Taiwan to send four young researchers to Kyoto University next year

Taiwanese young people will have the opportunity to conduct research alongside teams at Japan’s Kyoto University from 2027, under an agreement signed by Taiwan’s Education Ministry and the university.

Kyoto University will provide four places for participants in Taiwan’s Young Overseas Dream Fund program. The selected young people will undertake short-term research and exchanges, receiving training in research planning, experimental analysis and the presentation of results.

Taiwan Education Minister Cheng Ying-yao said he thanked Kyoto University Vice President Susumu Kitagawa for coming to Taiwan to sign the agreement. Cheng said he hoped the partnership would promote two-way cooperation between Taiwan and Japan in basic research, advanced technology and the social sciences.

Kitagawa, who won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, was visiting Taiwan at the ministry’s invitation. He was scheduled to speak at a conference on metal-organic frameworks at National Central University, take part in a Nobel Chair unveiling ceremony, deliver an academic lecture at National Tsing Hua University’s chemical engineering department and visit the Wen Sheng Ren Foundation.

Taiwan launched the Young Overseas Dream Fund in 2025. The program sent 1,463 young people abroad in its first year and expanded to 3,073 participants in 2026 across 78 countries. The ministry said the Kyoto partnership would help participants develop independent research thinking and international collaboration skills while deepening long-term cooperation in higher education and frontier research.