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Organization : Indian Council of Social Science Research
Fellowship Name : Doctoral Fellowship

Website : https://www.icssr.org/fellowships

Doctoral Fellowship:
1. General:
1.1 The fellowships are aimed to assist young scholars who have the potential and competence for research to work full time on their approved research themes and to support doctoral students to pursue and complete their research work
1.2 The Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) under its Research Fellowships programme awards doctoral fellowships to social science scholars for conducting research on specific themes and issues proposed by the applicants. Fellowships are awarded for conducting studies that have the potential to contribute to theoretical and conceptual advancement in the disciplines, generate field-work based empirical work and new data, and are policy relevant. The studies could be both, macro or micro in nature.

The broad disciplines of study, within the domain of social sciences, are:
(i) Sociology and Social Anthropology;
(ii) Political Science/Pub. Admn. and allied subjects;
(iii) Economics and allied subjects;
(iv) International Studies;
(v) Social Geography and Population Studies;
(vi) Commerce and Management;
(vii) Social Psychology and allied subjects;
(viii) Education and allied subjects;
(ix) Social Linguistics/Socio-Cultural and allied subjects;
(x) Law, International Law and allied subjects;
(xi) National Security & Strategic Studies

1.3 Three kinds of fellowships are under the Doctoral Fellowship programme. These are full time doctoral fellowship for doing PhD, short term fellowship for six months for doing PhD and fixed contingency grant for completing a particular part of PhD, which may include fieldwork, computer analysis, printing of questionnaires, cartographic work and purchase of books and journals, etc.

1.4 Full time regular doctoral fellowships are awarded under two categories of Centrally Administered Open Doctoral Fellowships and Institutional Doctoral Fellowships. The institutional fellowships are administered through the ICSSR Research Institutes spread all over India. Candidates who are willing to work under the guidance of a faculty member of any such institute will have to apply directly to the concerned institute. The institutes will make their own selection by following a due procedure.

2. Eligibility for award:
2.1 Candidates who hold a Master’s degree of a recognized university in any social science subject with a minimum of second class with 55% marks.
2.2 Relaxation of 5% marks/ corresponding grades will be made for SC/ST candidates.
2.3 Candidates should preferably not be more than 35 years (relaxable by 5 years in case of SC/ST) as on the last date for the receipt of the completed applications in the Council.
2.4 For teachers and professional staff of research institutes holding regular posts, the upper age limit would be 45 years
2.5 For award of doctoral fellowship, preference will be given to those already registered for PhD. Candidates who cleared NET will also be considered on priority.
2.6 For short-term doctoral fellowship, scholars having completed two years of their Ph.D. registration and not in receipt of any assistance from any other source or in receipt of a small fellowship from other agencies are eligible to apply.
2.7 For contingency grant for completing PhD, doctoral scholars in social sciences, not in receipt of any assistance, are eligible to apply to meet the expenses relating to fieldwork, computer analysis, printing of questionnaires, cartographic work and purchase of books and journals, etc for submission of the thesis.
2.8 No candidate will be considered for award of grant under this scheme prior to the laps of at least 3 years after completing/ availing of previous grant under this scheme.
2.9 Defaulters of any previous grant of ICSSR under any scheme will not be eligible for consideration until obtaining the clearance of the relevant administrative division of the ICSSR.

3 How to Apply:
3.1 All applications for Fellowships have to be made on the prescribed Application form (See Annexure-I & Annexure-IA) for Fellowships attached with these guidelines, along with all the following enclosures for all the schemes under doctoral fellowship.
3.2 All application forms have to be submitted in soft copy either through e-mail or online application as the case may be and subsequently a hard copy of the proposal is to be sent.
3.3 Applications must be duly forwarded on the prescribed format with signatures and seal of the Head of the Institution where the scholar is employed or affiliating institution in case the scholar is not employed.
3.4 Incomplete applications and those not duly forwarded will not be considered for Fellowship.

4. Procedure of award:
4.1 Fellowship applications will be evaluated by a Committee of experts set up for each social science discipline.
4.2 The short-listed candidates are interviewed by an Expert Committee. Those who succeed in the interview are awarded a Doctoral Fellowship by the Council

5 . Affiliation and Overhead Charges:
5.1 Fellow must be affiliated to a university/college/ reputed institute (funded by central or state government) of his/her choice with the prior approval of the Council for distribution and administration of funds. The affiliating institution will provide the requisite research infrastructure to the scholar and maintain proper accounts. For this, the Council shall pay, to the institution, overhead charges at seven and a half percent (7.5%) of the total expenditure incurred.
5.2 However, this amount shall be paid only after the conclusion of the fellowship and on receipt of Simple Statement of Accounts and Utilization Certificate (duly certified by the Director/Competent authorities. Audited Statement of Accounts shall follow in due course

6 Value and Duration:
6.1 The value of the fellowship for full time regular doctoral fellowship is Rs. 16,000/- p.m. (Consolidated) in case of regular PhD scholars (non-employed)
6.2 In case of employed scholars, salary protection is provided for both full time regular and short-term fellowships. The fellow will be entitled to allowances as per the rules admissible at the parent institution. The leave salary and pension contribution/employer’s share of CPF contribution will also be borne by the Council.
6.3 For full time regular doctoral fellowship, a contingency grant of Rs. 15,000/-per annum is admissible through the entire period of the fellowship to both not employed and employed scholars.
6.4 duration of for full time regular doctoral fellowship would be two years extendable up to one more year in special circumstances
6.5 For short tem doctoral fellowship, the fellowship amount will be Rs.16000/- per month and contingency grant (Research Expenses) will be Rs. 15,000/-per annum
6.6 The maximum duration of short term fellowship for doctoral fellowship is six months.
6.7 Fellowship amount for contingency grant (Research Expenses) for completing a particular part of the doctoral work (fieldwork, computer analysis, printing of questionnaires, cartographic work and purchase of books and journals, etc) will be Rs.50000/- consolidated. The applicant requires to submit a budget for the same.

7. Mode of Payment:
7.1 The sanction of the fellowship is issued initially for one year, which is effective from the date of joining. The each year’s grant is released in three installments amounting to 40%, 40% and 20%. The third installment is released only on receipt of the annual progress report and Statement of Accounts. The same procedure is followed for the second year. The last installment will be released on receipt of the 3 copies of the thesis on completion of the fellowship.