Daiwa Foundation funds projects ranging from literary explorations of the relationship between Wales and Japan to ground-breaking research in converting waste plastics into valuable resources.

The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation has published details of its Small Grants and Awards awarded to support UK-Japan projects in its latest funding round (September 2020).

The University of East Anglia received a grant to support research travel by Dr Susan Burton to interview members of the Welsh diaspora in Japan and Japanese people who love Welsh culture, culminating in a literary, non-fiction work; commissioned by the New Welsh Review, this project is also supported by the Welsh Books Council and won the New Welsh Award’s Rheidol Prize for Prose in 2020.

Dr Andy Galbraith from the University of East London will receive support for collaboration and reciprocal research visits with academics at Ritsumeikan University, for a project investigating the physiology and biomechanics of Japanese endurance running.

Dr Ted Barker from the Developmental Psychopathology Lab at King’s College London will travel to Kyoto University in 2021 to engage in research collaboration and workshops on advanced statistical analysis of longitudinal birth cohort data, to enable sustainable international comparative research.

Independent Arts Projects will use a grant to aid taking an award-winning children’s theatre project, ‘EATEN’ by Mamoru Iriguchi, to Japan, where it will be staged as part of theatre festivals in Kanazawa and Okinawa.

The Foundation will also support the University of Southampton in conducting research and workshops in Japan, led by Dr Rebecca Spake, related to sustainable forestry, involving academics, industry organisations, and government bodies, with the aim of directing research to inform the future of sustainable forestry practice.

Among larger institutional collaborations funded by the Foundation is an Award to the University of Leeds, which along with Tohoku University is tackling the problem of excess plastic waste by converting it into high-value resources. These institutions are proposing to develop a new method of pyrolysis-catalysis which will allow valuable nitrogen-functionalised carbon nanotubes to be produced from nitrogen-containing waste plastics.

Clare Farrow Studio is collaborating with the University of Tokyo and the Royal College of Art to submit a piece representing Japan at the 2021 London Design Biennale: an immersive project by the Japanese architect Toshiki Hirano titled ‘Reinventing Texture’, incorporating design, music, and sound, will be installed in Somerset House as the installation  to represent Japan with the theme of ‘Resonance’, and will be on display from 1 to 27 June 2021.

The charity SPUD will be running an exchange design project with Daikanyama Teens Creative which will facilitate teenagers from Shibuya and Sway, Hampshire, to work together and develop projects to improve their locations through design, while increasing international cooperation and intercultural understanding.

For more information on recently-funded projects, please refer here Recently funded – Daiwa foundation small grants and awards – Daiwa Foundation (dajf.org.uk).

Background information:

The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation is a UK charity, established in 1988 with a generous benefaction from Daiwa Securities Co Ltd. The Foundation’s purpose is to support closer links between Great Britain and Japan. It does this by awarding grants and scholarships in all fields of activity; by supporting educational exchanges and other bilateral initiatives between British and Japanese academics and students; and by organising a year-round events’ programme at Daiwa Foundation Japan House in London to increase understanding of Japan in the UK. The Foundation is represented in Japan by its Tokyo office. Further information about the Foundation and its activities is available at www.dajf.org.uk

Press Enquiries
Susan Meehan
Grants and Scholarships Officer
Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation
13/14 Cornwall Terrace
London NW1 4QP

TEL: 020 7486 4348
Email: grants@dajf.org.uk