The ICSSR supports and encourages Ph.D. scholars to pursue their doctoral research in social and human sciences. The award of Doctoral fellowship takes into consideration innovative research proposals having potential of path breaking addition to existing body of knowledge. The priority of the ICSSR is to address changing societal dynamics and social challenges through effective evidence-based research to fulfil India’s aspirations to become a global power.

Eligibility

• Doctoral Fellow should be a full-time bonafide Ph.D. student at the affiliating university/ institution throughout the duration of fellowship tenure.
• Doctoral Fellowships shall be awarded to Indian research scholars, who are registered for Ph.D. in UGC recognized Universities / Deemed-to-be-Universities, Institutes of National Importance as defined by MoE / UGC, ICSSR Research Institutes and colleges having approved Ph.D. programme.
• The candidate must not be more than 40 years of age on the last date of application. There shall be an age relaxation of 5 years for SC/ST/OBC-(NCL) candidates Persons with benchmark Disability (PwD).
• The candidate must have secured a minimum of 55% marks in Post-Graduation or equivalent grades in any social science discipline. Five per cent (5%) relaxation of marks will be given to SC/ST/ OBC-(NCL) candidates Persons with benchmark Disability (PwD). The submission of scanned copy of mark sheet of Post-Graduation is mandatory for submission of online application. In case, the candidates do not upload the documents, their candidature will be summarily rejected

Duration And Value

Full-Term Doctoral Fellowship: The value of Full-Term Doctoral Fellowship is Rs 20,000 per month plus Rs 20,000 contingency grant per annum. The total duration of the Full-term Doctoral Fellowship shall be two years. The first award letter will be initially for a period of one year effective from the date of issue of award letter.

Institutional Full-Term Doctoral Fellowship: The duration and value of fellowship will be the same as mentioned under the Full-Term Doctoral Fellowship.

Short-Term Doctoral Fellowship: The duration of the Short-Term Doctoral Fellowship is strictly for six months or till the date of Ph.D. submission at the university/ institution, whichever is earlier. The value of fellowship will be equivalent to six-month fellowship amount of the Full-Term Doctoral Fellowship grant plus contingency grant payable for six months.

Contingency Grant: The value of fellowship is a consolidated grant of Rs 62500/.

 

Application Procedure

• ICSSR announces calls for Doctoral Fellowships every year and detailed guidelines for submission of applications are also published with each call.
• Applicants must submit an online application in prescribed format and upload scanned copies of the annexures on ICSSR website.
• The merit list of selected candidates of Doctoral Fellowships is placed on the ICSSR website.

Important Points

Acceptance of offer

The scholar must join the fellowship within the time stipulated by the ICSSR in the provisional award letter.

Instalment details

Full-Term / Institutional Doctoral Fellowship

• The fellowship instalments will be released on yearly basis.
• The first instalment will be released after receiving the documents prescribed in the Award letter along with the Grant-in-aid-Bill (GIB) and Registration Mandate Form of PFMS Account of those affiliating / administering institutions, which have not linked their accounts to PFMS for ICSSR grant.
• The instalment of second year will be released only after the approval of extension of fellowship for the second year by the Council subject to the receipt of satisfactory Progress Reports and Statement of Expenditure for the entire fellowship grant released for first year and receipt of the Grant-in-Aid Bill (GIB).
• The final year fellowship grant will be released in two instalments.

Short-Term Doctoral Fellowship

• The Short-Term Fellowship will be released in two instalments. The first instalment amounting to 70% of the total grant will be released on receipt of the documents prescribed in the Award letter along with the grant-in-aid bill (GIB) and Registration Mandate Form of PFMS account of concerned affiliating / administering institution. The second and final instalment of the admissible grant shall be released after receiving a Thesis Submission Certificate issued by the Controller of Examination/Competent Authority of the University, soft copy of PhD thesis, a summary in 3000 to 4000 words along with the audited Statement of Accounts with Utilization Certificate (in GFR-12A Form) for the admissible amount duly signed by the competent authority of the affiliating institution.

Contingency Grant

• The Contingency Grant will be released in two instalments. The first instalment amounting to Rs 40,000/- will be released on receipt of the documents prescribed in the Award letter along with the grant-in-aid bill (GIB) and Registration Mandate Form of PFMS Account of concerned affiliating / administering institution. The second and final instalment of the admissible grant shall be released after receiving a Thesis Submission Certificate issued by the Controller of Examination/Competent Authority of the University, a summary in 3000 to 4000 words along with the audited Statement of Accounts with Utilization Certificate (in GFR-12A Form) for the admissible amount duly signed by the competent authority of the affiliating institution.

Progress Monitoring

Regular monitoring of Fellowship is done on the basis of Six Monthly and Annual Progress Reports in the prescribed format submitted by the scholar and duly forwarded by the supervisor.

Research outcome

During the course of the Ph.D, the scholars are required to publish at least two research papers in peer-reviewed journals on the theme of the research undertaken and submit a copy of the same to the ICSSR.

Post sanction requests

• There will be no extension if the scholar deregisters from PhD and re-registers to submit the thesis after a gap. The date of deregistration will be the date of termination of fellowship.
• The Fellow shall not accept or hold any appointment (paid or otherwise) or receive any emoluments, salary, stipend etc., from any other source during the tenure of the award of fellowship. However, a fellow may undertake teaching assignments of not more than six hours a week.
• During the tenure of fellowship, the fellow will be governed by the rules of the affiliating/ administering institution in all matters including drawls of TA, attendance, holidays/leave and contingency grant, etc.