Promotion of Research in Social Sciences is one of the major activities of ICSSR. Research grants is direct financial support to research projects taken up by social scientists in addition to their normal duties in an honorary capacity. ICSSR provides grants to scholars to conduct research in various fields of social sciences which have a theoretical, conceptual, and methodological or policy orientation on the subject of their choice. The research projects may belong to any of the prescribed social science disciplines or may be interdisciplinary in nature.
The specific objectives of the programme are:
- a. to support high quality independent programme of research;
- b. to provide opportunities for training of future researchers;
- c. to contribute to the development of elaboration of new theoretical or methodological approaches to research;
- d. to maintain and sustain varies disciplinary research activities;
- e. to foster and promote collaborative, multidisciplinary research activities among researchers in the social sciences;
- f. to facilitate communication of research outputs both within and beyond the academic community as well as to provide inputs to administrators and policy makes.
Two categories of Research projects: First, Major and Minor Research Projects and secondly Research Programmes, formerly known as Research Projects Responsive and Research Projects Sponsored respectively. As per the guidelines proposals are invited, scrutinized, processed and awarded every year.
Research Project (Major/Minor)
ICSSR's Major Research Projects fund senior scholars for large-scale studies on key social issues, while Minor Research Projects support young researchers for smaller, innovative studies with limited funding and shorter timelines. More [+]
Research Programme
ICSSR's Research Programme promotes large-scale, long-term collaborative studies on national issues, involving interdisciplinary teams and higher funding to address critical social, economic, and policy-related challenges in India. More [+]
Special Calls for Research Studies
ICSSR issues special calls for research proposals to address pressing national concerns, emerging social issues, and specific policy-oriented topics. More [+]
ICSSR invites online applications for Research Projects/Programme once a year, around April-June. The Call of Applications is given on the ICSSR website and disseminated through its social media channels.
