Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) invites applications for Short-term Empirical Research Projects 2023-24. The last date to apply for this programme is July 11, 2023.
The advancement of social science research stands as a paramount objective of the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR). To fulfil this objective, the Council extends research grants to Indian scholars for the pursuit of research in social sciences. These grants are designed to enable social scientists to engage in pioneering research endeavours across a wide spectrum of social science disciplines, encompassing thematic areas with profound theoretical, conceptual, methodological, and policy implications. The ICSSR supports research projects which are innovative, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary in nature.
ICSSR is inviting proposals from Indian scholars/researchers/academicians for short-term projects of 6 months duration on selected schemes and policy initiatives of the government. A rigorous assessment of the reach and socio-economic impact of the specific scheme/policy initiative is expected to be carried out. These studies will be based on fieldwork focused on a specific geographical region, which may be an urban, semi-urban or rural area. The selected schemes/policy initiatives for empirical research are as follows:
The Project Directors are required to organize a workshop before the submission of the final report to deliberate on the compilation, organization, analyses of data and constructive suggestions proposed on the respective scheme/policy initiative.
Individual Study: Individual Project Director may choose any one of the above-given themes for the research. These research projects will be for a short duration of six months. The indicative sample size for each individual study would be 400 to 500. The Project Directors will be given an amount of up to INR 6 lakhs as a research grant to carry out the research.
Collaborative Study: Researchers may form a team of 4-6 researchers to conduct collaborative research who may be from a single institution or more than one institution. The objective of encouraging such collaborative research is to ensure that a large area with a significant sample size gets covered while assessing a particular scheme or initiative.
The research scholars affiliated with ICSSR Research Institutes/institutes of national importance, as defined by the Ministry of Education/UGC-recognized Indian universities / deemed universities under 12 B, are eligible to apply. However, scholars from other registered organizations with established research and academic standing may collaborate with any of the abovementioned institutions to implement the study.
Project Directors should be regular faculty and must possess a PhD degree with a proven track record of high-quality research and publications.
Civil servants, officers from Defence services and other professionals with social science perspective having not less than 20 years of regular service and demonstrable research experience through publications of books/research papers/reports/ policy documents etc. may also apply, preferably in collaboration with a faculty in a social science discipline from institutions given in.
Applications will be accepted only in online mode through the ICSSR website. ICSSR will enable the online application form on the date given in the advertisement, however, a sample form is provided for the preparation of the proposal.
Project staff could be engaged by the Project Director on a full/ Part-time basis during the research work and the duration/consolidated monthly emoluments of their employment may be decided by the Project Director within the limits of the sanctioned financial allocation and as per the ICSSR rules.
