The applications under Short Duration Research Projects programme shall be accepted against the notification given by the SRC.
Guidelines for Applicants
One of the important objectives of the ICSSR-SRC is to promote and disseminate Social Science Research knowledge in Southern India. In this context, the primary objective of the awarding research grants for projects of short duration within the region is to provide financial assistance to the faculty of social sciences to conduct cutting edge research in various fields of social sciences that have theoretical, conceptual, methodological, and policy implications. The Research Projects may belong to any of the social science disciplines or may be multi-disciplinary. 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;
(xii) Other allied Social Science disciplines (Library Science, Social Work, Media Studies, Health Studies, Gender Studies and Environmental Studies, Diaspora Studies, Area Studies, etc.) to promote interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research.
1.1. Categories of Research Projects
The ICSSR-SRC awards one type of research project based on the scope, duration of the study, and budget:
(a) Short Duration Research Project Duration up to 6 months with a budget up to a maximum of Rs. 1.5 lakh.
2. ELIGIBILITY
2.1 Professional social scientists who are regularly employed or retired as faculty in a UGC recognized Indian university/deemed university/colleges with requisite research infrastructure/institute of national importance and ICSSR Research Institutes, and possessing a Ph.D. degree or equivalent research work in any of the social science discipline and demonstrable research experience through publications of books/research papers/reports are eligible to apply.
2.2. Retired government teachers can also apply under the scheme but they are required to affiliate to a UGC recognized Indian university including deemed university/college having University approved Ph.D. program/institute of national importance and ICSSR Research Institutes of his/her choice with the prior approval of the ICSSR.
2.3 In case of Private Universities/College/Institution, it is mandatory to submit UGC 12B Status Certificate.
3. HOW TO APPLY
The applicant need to fill in the online Google form from our website i.e., www.srcicssr.org and also upload the following requisite documents:
Note: Incomplete applications and applications without requisite enclosures shall not be considered for funding.
4. PROCEDURE FOR AWARD
4.1 Applications are initially scrutinized by the ICSSR-SRC Secretariat.
4.2 Thereafter the Expert Projects Committee constituted by ICSSR-SRC will short-list the meritorious proposals. To maintain up objectivity and transparency in the scrutiny process, two experts on the committee will be taken from outside the region. The scrutiny of the proposal shall be based upon the strength of the proposal and relevance to the Social Science subject.
4.3 Such applicants would then be sent to two subject experts in respective subject areas for evaluation.
4.4 The recommendations of the Subject Experts are then placed before the Project Committee for its final approval.
4.5. The allocation of funds shall be based on the availability of funds and the number of applications received during the financial year.
4.6. The final authority related to the interpretation of the guidelines or any issue left is vested with the Honorary Director, ICSSR-SRC.
5. DURATION AND VALUE
5.1 The duration of the Short Duration Research Project is four to six months and
5.2 The budget for Short Duration Research Project will be upto a maximum of Rs.1.5 lakh.
5.3 The budget estimates for Short Duration Research Project are to be prepared based on the guidelines given as under.
|
S. No. |
Broad Expenditure Heads |
Value |
|
1 |
Research Staff: Hired Services |
Not exceeding 40 % of the total budget |
|
2 |
Fieldwork: Travel/Logistics/Boarding, etc. |
Not exceeding 40% |
|
3 |
Books/Journals/ Source Material |
Not exceeding 10 % |
|
4 |
Contingency |
Not exceeding 5% |
|
5 |
Institutional Overhead Charges |
5 % of the total budget |
|
|
Total |
100% |
5.4. The Project Director/Coordinator may re-appropriate expenditure from one head to another subject to a maximum of 10 %.
5.5. Appointment of Project Staff and Emoluments of Project Staff
Project staff could be engaged by the Project Director/Coordinator on a Full/ Part-time basis during the research work as per the amount prescribed below. The duration of employment may be decided by the project director. Selection of Field Investigator should be done with the approval of the Head of the Department/ Director/ Dean/Principal. Retrospective payment for work already done is not permissible.
Field Investigator Rs.10,000/-p.m. per person (not exceeding 2.5 months).
5.6. The contingency grant may be utilized for research and office assistance, printing, stationery, computer-related, costs, research assistance and the fieldwork expenses related to the research work.
