SOKENDAI KEK Tsukuba/J-PARC Summer Student Program

The KEK summer student program calls for students in FY2024.
Please read the guidelines carefully and submit your application by the deadline.

Application Deadline :

March 1 (Fri.) 9:00AM (Japan time)

SOKENDAI KEK Tsukuba/J-PARC Summer Student Program in 2024

The KEK summer student program calls for students in FY2024. A major part of the program will be financially supported by SOKENDAI, the Graduate University for Advanced Studies, and KEK IINAS-NX program. The program is also supported by JENNIFER2 a HORIZON2020 MSCA-RISE project, g.a. 822070.

Introduction/Overview

KEK, the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, is one of the world’s leading accelerator science research laboratories, located in Japan. Using high-energy particle beams and synchrotron light sources, KEK conducts research on the origin of the universe, unknowns of the matter and secrets of life.

KEK has two main campuses: Tsukuba campus and Tokai campus. In Tsukuba campus, Belle II experiment with the electron-positron collider SuperKEKB is going on. With a large number of B mesons produced at SuperKEKB, Belle II studies for the New Physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics with the precise measurements of B meson decays. Another major facility in Tsukuba campus is the photon factory, which is an accelerator-based light source facility for the study of the function of materials and life.

In Tokai campus, Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC) is in operation. J-PARC is the research facility with the world-class high intensity proton beam. Research projects at J-PARC explore the origin of matter and life in the fields of particle and nuclear physics, material and life science with the state-of-art technologies in accelerators and related fields. J-PARC is operated jointly by KEK and JAEA.

Education for students is one of the important missions at KEK. As one of educational programs, KEK offers opportunities for both national and international students to study at KEK. The participants can experience research through hands-on work at KEK Tsukuba or in J-PARC.

In the program, students belong to one of the research groups and conduct research work under the supervision of researchers in a group staying at Tokai campus or Tsukuba campus of KEK for weeks. In some cases, students can have an opportunity to work with SOKENDAI students, or postdocs in host research groups.

Stay period

The duration of stay is up to 8 weeks from middle of June to middle of August. In the case of the theory group, the maximum period is 4 weeks. The actual period will be discussed and decided after the selection.
Joint sessions among the participants are planned in July and August. You are advised to consider the staying period so that you can join at least one of the sessions.

Any extension of the stay period for other business or private trip is NOT allowed.

Those who are not able to participate in the above period, may specify preferred period in the application. Even in such cases, the maximum period must be 8 weeks until December 2024.

Eligibility

Intended grade of students of this program is latter half of undergraduate course and early part of graduate course (~ master course) irrespective of international or Japanese students. It is desirable for students to have learned dynamics, electromagnetism and quantum mechanics. But this is just a guideline and it may depend on the matching with a hosting research group. We encourage applicants to contact us if it is uncertain whether you are eligible or not.

Summer students join research groups engaged in the following fields either at Tsukuba campus or at J-PARC:

Elementary Particle physics
Nuclear Physics
Material & life science
Accelerator science
Advanced Detection System (Sensors/ Electronics/Computing)
Theory (computational methods in quantum field theory, i.e. Lattice QCD)

Please refer to the following page for past programs.

Examples of past research topics

Support

Types of costs covered by the program is as follows,

For participants from non-Japanese universities;

airfares
accommodation fees for KEK/J-PARC dormitories
per diems (fixed amount; 1,500 yen/day)
domestic travel costs between the airport (Narita/Haneda) to KEK/J-PARC, calculated based on KEK financial rules

Costs for visas and medical insurances are NOT covered by the program. Flight tickets for participants are arranged by the organizers and the airfares are directly paid to travel agencies.
Travel costs for participants are reimbursed in cash (JPY) basically within the first two weeks upon their arrival. Participants are not necessary to pay the dormitory fees during the stay period.

For participants from Japanese universities;

accommodation fees for KEK/J-PARC dormitories
per diems (fixed amount; 1,500 yen/day)
domestic travel costs, calculated based on KEK financial rules

Costs for insurances that participants purchase themselves are NOT covered by the program.
Travel costs are paid to participants by way of domestic bank transfer.

For mentors or supervisors of student in sending universities;

Extra quota is considered for applicants who are supported by sending universities.
Please contact us “kekssp-sec (at) ml.post.kek.jp” for such case.

Application

1) Registration

Applicants are required to provide registration information in the registration form. ID numbers will be assigned for applicants after registration.

Registration form

2) Submission of application materials

Applicants must email the following documents to the mailing list “kyodo2(at)mail.kek.jp”.
Please note that the file size must be less than 5MB, otherwise email will bounce back.
- 1. CV
- 2. Official transcript of academic record (If the certificate is written in a language other than English or Japanese, an abridged English translation should be attached.)
- 3. Application form（Word）
- 4. Recommendation letter (at least one. Letters are issued by supervisors (or a researcher who well knows the recent work of the applicant) of applicant’s current university, or the most recent university the applicant attended if he/she is not currently enrolled in any university)

Please make sure to include the assigned ID number in the file names of all application documents.

Please ask your supervisor to send a recommendation letter directly to us “kyodo2(at)mail.kek.jp”.

Application Deadline :

March 1 (Fri.) 9:00AM (Japan time)

*All application materials including recommendation letters should be submitted by the deadline above.
*Once we receive your application, we will get back to you within a few days. If you do not receive a reply from us, please contact us again.

Selection

Selection will be made based on the application materials. If necessary, an interview (via video meeting) may be arranged.

Result of the selection will be informed to each applicant by April 30, 2024.

Note

Insurance during program * For students from overseas. Students from Japan should ask separately.
Students shall purchase liability insurance at their own responsibility. KEK will cover insurance regarding injury death, injury residual disability, sickness death, medical treatment and rescuer’s expenses during student’s travel to/from Japan and participating the program.
There are radiation-controlled areas at both KEK and J-PARC.
Only participants who are registered as a radiation worker at their home institute can perform work and experiments in these controlled areas.

Application Deadline :

SOKENDAI KEK Tsukuba/J-PARC Summer Student Program in 2024

Introduction/Overview

Stay period

Eligibility

Support

For participants from non-Japanese universities;

For participants from Japanese universities;

For mentors or supervisors of student in sending universities;

Application

1) Registration

2) Submission of application materials

Application Deadline :

Selection

Note

Contact information

About application, administrative questions, life in Japan;

About questions on research, life, anything;

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