Collaboration

This section presents general information as well as current announcements related to my activities, specifically addressing relevant opportunities for students, researchers, and the industry.

Please read the following information carefully before contacting me, and then contact me without hesitation. I cannot put all details here; so it is good to reach out to me via email or in person. Preferably, you have a concrete idea that you want to discuss or propose and clear goals that you aim for.

In any case, no matter if you are a student, a researcher from another institution, or a representative from the industry, make sure you are familiar with my research fields because they define my expertise. Otherwise, if proposals are not within my fields of expertise, I most likely cannot fulfill my own expectations and we cannot get the most out of a collaboration.
I ignore emails that include only a CV attached to a random request looking for a job, without any proposal regarding a concrete research idea and plan.

For students:

I try to support all levels of students (undergraduate, graduate, Ph.D.) if you wish to 1) thrive in scientific working, 2) pursue a career in research, 3) collect international experience, or 4) also just honestly want to improve your academic skills beyond the norm of the regular study program even if your goals for the future are not within scientific fields. I appreciate commitment, forethought, and initiative.

For NTNU students:

Check my teachings because you may want to enroll in one of the courses to build a foundation based on which we can derive a plan for your thesis or develop a research project that includes funds for positions as a paid graduate student as assistant, Ph.D. student, or Post-Doc.

In particular, there are options in the context of your personal studies and for future positions:

1. If you are interested in writing your thesis under my supervision, you can use the outcomes of the course as a foundation for your thesis (especially for the course "Analytical Studies in Sport Sciences", "Academic Writing and Oral Presentations for Sport Sciences", and "Special Topics in Sports Equipment Design"). If you already have a supervisor, you can still use your topic for my courses (this is just smart usage of your time and getting access to additional feedback) and ask to include me as your co-supervisor.
2. If you are working in a company that produces some sort of sports equipment or if you look to collaborate with an industry partner, you may select your own product (/from the company you want to collaborate with) as your topic for the course "Special Topics in Sports Equipment Design". Thus, you may spend your time on your own work or do the first step toward collaboration with a company that you are interested in.
3. Ph.D. students can apply for travel funds to cover costs for airfare and conference fees as well as compete for a paper reward, which I will support by sharing the information, helping you with the application, and feedback on the paper and any submission material. To my knowledge, graduate students can apply for the same. I can also apply for a subsidy for the publication costs of your paper (submission fees, APC, open access).
4. Positions with payment: It is possible to apply for a fund for a research project that includes paid assistants, Ph.D. students, or postdoc positions. If you are a dedicated student that aims to pursue the next level of an academic career, if you have a promising research idea, and if you plan ahead of time, we can discuss your situation and plan. Thus, I can apply for a project on your topic to open a position for you as a Ph.D. student (if you are a graduate student now) or as a postdoc (if you are a Ph.D. student now). As a Ph.D. candidate, you will need to design and propose your own research plan anyways; so, if you know your intentions early, the same material can be used for a funding proposal. If you are a Ph.D. student who wants to work as a postdoc afterward, you may have topics to build on your Ph.D. works. If the project idea is big enough, the fund can cover positions for more than one person. It can also cover traveling to other institutions for research stays abroad or participating in international conferences.
   Topics must be related to nature science and technologies (because the funding ministry is the National Science and Technology Council, NSTC), and you should plan with one year of a delay from discussing your plan to opening the position (because of the submission timeline and review period). The project duration typically ranges between 1-5 years. Beware that there is no guarantee to receive the fund, but we have fair chances with a strong proposal. Also, notice that the number of projects I can apply for simultaneously is limited due to my own time restrictions. So, I may support only the strongest candidates and proposals. However, it is always worth talking about your specific situation and intentions to see what we can do.
   If I have other projects going on for which I am looking for research assistance, I will communicate this and will look for candidates in the classes that I teach.
5. Only undergraduate students can apply for their own NSTC project. You as the student need to write and submit it yourself (about 10 pages proposal), but I can review it and help you to improve the chances of acceptance. The implementation period of accepted projects is from July to February (8 months), and they are funded with 6,000 NTD/month. Very successful projects can win an additional award after the completion of the project (20,000 NTD prize). All the information can be found on the program's website of the NSTC.

For foreign students:

This chapter is for foreign students who are enrolled in a university abroad and want to come to Taiwan

1. If you aim at pursuing (under)graduate or Ph.D. studies in Taiwan, you can apply for the "Taiwan Scholarship Program". It provides tuition and miscellaneous expenses of up to 40,000 NTD each semester and a monthly living allowance of 15,000 or 20,000 NTD. The scholarship may be held for 4 years (undergraduate program), 2 years (master program), or 4 years (doctorate program). All information can be found on the program's website of the Ministry of Education.
2. If you are a Ph.D. student or a postdoc fellow from abroad and want to come to Taiwan for a 2-6 months research stay, you can apply for the "Short Term Research Award". It covers airfare and a monthly allowance of 25,000 NTD (for Ph.D. students) or 40,000 NTD (for postdocs). All information, guidelines, and forms can be found on the program's website of the Ministry of Education. Reach out to me to discuss your ideas, the research topic, and the plan for your stay in Taiwan. The website states that the "research topic area must be related to Taiwan in a humanities discipline, the social sciences, a culture and/or arts field and/or related comparative research". Bear this in mind because my research activities are usually not in the abovementioned disciplines, but your research idea should be related to my research activities if you want to do short-term research in Taiwan under my supervision (otherwise, I am the wrong person). This means we need to find a way to link your research idea to humanities. This is sometimes possible, and I can advise you how to do it. Applications must be sent to the Taiwanese institution. So, after we discussed your plan and topic, you send the application to me, and I handle the rest.
3. In general, the 4th point in the chapter for NTNU students is also an option for foreign students. So, you may consider this. However, since you did not previously work on topics under my supervision in my seminars, I can only consider your research idea if you have a strong proposal and if your CV suggests your capability to work independently at a high level, aiming for international publications.

For researchers:

1. If you are a postdoc fellow at a foreign institution and interested in a research stay in Taiwan, check the 2nd point in the chapter for foreign students. This applies also to you.
2. If you are looking for a postdoc position, it is possible to apply for a research project that includes a full-time postdoc position in Taiwan. Please consult the 4th point in the chapter for NTNU students.
3. If you are an established researcher/professor with your own research activities, looking for international collaboration, there are options to expand your research to an international joint research project. Since there are different options, natures of collaboration, and benefits, depending on the specific research idea, we will need to discuss this directly. Most options are lucrative for both of us and provide great chances for young researchers if you have a Ph.D. student or postdoc involved in your research idea or if you have a promising candidate at hand. Please contact me via email. 

For industry:

You may be interested in collaboration if your company develops, produces, or works with hardware or software in the fields of sports or physical activity and health. This may include sports equipment design, technology applications in sports, mobile or online applications for monitoring and training, measurement tools, and more. I offer to design and implement research on your product that can provide feedback to you, identify strengths and challenges of the product at its current state, help you to improve your product, assess the precision and accuracy of your product, and generate scientific evidence. Previous research of mine focused on the assessment of a computerized wobble board to measure balance performance, promising strategies to reduce the necessary number of pressure sensors in insoles, reliability and validity in local position tracking, and IMU-based movement detection. I previously worked with local developers and manufacturers in the fields of position tracking and sports footwear.

Dr. Philip X. Fuchs, PhD        No 162, Sec 1, Heping East Rd, Da'an, 106 Taipei, Taiwan         philip.fuchs@ntnu.edu.tw       +886 (0)933 073162