6. JOINING AND RELEASE OF GRANT
6.1 The scholar has to join the project within one month from the date of the award letter. For this, the scholar has to submit a. Agreement, b. Declaration Project on Rs.100/- Non-Judicial Stamp Paper, c. NOC and d. 12B or 2F Status of the University e. Undertaking from affiliating University and grant-in-aid bill towards the first installment.
6.2. The Sanctioned grant for Short Duration Research Project is released in three installments of 50%, 30%, and 20%.
6.3. The first installment is released after completing necessary formalities for joining by the Project Director.
6.4. The second installment will be released after receiving a satisfactory Progress Report along with the simple statement of account of the first installment within a period of 3 months from the date of release of the first installment (date of Commencement).
6.5. The 5% overhead charges to the affiliating institution will be released only after verification of the documents by the ICSSR.
6.6. The third and final installment will be released including overhead charges of 5% on receipt of (a) satisfactory final report with a similarity index of less than 10%; (b) statement of accounts with utilization certificate in GFR-12A Form along with the original bills for entire project amount duly signed by the Project Director/Coordinator, Chartered Accountant and Finance Officer/ Registrar/ Principal/Director of the affiliating institution; and (c) an undertaking of settlement of assets and books purchased out of the project funds.
1.6 The Project Director has to prepare a working paper on the research and submit to ICSSR – SRC which will be published after the blind peer review process by ICSSR-SRC.
7. MONITORING OF RESEARCH PROJECTS
7.1 Research undertaken by a Project Director/Coordinator will be reviewed through the submission of periodic progress reports in the prescribed format and the project may be discontinued/ terminated if research progress is found unsatisfactory or any ICSSR-SRC rules are violated.
7.2 All project-related queries will be addressed to the Project Director/ Affiliating Institution for their timely reply.
7.3 The ICSSR-SRC may, at any time ask for verification of accounts and other relevant documents related to the Project.
7.4 The scholar needs to be aware that plagiarism is a serious offence and will mean immediate rejection of the project and black listing of the scholar. The Project Director is advised to run the Project Report through authorized plagiarism software before submission to the Centre.
8. CONDITIONS
8.1 The duration of the project shall be a maximum of six months for Short Duration Research Projects. The Final Report may be submitted within one month after completion of the duration of the Project. However, an extension of one more month for submission of the final report may be granted in exceptional circumstances without any additional financial commitment of the ICSSR-SRC.
8.2 The scholar shall acknowledge the support of ICSSR-SRC in all publications resulting from the project output and should submit a copy of the same to the ICSSR-SRC.
8.3 The Project Director will be allowed to take up only one research project/program at one point in time.
8.4 No scholar will be allowed to take up a research project along with any ICSSR fellowship.
8.5 The Project proposal/final report cannot be submitted for the award of any University degree/diploma. The ICSSR however, will have no objection if any member of the project staff utilizes the project data for this purpose.
8.6 The project director shall report to the ICSSR-SRC in case he /she makes any changes in the research design. No major change can be made therein without the prior approval of the ICSSR-SRC.
8.7 The final authority related to the interpretation of the guidelines or any issue left is vested with the ICSSR-SRC.
8.8 Photographs taken during the Project work (Soft Copy in JPEG format & Hard Copy) should be accompanied.
8.9 ICSSR follows Government of India Rules & Directives about SC & ST categories.
8.10 Defaulters of any previous project/grant of the ICSSR will not be eligible for consideration until the applicant obtains clearance from the concerned administration division.
8.11 The Project Director will be allowed to take up only one research project/program at one point in time.
8.12 There will be a gap of a minimum of one year between two ICSSR-SRC Short Duration Research projects.
8.13 No scholar will be allowed to take up a research project along with any ICSSR fellowship.
8.14 No request for an additional grant over the sanctioned budget will be considered.
8.15 The Project Director shall be personally responsible for the timely completion of the Project.
8.16 The Project proposal/final report cannot be submitted for the award of any University degree/diploma or funding by any Institution by any member of the project staff, including the project director. The ICSSR however, will have no objection if any member of the project staff utilizes the project data for this purpose.
8.17 The project director shall report to the ICSSR-SRC in case he /she makes any changes in the research design. No major change can be made therein without the prior approval of the ICSSR-SRC.
8.18 Application submitted against one Call will not be considered in the subsequent Calls.
8.19 The Centre reserves the right to reject any application without assigning any reason. It is also not responsible for any postal delays/losses.
