Toshiba Fellowship Programme

Comments from recent fellows

These extracts, from the experiences of some of Toshiba's past and present fellows, give a flavour of Fellowship life in Japan.

The transition from Cambridge University to a Japanese company was about as challenging a scientific move as you can make, and I was cautious about taking a job on the other side of the world in a strange new culture. The Toshiba Fellowship is so well established, however, that when you arrive you fit right into the company and feel supported. Also, the technical facilities are outstanding.

I kept quite a lot of academic contacts from the times of my PhD, and found that they were still willing to offer me jobs after one year or more outside University circles. Publishing papers is a key part of research in Toshiba, so you may find that your CV looks quite good at the end of it. A job as a researcher in Toshiba is half-way between company work and academic research, so it is a good career investment no matter what your plans for the future are.

I was really pleased with the way I was fully integrated into Toshiba's working system. I worked on a fuel cell project which was not a topic that I was familiar with, but I never had anything but support from my fellow team members as I started out and found my feet. Working on a new topic brought the biggest challenges, with an incredibly steep learning curve. However, the support I was given helped me develop my skills and my self-belief, helping me to progress quickly. One of the most memorable aspects of the scheme was the sense of teamwork. The Fellowship scheme developed my confidence, and now that I have worked on new topics with no experience I feel able to cope with anything that future work may bring.