ICSSR Research Fellowship all details

ICSSR Research Fellowship is provided by the Indian Council of Social Science Research, Ministry of Human Ressource Development (MHRD), Government of India. The Doctoral Fellowships are provided PhD scholars registered at an Indian Institutes of national importance, Indian university, deemed to be university or college that has all the necessary infrastructure and an approved PhD programme and is affiliated to any University with a recognised affiliation program. The interested candidates should pursue and finish their doctoral research in any of the social science disciplines from the list provided below and/or as defined by Indian Council of Social Science Research and Ministry of Human Resource Development

If the student is pursuing a research in any of the following disciplines of social science. He/She is eligible to apply for the ICSSR Research Fellowship:

Sociology and Social Anthropology;
Social Geography and Population Studies;
Social Psychology;
International Studies;
Political Science / Public Administration;
Economics;
Social Linguistics / Socio-Cultural Studies;
Commerce and Management;
Education;
Law / International Law;
National Security & Strategic Studies; and
Any of the allied disciplines of social science such as Social Work, Library Science, Modern Social History, Media Studies, Gender Studies, Health Studies, Diaspora Studies, Environmental Studies, Sanskrit-Society, Area Studies and Cultural Studies). This is provided to promote multidisciplinary & interdisciplinary research.

Eligibility Criteria

There are four types of ICSSR Research Fellowships provided and the eligibility criteria for each category is defined as:

Institutional Doctoral Fellowship: This scholarship is provided to scholars who are going to be administered by one of the ICSSR Research Institutes.
Centrally Administered Doctoral Fellowship: This scholarship is provided to students who are not registered under any of the ICSSR research Institutes for their research work.
Contingency Grant: This is provided to candidates who are at their advanced stage of research work and is given as a one-off. The scholars applying for a scholarship should not have availed an ICSSR research fellowship or any of the central government scholarships given in the 6th point below before.
Short-Term Fellowship: The scholars who would like to avail this fellowship should have completed there Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) and should not have availed ICSSR research fellowship or any of the central government scholarships given in the 6th point below before.

The eligibility criteria for applying to any one of the above scholarship programs are:

The applicants should have a Research Degree Committee (RDC) approved PhD registration confirmed before the last date of application.
The candidates must have secured a minimum of 50% marks (or an equivalent grade) in Graduation from any of the listed Social Science disciplines from a recognised university/institute. Up to 5% relaxation in marks is provided to SC/ST candidates;
The candidates must have secured a minimum of 55% marks (or an equivalent grade) in Post Graduation from any of the listed Social Science disciplines from a recognised university. Up to 5% relaxation in marks is provided to SC/ST candidates;
The candidates must have a valid National Eligibility Test (NET) or State Level Eligibility Test (SLET) score or should have obtained M Phil from a recognized institution or should have registered at an institute after writing Research Entrance Test (RET);
The candidate should not be older than 40 years of age before the last date of application. Age relaxation of up to 5 years is given to the candidates belonging to SC/ST communities or persons with physical difficulties;
Candidates who are already enrolled into the ICMR, ICHR, Rajiv Gandhi Doctoral Fellowship (RGDF), UGC Junior Research Fellowship (JRF), ICSSR, ICAR, Maulana Azad Doctoral Fellowship (MADF), CSIR or ICPR are not eligible to apply unless they would like to surrender their existing fellowship.

How to Apply for ICSSR Research Fellowship

The application for each of the four fellowship program varies. All the application process must be received before the mentioned deadline day. The application process for each process is provided in detail below:

For Centrally Administered Doctoral Fellowship,

The call for applications will be provided through advertisements in leading Indian newspapers and Association of Indian University (AIU) newsletter. The announcement will also be posted on the ICSSR website.
The candidates are expected to apply online by clicking the call for application section.
Provide all the required details in the respective fields.
After pressing the Submit button, a printed copy of the application form is supposed to be taken.
A research Abstract (for 300 words) and a research proposal (for 3000 words) are to be written either in Hindi or English. The format of the research proposal is given at the end of the article.
The hard copy of the filled application form along with the research abstract, proposal and other required documents are to be enclosed in an envelope and are to be sent to the following address:

In-charge, RFD Division, Indian Council of Social Science Research, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi 110067

For Institutional Doctoral Fellowship applicants,

At the event of the announcement of the fellowship. Those who are willing to apply for the Institutional Doctoral Fellowship are requested to directly approach the institution of the fellowship. The application procedure varies according to the respective institution and the interested candidates are requested to contact the institution itself for the same.

For Short Term Doctoral Fellowship and Contingency Grant applicants,

For candidates who are wishing to apply for fellowships under these two Schemes, the application copies are to be submitted in hard copy in the given prescribed format and are to be submitted by the institution to the following address along with all the required documents. This fellowship is open throughout the year and those who wish to avail of this fellowship must provide an email with all the details in advance.

In-charge, RFD Division, Indian Council of Social Science Research, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi 110067

Documents Required

The following documents are to be provided while applying for the ICSSR Research Fellowship that is to be sent along with the mail to the given address:

A hard copy of the application form.
Research proposal in given format in 3000 words.
A research abstract in 300 words.
Copy of Proof of identification.
Copy of Class Xth and XIIth mark sheet.
Copy of Graduation and Post graduation degrees.

