International Scholar Exchange Fellowship (ISEF)

The International Scholar Exchange Fellowship brings researchers based outside Korea to South Korea for a funded research stay. It is run by the Chey Institute for Advanced Studies, a private research institute in Seoul, which has operated the programme since 2000 and has hosted 1,025 scholars in that time. About ten are invited each year, for either a full academic year or six months, and each works with a Korean host scholar at a university or research institute.

Every academic discipline is eligible; the institute names humanities and social sciences, information and communication, life sciences and energy as its standing areas of interest. Fellows report on their work as it progresses and submit a research paper at the end, and the institute pays an extra incentive when that paper is placed in an indexed journal. The programme once drew only from a set list of Asian countries, and that restriction is gone from the current guidelines — the 2025-26 cohort came from Pakistan, Mongolia, Vietnam, China and Indonesia.

Benefits & funding

Research stipend of KRW 3,500,000 a month.
Settlement support of KRW 1,000,000, paid once on arrival.
Round-trip airfare to Seoul.
National health insurance and accident insurance.
KRW 1,000,000 paid once on submission of the final research paper.
Publication incentive of USD 2,000 to USD 5,000 for a paper placed in an SSCI, A&HCI or SCI journal, or USD 1,000 for a journal registered with Korea’s National Research Foundation.
The published package does not include separate housing; the monthly stipend is what fellows live on.

Eligibility

A doctoral degree. Postdoctoral researchers are eligible.
A current post as faculty or researcher at a university or research institute outside Korea.
Aged 50 or under at the application deadline. The institute states this as a principle rather than an absolute cut-off.
Able to carry out the research in English.
No health condition that would get in the way of the research.
Open to every academic field.
Korean citizens cannot apply.
People already living or doing research in Korea cannot apply.
Applicants whose main aim is to teach in Korea are not eligible.
No nationality list applies. The eligible-country restriction that once limited the programme to a group of Asian countries no longer appears in the guidelines.

Can you apply?

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Education required
PhD
Age requirement
≤ 50 yrs

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Application process

1
Identify a Korean host scholar and host institution and make contact directly. Fellows arrange their own affiliation; an affiliation letter is submitted where one is available.
2
Register on the Chey Institute website and open the online application. The window runs from early November to mid-February each year.
3
Complete the application form and upload the research proposal, which runs to at least four pages.
4
Upload the supporting documents: doctoral degree certificate, a recent certificate of employment, two samples of published research each with a short abstract, and a photograph.
5
Ask two referees to submit recommendations directly. At least one must come from outside the applicant’s own institution.
6
Applications go through a preliminary screening by specialists in the field, then a full review by the steering committee. Interviews may be held.
7
Results are announced in early April. The fellowship begins on 1 September.

Program timeline

applications open for the following academic year
Early November
Mid-February
application deadline. The guidelines give the window as early November to mid-February each year without naming a day; the exact date is set in each cycle’s announcement. The guidelines as published are still those for the 2026-27 academic year, the round that closed on 20 February 2026; the next window closes in mid-February 2027.
results announced.
Early April
1 September
fellowship begins. One-year fellows stay to 31 August; six-month fellows take either 1 September to the end of February, or 1 March to 31 August.