of Agriculture (NODAI) in Japan is now open.
SEARCA, scholarship secretariat, said researchers employed at the University of the Philippines Los Baños can now apply for the Dissertation Doctorate Program for Agriculture and Natural Resources.
The scholarship is also open to researchers working full-time at the Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) in Malaysia, Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) and Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB) in Indonesia, and Kasetsart University (KU) in Thailand.
All four universities including UPLB are founding members of the Southeast Asian University Consortium for Graduate Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC) forging the dissertation doctorate scholarship with Tokyo NODAI.
Tokyo NODAI is a UC associate member, while University of British Columbia (UBC) in Canada and Georg-August University of Hohenheim in Germany are affiliate members.
Dr. Gil C. Saguiguit Jr., SEARCA Director, said the scholarship is one of the many academic grants provided by the UC.
SEARCA initiated the UC in 1989 to pursue agricultural human resource development in Southeast Asia by linking top agricultural universities in the region to facilitate free exchange of information, facilities, and expertise.
To be eligible, Saguiguit said, the applicants must hold a master's degree in agriculture or related fields and published three peer-reviewed scientific papers in scholarly journals, and have made a substantial progress in a research project that will deserve a dissertation doctorate.
He said the scholarship provides funds for research as well as annual travel to and accommodation at Tokyo NODAI for one month to consult with their assigned academic adviser in order to complete their research within the three-year scholarship duration.
Applications must be sent to Los Baños-based SEARCA not later than March 2017, he added.