Selection Procedure of ICSSR Research Fellowship

For Centrally Administered Doctoral Fellowship,

The applications will go through the secretariat initially after everything is found to be correct and accurate the applications are sent to the Screening Committee.
After the Screening Committee has shortlisted and cross-checked the applications the applications list is sent to the subject expert group/committee.
After the applications go through the expert group, the further shortlisted candidates are called for a presentation to be held before the subject expert committee to be held at ICSSR or its Research Institutes/Regional Centres.
Upon receiving the recommendations from the Expert Committee after the presentation, the application is given to Research Committee/Council for the final approval.

For Institutional Doctoral Fellowship, the Regional Research Institutes/ Centres are expected to follow the same rules and procedures as set by the Centrally Administered Doctoral Fellowship program.

For Short Term Doctoral Fellowship and Contingency Grant, the applications are evaluated and shortlisted by a subject matter experts from ICSSR or one of its Research Institutes/Regional Centres. The shortlisted applicants and the recommendations from the expert subject to Research Committee or Council or any other competent authority for the final approval of the application.

ICSSR Research Fellowship Details

Funds and other benefits provided to Centrally Administered Doctoral Fellowship,

The scholars enroled under this fellowship are expected to do full-time research work.
The fellowship is strictly provided for the duration of two years.
This fellowship provides an amount of ₹16,000/month and an additional contingency grant is ₹15,000/year.

Funds provided for Institutional Doctoral Fellowship will be the same as mentioned above and are also expected to do full-time research work.

For Short Term Doctoral Fellowship, the funds and conditions provided are,

The scholars enroled under this scheme are also expected to perform full-time research activity.
This fellowship is strictly provided for a duration of 6 months.
This fellowship provides an amount of ₹16,000/month and an additional contingency grant is ₹7500/year.

For Contingency grant, a one time amount of not than ₹50,000 is provided. No full-time research expectations are needed to be met to avail this grant.

Release and Monitoring of ICSSR Research Fellowship

For Centrally Administered Doctoral Fellowship,

Within one month of providing the award letter, the scholar is expected to join the fellowship. The period can be expected to be extended up to 6 months where the institutes deem it to be deserving.
The fellowship will be initially provided for just one year with subsequent extensions/renewals will be subject to the statement of expenditure and annual report provided by the scholar indicating the progress of research.
The funds will be released in two instalments at an interval of 6 months given the scholar provides all the documents mentioned in the award letter and the statement of expenditure as well as the annual report.
For the second year, the funds will be released on the basis of the statement of expenditure and annual report as well as a copy of the research thesis submitted to the respective institution.
The respective accounts and certificate of utilization should be signed by the Principal, Director, Registrar or Finance Officer of the institution if the accounts are audited by the CAG. Else they need to be signed by a chartered accountant and a competent authority of the affiliating institution.
The fellowship will be revoked summarily if the research progress was not found to be satisfactory or if the scholar has broken any of the ICSSR rules.
The scholars under ICSSR Research Fellowship may be expected to do a presentation of their research work annually or every 6 months interval for appraisal.
The scholars are expected to publish at the very least two research papers, one in a reputed international journal and one in a reputed national journal, related to their field of research.
Upon completion of the research, the scholars should provide a soft copy (in pen drive) and hard copy of the thesis, research papers and summary.
If there is any revision in the thesis, the revised copy of the thesis must be submitted again.

For Institutional Doctoral Fellowship the monitoring is the same as one done for Centrally Administered Doctoral Fellowship. The details can be seen above.

For scholars under Short-Term Doctoral Fellowship & contingency Grant,

The funds will be provided in two instalments which would be divided on a 70-30 basis. 70% of the funds will be provided after the applicants submitting the documents mentioned in the award letter and 30% will be provided after the scholar submits a thesis.
The amount provided will be withheld if the research work was found to be unsatisfactory or if the scholar was found to be broken any of the ICSSR rules.
The respective accounts and certificate of utilization should be signed by the Principal, Director, Registrar or Finance Officer of the institution if the accounts are audited by the CAG. Else they need to be signed by a chartered accountant and a competent authority of the affiliating institution.
Upon completion of the research, the scholars should provide a soft copy (in pen drive) and hard copy of the thesis, research papers and research summary in 3000 – 4000 words. A copy of the PhD degree provided by the university/institute should also be provided with it.

Research Proposal Format

The research proposal should contain the following sections to be accepted for the fellowship. The proposal should be written within 3000 words.

1. Title

2. Introduction

3. Objectives of the Study

4. Research Questions or Hypotheses

5. Review of Literature (National & International)

6. Research Methodology

7. Relevance and Anticipated Outcomes

8. Tentative Chapterisation

9. Bibliography

Terms and Conditions

The scholars under ICSSR Research Fellowship are expected to do full-time research. Fieldwork is permitted provided the scholar has all the necessary permissions.
The scholar is not permitted to obtain income from any other source and must surrender any other scholarship fund which he/she is being offered.
Any extension of fellowship beyond the two-year tenure is not permitted except under special circumstances. The special circumstance will be determined by the ICSSR Research Fellowship council.
The scholar reserves the right to utilise the funds as he wishes provided it benefits his/ her research.
The ICSSR reserves the right to publish the research done by scholars funded by it in its publication if it so desires.
The scholar must acknowledge ICSSR in all the publications for the research funded by it.
The ICSSR Research Fellowship will not be provided to a scholar more than once.
The fellows are expected to do the research work in India with the exception of data collection.
Women candidates, as well as candidates from backward sections, will be given a priority to promote equal representation.
The candidate should not have any criminal or legal record prior to the application for the fellowship.
Incomplete application will be summarily rejected.