SYLFF fellowship program
The SYLFF (Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund) program of the Tokyo Foundation (TKFD) supports the education of outstanding students with leadership potential.
SYLFF provides a maximum of two years of financial support to students of PhD programmes in the social sciences or humanities for writing their dissertations. An important criterion for supporting specific research is its contribution to society.
The fellowship allows students not only to connect with other fellows, but also offers them opportunities to obtain additional funding through various support programs.
SYLFF is a network of 16,000 exceptional students from 69 leading universities in 44 countries around the world. The supported applicants, SYLFF Fellows, are presented on the Sylff Association website.
Additional information is also available in the manual here.
Selection criteria
The applicant must primarily meet the following criteria:
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At the time of submission, the applicant must be a full‑time doctoral student in their 1st–3rd year at any of the following participating CU faculty:
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Faculty of Arts / Faculty of Education / Faculty of Humanities / Faculty of Law / Faculty of Social Sciences / Catholic Theological Faculty / Hussite Theological Faculty / Protestant Theological Faculty
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For the entire period of the fellowship, students must be enrolled in studies at Charles University.
The following qualities will be evaluated during the selection process:
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Leadership Skills Contribution of Research to Society Past Academic Activities of the Applicant Meaningfulness of Proposed Research Abroad Presentation of the Dissertation (evaluated only within the rectoral round) |
0-30 pts 0-30 pts 0-20 pts 0-20 pts 0-30 pts |
Terms and conditions for awarding the fellowship at CU
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A total of two new fellowships are awarded every year.
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The fellowship is awarded for one year, and it can be extended by another year based on fulfilment of the individual curriculum.
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The amount of the fellowship is USD 12,500/year.
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If a student is receiving, or intends to apply for, any other scholarship or grant concurrently with the SYLFF fellowship, this information, including the amount and purpose of the funding, must be disclosed in the application. Simultaneous coverage of identical expenses by multiple scholarships is not permitted.
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Students must achieve the following during the fellowship:
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Complete their dissertation or a substantial part of it
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Carry out a study visit abroad.
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The fellowship is not intended for students studying outside the standard period of study.
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Supported students are required to state in their dissertation that their work was made possible with the support of the SYLFF fellowship.
Program schedule and the selection of candidates
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by February 15 |
Announcement of call for applications: The Vice-Rector for International Affairs at CU announces a new call for applications to the participating faculties in a letter to the Vice-Deans for International Affairs. |
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Announcement of selection procedure by the faculties: The faculties announce the selection procedure on their websites and in other accessible media. |
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by April 30 |
Application process: Applicant completes the application, provides all required supporting documents (see Forms), and submits everything to their faculty coordinator by the deadline published on the faculty website. All communication with applicants is conducted by the Faculty. This is followed by a faculty‑level selection procedure. |
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by May 31 |
Submitting documents to the Rectorate’s International Relations Office: The faculty submits information to the International Relations Office (OZV RUK) for up to two top candidates from the faculty‑level selection process, along with all required documents. The faculty also attaches the Evaluation Sheet for each nominated candidate provided by the Rectorate. |
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by June 30 |
Meeting of the SYLFF committee: The nine‑member University Committee meets on a date set in advance. It is made up of the Vice‑Rector for International Affairs and Mobility and eight representatives from the participating faculties. The committee evaluates applicants in order of priority, which includes interviewing the top candidates and selecting the final recipients. |
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by July 13 |
Announcement of the results: All faculties are informed by the OZV RUK of the results of the selection procedure by the university coordinator. |
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by July 21 |
The faculty coordinator announces the results to all applicants. The winning candidates are nominated by the university coordinator to the TKFD for final approval. |
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by August 31 |
TKFD approves the nominated candidates and then contacts the selected Fellows directly to conclude an individual agreement. |
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in October |
TKFD arranges bank transfer of scholarships. |
University committee
Chair:
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Vice-Rector for International Affairs (Rectorate) |
prof. MUDr. Michal Vrablík, Ph.D. |
Members:
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Faculty of Arts Faculty of Education Faculty of Humanities Faculty of Law Faculty of Social Sciences Catholic Theological Faculty Hussite Theological Faculty Protestant Theological Faculty |
PhDr. Milan Žonca, Ph.D. doc. PhDr. Martin Rusek, Ph.D. doc. Veronika Čapská, Ph.D. doc. JUDr. Mgr. Magdalena Pfeiffer, Ph.D. PhDr. Zuzana Kasáková, Ph.D PhDr. Markéta Jarošová, Ph.D. doc. ThDr. Kamila Veverková, Ph.D. prof. ThDr. Martin Prudký |
Application form
SYLFF fellowship applicants
Applications must be submitted in English in pdf format and must contain the following documents:
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(Applicants requesting an extension of the scholarship submit the SYLFF Extension Application Form)
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Applicant’s CV (max. two A4 pages)
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Motivation letter (max. one and a half A4 pages)
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(Applicants requesting an extension of the scholarship submit a Recommendation Letter (Extension))
Successful applicants
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During the fellowship, Fellows are required to write an interim report and Final report relating to their activities.
