ICSSR Doctoral Fellowship 2024: Application Form, Eligibility, Last Date

Indian Council of Social Science Research has launched the ICSSR Doctoral Fellowship to provide doctoral research opportunities to Indian scholars. Under this fellowship, monetary help will be provided to the students of India to complete their research without worrying about any financial hurdles. All the applicants who clear the eligibility criteria can easily apply for this fellowship. Check out more details related to ICSSR Doctoral Fellowship 2024 in the article given below.

What Is ICSSR Doctoral Fellowship 2024?

ICSSR Doctoral Fellowship is launched to provide research opportunities to the Indian scholars who are currently studying Phd in UGC UGC-recognised university. This Fellowship is for the students who are doing full-time research on national and social concerns. The students who clear the eligibility criteria cancel out the application form by going to the official website. This Fellowship aims to encourage the student to do research work without worrying about any financial problems. Before filling out the application you need to check the eligibility criteria. discipline.

Also Check: ICSSR Senior Fellowship

List Of Domain

The study within the domain of Social Science identified by ICSSR are-

• Economics
• Management
• Commerce
• Sociology
• Social Work
• Social Anthropology
• Cultural Studies
• Socio-Sanskrit Studies
• Socio-Philosophical Studies
• Social Linguistics
• Gender Studies
• Health Studies
• Political Science
• International Studies
• Public Administration
• Diaspora Studies
• National Security and Strategic Studies
• Education
• Social Psychology
• Legal Studies
• Social Geography
• Environmental Studies
• Modern Social History
• Media Studies
• Library Science

Categories Of Scholarship

Indian Council of Social Science Research is providing doctor fellowships under its three “Centrally Administered Doctoral Fellowship Scheme” and  “Institutional Doctoral Fellowship Scheme” in accordance with the prescribed guidelines. In the case of “Central Administrative Schemes, the fellows get awards and monitor directly by ICSSR, and concern doctoral fellows are affiliates with a university or college.

In the case of the Institutional Fellowship Scheme, the doctoral fellowship’s affiliates with and monitored by an ICSSR sponsored/recognized Research Institute. The scholar can avail of any one of the Fellowships under the following category-

• Centrally Administered Full-Term Doctoral Fellowship
• Institutional Full-Term Doctoral Fellowship (administered by the ICSSR research institutes)
• Centrally Administered Short-Term Doctoral Fellowship
• Centrally Administered Contingency Grant

Duration and Value of ICSSR Doctoral Fellowship

1. Centrally Administered Full-Term Doctoral Fellowship

• The doctoral fellowship is strictly for two years or till the date of Ph.D. submission at the University.
• The fellowship Value is Rs-20000/- per month and the contingency grant is Rs-200000/- per annum.
• The Doctoral Fellow should be a full-time bonafide PhD student at the affiliating University throughout the fellowship tenure.

2. Institutional Doctoral Full-Term Fellowship

• The duration and value of the Fellowship will be the same as under the Centrally Administered Full-Term Doctoral Fellowship.

3. Short-Term Doctoral Fellowship

• The duration for the short-term doctoral Fellowship is for six months or till the date of Ph.D. submission at the University. The value of the Fellowship is Rs-20000/- per month plus a contingency grant of Rs-10,000/- for the 6-month duration of the fellowship.

4. Contingency Grant

• A contingency grant is a consolidated grant for meeting contingency expenses of Phd not exceeding Rs- 62,500/- incurred during the period of joining the fellowship and date of submission of thesis at the University.

Joining and Release of Fellowship

Centrally Administered Full-Term Doctoral Fellowship

• The scholar must join the fellowship within two weeks of the date of the award letter by submitting the prescribed documents including an undertaking for mandatory Ph.D. thesis submission to ICSSR forwarding through the affiliating institution.
• The first-year Fellowship and contingency grant will release in equal installments.
• The second-year Fellowship grant will release in three installments.

Eligibility Criteria for Fellowship

• The Candidate must have a confirmed Ph.D. registration at any of the institutions. It includes requirements of clearance of the Research Entrance Test (RET); The Ph.D. topic must have been confirmed.
• The candidate must not be more than 40 years of age; there shall be an age relaxation of 5 years for SC/ ST/persons with disability.
• The candidate must have secured a minimum of 45% marks in graduation and 55% in post-graduation or equivalent grades in any social science discipline. A 5% relaxation of marks will give to the SC/ST candidates. The submission of a marksheet particularly for graduation and post-graduation is mandatory otherwise the candidate shall not consider eligible.
• Candidates who have already availed of the UGC Junior research fellowship/Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship/ Maulana Azad National Fellowship/ ICSSR/ ICMR/CSIR or any such doctoral fellowship are not eligible to apply.

Procedure for Award

• Applications are scrutinized and short-listed by the export communities of ICSSR.
• The expert committee is given their assessment in terms of grades and scores, on short-listed proposals on objectively defined parameters. The shortlisted applicants may also be invited for a presentation before an expert committee of ICSSR. Based on the assessment of the expert committee subject wise merit list was prepared for a wad of fellowships.
• The subject-wise merit list of selected candidates of centrally administered doctoral fellowships is placed on the ICSSR website within 5 months of the last date of application. The Selected candidates and their affiliating universities are informed individually through award letters.

Completion of the Doctoral  Fellowship

• If a fellow leaves the fellowship before its full term, he/she has to inform ICSSR in advance.
• The scholar shall permit to retain the grant release from the date of Joining till the date of leaving /discontinuing the ICSSR fellowship subject to submission of the following:

(i) An updated Progress Report for the said period duly forwarded by the Supervisor.

(ii)  An Undertaking for submission of the Ph.D. thesis within a reasonable time on a Non-Judicial stamp paper of Rs. 100/- (in prescribed format).

(iii)  Statement of Accounts and Utilization Certificate (in GFR-12 A) form for the admissible amount.

(iv)  Refund of the unspent balance, if any, the payment may be made by sending a cheque/ DD in favour of ICSSR, New Delhi or through PFMS.

• In such cases, the ICSSR may consider paying a contingency grant subsequent to the submission of the thesis to the ICSSR.
• In other cases, the scholar can leave the fellowship by refunding the entire amount already released by the ICSSR.
• The scholars leaving the fellowship before completion of their fellowship tenure without informing ICSSR shall require to refund the entire amount of fellowship released with penalty/penal interest.

Also Check: SERB Research Scientist Scheme

Procedure to Apply Under ICSSR Doctoral Fellowship 2024

• The applicant must visit the ICSSR Doctoral website of ICSSR.

• On the official site you have to click on the login tab.
• Candidates should submit an online application that includes the research proposal format, namely ‘Details of research proposal’ given in the application form. Proposals should be submit in proforma only.
• At this stage, the candidate needs to submit any document other than those referred to in the application form.
• All Scholars are require to keep the hard copy of the application and annexure ready, duly forwarded by the competent authorities of the university/

college/institution. So that they may submit the required hard copies, within one week after the completion of the process of screening. In case the hard copy of the application is not receive within 10 days of asking, the candidature of applicants shall treat as withdrawal/canceled.

•  The research proposal should be either in English or Hindi.
• One applicant can apply only once under a particular doctoral Fellowship scheme.

Contact Details

• Address: JNU Institutional Area, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi – 110067 (INDIA)
• Helpline Number: 91-11-26741849/50/51

ICSSR Doctoral Fellowship 2024 FAQs