The Indian Council of Social Science Research ICSSR Post Doctoral Fellowships 2024

The Council has invited applications with proposals on any of the themes covered by the Nodal Institutes, under its Post-doctoral fellowship program with capability to run quality global competitive research in all management domains. Through the themes and sub-themes identified, ICSSR intends to encourage expert-led collaborative problem-solving research that generates high-quality scientific evidence in order to deliver on solutions for development challenges.

The Post-Doctoral Fellowship is a 2-year, full-time research engagement that may not be extended. As per the nod from the Ministry of Education from time to time amounting up to Rs. 31,000/- (Tenure -2 years) per month and contingency grant up to Rs. 20,000/-(Annual).

Post-Doctoral Fellowships in Social Sciences includes domains of Economics/Development Studies, Management, Commerce, Social Anthropology, Gender Studies, International Relations/Geopolitics, culture studies, socio-philosophical studies, health studies, public administration, diaspora studies, national security and strategic studies, education, legal studies, environmental studies, modern social history and Indian knowledge systems for financial year 2024-25. 

ICSSR Fellowship Selection Process

The procedure for awarding the fellowships will include the evaluation and interaction/presentation of applications by a panel of subject experts in multiple phases.

• The recommendations of the Expert Committee(s) will be presented to the requisite ICSSR Committee(s) for their consent/approval.
• The list of selected applicants will be uploaded on the ICSSR website. Only the selected candidates and their affiliating universities will be informed individually through a provisional award letter specifying the formalities and documents required for joining the fellowship.

ICSSR Fellowship Eligibility

Applicants must meet the following criteria:

• The researcher must be an Indian citizen and no older than 45 years on the last date of application. SC/ST and Persons with Benchmark Disability candidates are eligible for a 5-year age relaxation.
• The applicant must hold a Ph.D. degree at the time of application, and their ability to conduct research should be evident from their publications.
• The researcher must be affiliated with a publicly funded Indian university, deemed-to-be-university, or college with an approved Ph.D. program, an ICSSR Research Institute, or institutes of national importance approved by the MoE/government research institutes. Funds will be disbursed to the selected fellows through their affiliating institution.
• The selected fellow must work under the guidance of a senior social scientist (at least at the level of an Associate Professor with proven research supervision experience and publications). The supervisor must be a current faculty member at the affiliating institution. The ICSSR must approve the supervisor selection.

Completion of Fellowship 

Scholars must submit their final report within three months after their fellowship ends. If needed, they can request an extension for submitting the report, but it won’t include extra financial support from ICSSR. If a fellow misses periodic progress report deadlines and directly submits the final report late, ICSSR will decide whether to accept it and release the remaining fellowship funds.

Upon completing the fellowship, scholars must submit a book-length final report, a 3000-4000 word summary, and two research papers published in peer-reviewed journals. These documents should be provided in both hard copy (two copies of each) and a soft copy. Additionally, a Statement of Accounts with a Utilization Certificate in the GFR-12A Form, signed by the affiliating institution’s authority, is required. All final reports must be checked for plagiarism, and any report with more than 10 percent similarity will not be accepted by ICSSR.

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The complete guidelines for research proposal format, consent letter to be submitted before initiating the fellowship, forwarding letter by the affiliating institution/University, undertaking for college, and application format can all be accessed through the provided links.

The complete guidelines for research proposal format can be accessed here. 

The format of consent letter to be submitted before initiating the fellowship can be accessed here. 

The format of forwarding letter by the affiliating institution/University can be accessed here. 

The format of undertaking for college can be accessed here. 

To access the application format, click here.