I’m planning to apply for the Exceptional Promise route. I have a PhD in Computer Science (Machine Learning) that I completed last year in Japan.
I have received a highly competitive government scholarship called MEXT to do my Master’s and PhD in Japan (it covers airplane tickets, tuition, monthly stipend, entrance exam fees). They consider your performance during bachelor’s + your application documents which include research proposals, recommendation letters, etc and you have to go through multiple rounds of written tests and interviews to get it. It has around 5% acceptance rate, and I was one of two people who received it from my country.
I want to include it in my evidence criteria but I’m not sure where it belongs. Is it MC evidence or OC4?
For OC4, there is this note in the guideline: Please note that awards must be of merit and not solely monetary (e.g. grants, bursaries or scholarships).
So I’m assuming scholarships don’t count here? But I’ve seen some successful applicants that put other scholarships in OC4 criteria, so I’m confused.
@Miko, hope you’re doing well. Those applicants who used scholarships under OC4, I believe, were correct, that’s where it rightly belongs. While scholarships do have elements of recognition, their purpose is academic achievement and support, not business funding. MC would rightly apply if the funding were for building or leading the development of a product.
For business - Business Funding or Grant, Investment
For Academics - Scholarships, Grants
These are financial supports for different purposes
Regarding your MEXT award, the fact that others were successful using scholarships in OC4 doesn’t guarantee the same outcome for everyone, since submitted evidence are not the same. Evidence complement each other, and ones overall narrative matters. The key test is whether the scholarship was granted by a reputable organisation “of similar standing and distinction to the Royal Society.” If MEXT is well known and the selection criteria was highly competitive, it should meet that standard.