8.20 Incomplete applications in any respect shall not be considered for fellowship.
8.21 The final authority related to the interpretation of the guidelines or any issue left is vested with the ICSSR-SRC.
9. COMPLETION OF THE PROJECT
9.1 On completion of the study, the scholar should submit the following:
(A) For Short Duration Research Projects, a Final Report (about 60 to 80 pages) along with a summary (about 20 to 25 pages)
(B) Both documents should be submitted in hard format (two copies of final report and ten copies of summary) and a soft copy (in pen drive/CD/DVD).
10. OBLIGATION OF THE AFFILIATING INSTITUTION
10.1 The affiliating institution is required to give an undertaking in the prescribed format contained in the Application Form to administer and manage the ICSSR-SRC grant.
10.2 It is also required to provide the requisite research infrastructure to the scholar and maintain proper accounts.
10.3 The affiliating institution will be under obligation to ensure submission of the final report and Audited accounts with utilization certificate in GFR-12A duly signed by the Project Director/Coordinator, Chartered Accountant and Finance Officer/Registrar/Principal/Director/Competent authority of the institution.
10.4 The affiliating institution shall make suitable arrangements for the preservation of data such as filled-in schedules, tabulation sheets, manuscripts, reports, etc. relating to the study.
10.5 The ICSSR reserves the right to demand raw data, or such parts of the study as deemed fit.
10.6 The overhead charges shall be paid only after the completion of the project and on receipt of the final audited Statement of Accounts.
10.7 The affiliating institution is responsible for the oversee of the Selection of Field Investigator should be done with the approval of the Head of the Department/ Director/ Dean/Principal
11. RESEARCH PROPOSAL FORMAT
Other than the mandatory information accompanying each application, candidates should submit their research proposal in two parts:
A) A concise summary of the research proposal (about 1000 words).
B) A detailed research proposal (about 2500 words).
An indicative outline for the detailed research proposal is given below:
1. Title
The research proposal should have a clear, meaningful, and concise title reflecting the scope of the investigation.
2. Introduction
The research proposal should begin with brief background information about the research problem.
3. Review of Literature
The proposal should summarize the current status of research in the area and major findings, including the researchers own work in the area. Existing empirical findings may also be discussed. The overview should demonstrate the relevance as well as the inadequacy of existing findings or approaches and provide a rationale for the proposed study.
4. Statement of the Problem
It should elaborate on the research problem to be investigated in the light of its theoretical and/or empirical context in the relevant area.
5. Objectives / Research Question / Hypotheses of the Study
The general aim of the study as well as its specific objectives should be clearly stated in the proposal. Given the conceptual framework and the specification of dimension, the specific questions to be answered through the proposed research should be sharply formulated. In the case of an explanatory research design, specification of variables and positing of relationships among them through specific hypotheses must form a part of the research proposal.
6. Scope and Methodology
The researcher must describe in detail (a) the scope and coverage of her/his study, and (b) approach and methodology with adequate justification. Emphasis should be given to bringing out innovativeness in approaches proposed to be followed. The detailing of the methodology may include research design, data to be collected and empirical and analytical methods to be used. The description of the methodology must be linked to the aims of the research and the research questions/hypotheses of the study.
7. Relevance, Anticipated Outcomes, and Proposed Outputs from the Research
The proposal should include a statement on the relevance of the study and the anticipated outcomes. It should bring out the significance of the research problem, the contribution which the proposed study is expected to make to theory and methodology as well as its practical importance to society and policymaking. It should also describe the proposed outputs from the study (Books, research papers, occasional papers with themes etc.)
8. Tentative Chapterisation: Details of the chapterisation should be spelt out in the research proposal
9. Work Plan
The research proposal should include a phased time frame for different components of the study.
10. Estimated Budget
The budget for the study should be formulated within the guidelines and parameters as given at 5.3 & 5.4 above. It should be linked to other elements of the proposal and must include a detailed justification of each item that is proposed.
11. Bibliography:
Bibliography should be prepared in Chicago Manual Style / APA.
12. PUBLICATION OUT OF PROJECT
Principle Investigator need to submit a copy of all the publications (Journal, Policy Document & Book Chapter) brought out of the project work in due course of time. The principle investigator should also acknowledge the contribution of SRC in all the publications coming out of the project.
The Honorary Director
IIndian Council of Social Science Research
Southern Regional Centre
(Ministry of Education, Govt. of India)
2nd Floor, New Building, OUCIS Premises
Adjacent to OUCIS
Osmania University Campus, Hyderabad - 500 007
Email: srcicssrprograms@gmail.com