The Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund, or SYLFF, is a fellowship program initiated in 1987 to support students pursuing graduate studies in humanities and social sciences with an international dimension. The SYLFF program aims to identify and nurture leaders who are working to overcome differences such as nationality, language, ethnicity, religion, and political systems to tackle global issues for the peace and the well-being of humankind. Fellowship stipends are awarded to graduate students with high integrity and drive to address issues unique to their respective countries and disciplines. To date, 68 universities and consortia in 44 countries participate in the program.
Lucy will use her fellowship to study abroad at the Nanzan Institute for Japanese Religion and Culture in Nagoya, Japan. Her current research compares the dialectical philosophies of Nishida Kitaro, the founder of the Kyoto school, and G. W. F. Hegel, exploring their different conceptions of history and the place of the individual within it.