ICSSR Post Doctoral Fellowship 2024-25 | Complete Info

The main objective of ICSSR Post Doctoral Fellowship is to encourage and retain young Indian social science scholars who have completed their Ph.D and who wish to pursue a regular career in teaching and research. They should have a high potential and promise for conducting full time research on specific themes and issues. These studies are expected to contribute to theoretical and conceptual advancement in different disciplines, help to generate field work based empirical data and contribute towards policy making.

The broad disciplines of study, within the domain of social sciences are:
(i) Sociology and Social Anthropology;
(ii) Political Science / Public Administration;
(iii) Economics;
(iv) International Studies;
(v) Social Geography and Population Studies;
(vi) Commerce and Management;
(vii) Social Psychology;
(viii)Education;
(ix) Social Linguistics / Socio-Cultural Studies;
(x) Law / International Law;
(xi) National Security & Strategic Studies; and
(xii) Other allied Social Science disciplines (Library Science, Social Work, Media Studies, Modern Social History, Health Studies, Gender Studies, Environmental Studies, Diaspora Studies, Area Studies, Sanskrit-Society & Culture etc.) to promote interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research.

ELIGIBILITY FOR ICSSR POST DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP

The scholar should not be more than 45 years of age on the last date of application. There shall be an age relaxation of 5 years for SC/ST/Persons with Benchmark Disability candidates.
The scholar must possess a Ph.D. degree in any of the social science disciplines at the time of application.
A fellow is required to affiliate himself/herself to an ICSSR Research Institute/ institutes of national importance as approved by MHRD/ government research institutes/ UGC recognized Indian university including deemed university/college having approved Ph.D. programme and requisite research infrastructure of his/her choice. Funds are disbursed through the affiliating/administering institution.
Faculties with regular service in public funded universities/colleges and research institutes getting UGC pay-scales may be considered for pay protection in exceptionally meritorious cases to be decided by the Expert Committees of the ICSSR.
The selected fellow has to work under the guidance of a senior social scientist (not below Associate Professor with sufficient research supervision, experience and publications). The supervisor should not be superannuated and be in employment at the affiliating institution in the same discipline as that of the applicant. In case of inter-disciplinary proposals, the supervisor should have proven expertise in the area of research proposed by the scholar. The selection of the supervisor is subject to the approval of the ICSSR.

HOW TO APPLY FOR ICSSR POST DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP

Applications will be invited through advertisements in leading Newspaper(s)/Association of Indian University (AIU) Newsletter and on ICSSR website and should be received before the deadline mentioned in the advertisement.
After submitting online application, a hard copy of the same, along with all enclosures, must be sent to: In-charge, RFS Division, Indian Council of Social Science Research, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi 110067 before the last date mentioned in the advertisement duly signed and stamped by the affiliating institution.
Research proposal & Abstract (3000 and 300 words respectively) should be either in English or Hindi.

PROCEDURE FOR THE AWARD OF ICSSR POST DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP

Applications are initially scrutinized by the ICSSR Secretariat.
Thereafter Subject Group(s)/Expert Committee(s) will short-list the meritorious proposals from the eligible applications.
Such applicants would then be invited for an interaction/presentation at ICSSR before an Expert Committee.
Post interaction recommendations of the Expert Committee will be placed before the Research Committee/Council for its final approval.

DURATION AND VALUE OF ICSSR POST DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP

Post-Doctoral Fellowship is a full time research work. The duration of the fellowship is strictly for two years.
The value of the fellowship is Rs.31,000 p.m. and contingency grant is Rs.20,000/-p.a.
Under Salary protection, a fellow is entitled to salary and allowances admissible at the parent institution and contingency grant of Rs.20,000/-p.a. However, special allowances like children education allowance, medical reimbursement, LTC, etc. are not admissible from ICSSR. The parent institution may, however, pay/reimburse the same as per its rule.
The ICSSR shall also pay the leave salary and pension contribution or contribution towards CPF and gratuity for the period for which he/she holds the ICSSR’s fellowship as per rules of the parent institution.

JOINING & RELEASE OF FELLOWSHIP

The scholar has to join the fellowship within one month of the date of the award letter by submitting all required documents through the affiliating/administering institution. This may be extended by the ICSSR up to six months in exceptional circumstances.
The sanction of the fellowship will be issued initially for a period of one year, effective from the date of joining of the scholar in the Fellowship. The renewal of the Fellowship for the subsequent year shall be subject to the receipt of satisfactory Annual Progress Report and statement of expenditure for the entire fellowship released for first year.
The first year fellowship and contingency will be released in two equal installments. The first installment will be released after receiving the Grant-in-aid-Bill (GIB) and the second installment after receiving a satisfactory Six Monthly Progress Report in prescribed format along with Statement of Expenditure.
The second year fellowship will be released in three installments. The first installment of six month fellowship along with contingency will be released on receiving a satisfactory Annual Progress Report preferably along with a copy of one published research paper and Statement of Expenditure. The second installment of 03 months fellowship along with contingency will be released on receipt of a satisfactory Progress Report of 18 months in prescribed format with a copy of published research paper (if not submitted with earlier progress report) along with Statement of Expenditure. The final installment of remaining fellowship along with contingency will be released after receiving the final report (including revised based on the of Expert comments) along with second research papers and Statement of Accounts with Utilization Certificate in GFR-12A Form of the entire sanctioned amount of fellowship duly signed by the competent authority of the affiliating institution. However, in case of non-public funded institutions, the final installment of fellowship will be released on receipt of the audited statement of accounts with utilization certificate in GFR-12A Form and verification of the documents by the ICSSR.
The 7.5% overhead charges to the public funded affiliating institution will be released only after the submission of the audited statement of accounts with utilization certificate in GFR-12A Form and verification of the documents by the ICSSR.
The accounts and utilization certificate will be signed by the Finance Officer/Registrar/ Principal/Director in case the accounts of the Institution are audited by the CAG/AG. Otherwise, they need to be signed both by the competent authority of the affiliating institution along with a chartered accountant.
In case of salary protection, the leave salary and pension contribution or contribution towards CPF and gratuity, will be released only after the completion of fellowship in all respects and on receipt of due & drawn statement from the parent organization and verification by the ICSSR. In case the employee comes under the New Pension Scheme (NPS), the employer’s contribution will be released along with the salary.

COMPLETION OF FELLOWSHIP

If a fellow leaves the fellowship within one year, he/she has to submit a detailed progress report of the work done with publications, if any, duly forwarded by the supervisor and the affiliating institution ensuring the final settlement of account by the affiliating institution up to the period of fellowship. However, if a fellow leaves the fellowship after one year, he/she has to submit a detailed progress report along with an undertaking to complete the study and submit the final report on completion of the duration of fellowship along with two published research papers, duly forwarded by the supervisor and the affiliating institution within the duration of fellowship of two years. If a candidate leaves the fellowship without completion, he/she will have to apply to ICSSR for permission and the ICSSR will take the final decision in this regard.
If, as a special case, a scholar remains on leave due to maternity/medical/extra ordinary circumstances (not to exceed six months) duly approved by the ICSSR, the tenure of fellowship will be extended by that period but the total amount of fellowship will not exceed 24 months.
On completion of the fellowship, the scholar should submit the following:

A book-length final Report in a publishable form along-with a Summary of the report (3000-4000 words) and published research papers.
These documents should be submitted in hard copy (two copies of final report and five copies each of the Summary and research articles) and a soft copy in pen-drive.
A certificate of settlement of assets and books purchased out of the contingency grant issued by the affiliating Institution.