SYLFF Fellows
SYLFF Fellows 2025
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Zuzana Arazim Dolejší, Faculty of Education Zuzana's doctoral research focuses on developing critical thinking in mathematics education. She explores how to adapt standard teaching practices within the curriculum to support skills such as working with information, recognizing relevance, detecting misleading data, and strengthening argumentation abilities. She is involved in creating and teaching the course Critical Thinking in Mathematics at the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Vienna, where she plans to collaborate with future mathematics teachers and apply the insights gained to student education and teacher training in the Czech Republic. |
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Barbora Doležalová, Faculty of Social Sciences Barbora (she/her) focuses on the sociology of work, gender, and sexuality. She is currently conducting feminist participatory action research on sex work in the Czech Republic. Her work explores possibilities for social justice, collective organizing, and intersectional precarization within the sale of sexual services. She is also interested in prison abolition, anti-gender discourses, and the political landscape in Malta. Outside academia, she strives to be active in pro-choice, queer, anti-racist, leftist, and vegan justice movements. |
SYLFF Fellows 2024
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Tomáš Koref, Faculty of Law Tomáš focuses on judicial decision-making and legal argumentation. He investigates how courts apply law in practice, connecting legal theory with empirical research, machine learning, and didactics. His research pursues three goals: to theoretically categorize incorrect legal reasoning; to empirically uncover how supreme courts argue and why they overturn lower court rulings; and to develop a new course on legal application for the Czech law curriculum. |
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Jan Musil, Faculty of Arts Jan focuses on thanatographies, autobiographical narratives about death, loss, and mourning, particularly in Central Europe. He is interested in why people often tend to avoid the topic of death and how the stories of others can help us cope with loss. He also explores how death, loss, and grief can be depicted in literature and how thanatographies circulate in culture alongside genres like horror, true crime, or climate crisis writing. |
SYLFF Fellows 2023
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Michal Gladiš, Faculty of Humanities Michal focuses on ethics and human values in technologies, biometrics enhanced by affective computing capabilities, and the impact of AI on human cognition, emotions, and behavior. In his dissertation, he explores the opportunities and risks associated with the use of AI assistants. |
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Filip Jelínek, Faculty of Law Filip focuses on public law and constitutional theory. In his dissertation, he addresses the issue of state inactivity and its legal grasp. He is close to so-called positive constitutionalism, interested in the relationship between law and public policy, the concept of public interest, and also classical questions of constitutional, legal, and political theory. |
SYLFF Fellows 2022
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Michaela Honelová, Faculty of Humanities In her project, Michaela deals with the sociological understanding of anti-ageing aesthetic surgery in the Czech context. Her research interest is the so-called path that leads a woman to undergo anti-ageing surgery. With this work, she would like to contribute to the sociological debate about the functioning of power in medicine and society. Currently, in addition to anti-ageing, Michaela is also interested in the issue of gender in society. |
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Jana Soukupová, Faculty of Law Jana specializes in IT law with a focus on data, virtual reality, and digital assets. As part of her dissertation, she examines digital assets and their impact on contemporary law and legal regulation. Specifically, Jana is interested in the legal nature of digital assets and the rights of users to this intangible property. |
SYLFF Fellows 2021
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Ivana Hay, Faculty of Education Ivana focuses on the education of deaf children in the area of art education. She is looking for ways to make museums and galleries accessible to deaf children and their teachers. Ivana also focuses on the question of whether deaf students have the opportunity to learn something about their own culture and art in art classes. Thanks to the SYLFF fellowship, she has had the opportunity to visit Poland and the United Kingdom to observe access and activities for deaf children and adults. |
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Lukáš Lev Červinka, Faculty of Law Lukáš is interested in the socio-legal study of constitutions and (anti)establishment thinking. His current research project focuses on the impact of anti-establishment parties on the constitutional systems of Italy and the Czech Republic. |
