Centre launches schemes for young scientists

The government announced on Wednesday four schemes for bright young scientists, including one that allows them to spend up to one year in a research lab abroad to hone their skills.

Announcing the programmes, Union Minister for Science and Technology Harsh Vardhan said this was an attempt to reward talented young scientists so that they sustain their interest in science. Researchers aged up to 45 years are eligible.

“Most of the current fellowship schemes are for senior scientists. We feel that young scientists need to be empowered. With the new schemes, we are trying to do that,” he said.

The schemes, instituted by the Science Engineering Research Board (SERB) of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), are expected to come into force on February 1.

Among them is overseas doctoral fellowship programme which would help doctoral students registered in Indian universities to spend six to 12 months in foreign universities and other institutions of repute with whom there is research collaboration. Each selected doctoral student would be given a fellowship of $2,000 a month for the period spent in the foreign lab, apart from travel expenses. The maximum number of students supported under the scheme is 100 a year.

Another scheme, called Teacher Associateship for Research Excellence (TARE), is aimed at young faculty members working in a regular capacity in State universities and colleges and in private academic institutions, who have an orientation for research. They will get a chance to carry out research in public-funded institutions such as IITs, IISERs, and other national research laboratories in their free time for a maximum period of three years.

The selected scholars will be given an annual research fellowship of ₹60,000. Besides, there is a research grant of ₹5 lakh a year, which will be shared equally by the host and parent institutions of the scholar. The plan is to offer 500 such fellowships every year.

The most prestigious one among the new schemes is a distinguished investigator award for a maximum of 35 brilliant young scientists who have excelled as principal investigators in research projects funded by SERB or DST. Those recognised under the scheme will get an additional sum of ₹15,000 as monthly fellowship and an optional research grant for a period of three years.

The fourth one is meant for augmenting writing skills of Indian research scholars. Ph D students and post-doctoral fellows will be encouraged to write at least one popular science article based on their research work and the best 100 entries by doctoral students and 20 by post-doctoral fellows will be rewarded with a cash prize of ₹10,000 and ₹20,000 respectively. The best three articles by doctoral students and one by a post-doctoral fellow will be given further cash prizes up to ₹1 lakh, the minister said.

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