How research promotion schemes are offering financial support to varsity professors – Times of India
To boost the research ecosystem, higher educational institutions (HEIs) are going all out to ensure their faculty members have adequate funding, internal resources and specialised equipment for research. The Banaras Hindu University (BHU), for instance, has launched a Research Promotion Scheme in whichfaculty members who receive projects from external agencies are likely to benefit.
The scheme is expected to provide partial financial support to the faculty members who have received either no funds or partial funds for the proposed equipment. “The scheme has been launched under the Institute of Eminence (IoE) scheme to enable young enthusiastic faculty members in medical, agricultural, environmental and earth sciences, to acquire equipment of their use which are not available in their respective departments or BHU,” says DS Pandey, professor in-charge, Sponsored Research and Industrial Consultancy Cell, who is part of the scheme’s four-member committee to review the proposals.
Meeting their needs
“The initiative will support the faculty with a fund of Rs 20 lakh (as a one-time measure), though in exceptional cases, recommendations might be made for financial support up to Rs 50 lakh, depending on the proposed and sanctioned amount,” Pandey adds. The scheme will also provide reasonable funds to develop the infrastructure needed for research.
Referring to the BHU initiative as “intramural funding in which the university/department has a corpus of funds to support the research initiatives of its faculty and research scholars”, Anuradha Majumdar, former dean, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Mumbai, says there is no dearth of funds for faculty to conduct their research, but they need to be able to write quality proposals to receive the government’s approval.
Small steps
“The young faculty should start with small research grants and build their understanding of how to write a proper research proposal prior to taking the plunge with larger funding schemes,” Majumdar says, elaborating that the quantum of research grants disbursed by the University of Mumbai as minor research project grants may be not high, but it provides seed grant to young faculty members across all streams that helps them in the pursuit of their PhDs too.
Government funding sources
Faculty across all departments and colleges at Mumbai University are, however, free to apply to central government schemes. “Earlier, the University Grants Commission (UGC) used to give both major and minor grants, and while the major grants no longer exist, there are various bodies such as the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Department of Science & Technology (DST) etc that are focused on green technology, fibres, nanotechnology, etc for which there are calls for proposals across the year. Moreover, there are several funding schemes under the DST and Department of Biotechnology (DBT) with its Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) in which faculty members can collaborate with industry for scaling up and commercialisation,” Majumdar adds.
Upgrading obsolete equipment
At IIT Roorkee, varied schemes have been developed to create an enabling culture for its faculty researchers. Its SMILE (Support for Major Interdisciplinary Laboratory Equipment) Scheme 2022 provides support for the procurement of major equipment in research areas where a long-felt need exists, or for supporting new thrust research areas. “The significant facilities costing above Rs 25 lakh will be considered for support under this scheme. The initiative may also consider proposals for upgrading obsolete research equipment or any obsolete subsystem of any existing equipment,” says Akshay Dvivedi, dean, Sponsored Research and Industrial Consultancy, IIT Roorkee where research is mainly supported by DST, DBT, MNRE, ICMR, DRDO, etc and various other government ministries.
Institute schemes
Dvivedi further cites institute schemes such as the Faculty Initiation Grant (Fig), Matching Grant Scheme and Institute Research Fellowships (IRF) to promote research activities.
“The Faculty Initiation Grant (FIG) scheme supports newly joined faculty members to establish preliminary R&D setups while the Matching Grant Scheme encourages the submission of more sponsored research proposals from the faculty members in addition to addressing some of the issues that arise when a sponsored research proposal is approved. A group of faculty members can apply for pooling of their Matching Grants to procure a high-cost equipment/facility. A Matching Grant can also be sought as a commitment letter from the institute at the time of submission/negotiation of a sponsored research proposal,” Dvivedi adds.
For young faculty members below the age of 40, there is an Institute Research Fellowship which recognises and rewards their outputs. Considering the facilitation measures, Dvivedi feels there are no instances where a faculty’s research has been hampered due to a lack of finances and equipment.
The scheme is expected to provide partial financial support to the faculty members who have received either no funds or partial funds for the proposed equipment. “The scheme has been launched under the Institute of Eminence (IoE) scheme to enable young enthusiastic faculty members in medical, agricultural, environmental and earth sciences, to acquire equipment of their use which are not available in their respective departments or BHU,” says DS Pandey, professor in-charge, Sponsored Research and Industrial Consultancy Cell, who is part of the scheme’s four-member committee to review the proposals.
Meeting their needs
“The initiative will support the faculty with a fund of Rs 20 lakh (as a one-time measure), though in exceptional cases, recommendations might be made for financial support up to Rs 50 lakh, depending on the proposed and sanctioned amount,” Pandey adds. The scheme will also provide reasonable funds to develop the infrastructure needed for research.
Referring to the BHU initiative as “intramural funding in which the university/department has a corpus of funds to support the research initiatives of its faculty and research scholars”, Anuradha Majumdar, former dean, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Mumbai, says there is no dearth of funds for faculty to conduct their research, but they need to be able to write quality proposals to receive the government’s approval.
Small steps
“The young faculty should start with small research grants and build their understanding of how to write a proper research proposal prior to taking the plunge with larger funding schemes,” Majumdar says, elaborating that the quantum of research grants disbursed by the University of Mumbai as minor research project grants may be not high, but it provides seed grant to young faculty members across all streams that helps them in the pursuit of their PhDs too.
Government funding sources
Faculty across all departments and colleges at Mumbai University are, however, free to apply to central government schemes. “Earlier, the University Grants Commission (UGC) used to give both major and minor grants, and while the major grants no longer exist, there are various bodies such as the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Department of Science & Technology (DST) etc that are focused on green technology, fibres, nanotechnology, etc for which there are calls for proposals across the year. Moreover, there are several funding schemes under the DST and Department of Biotechnology (DBT) with its Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) in which faculty members can collaborate with industry for scaling up and commercialisation,” Majumdar adds.
Upgrading obsolete equipment
At IIT Roorkee, varied schemes have been developed to create an enabling culture for its faculty researchers. Its SMILE (Support for Major Interdisciplinary Laboratory Equipment) Scheme 2022 provides support for the procurement of major equipment in research areas where a long-felt need exists, or for supporting new thrust research areas. “The significant facilities costing above Rs 25 lakh will be considered for support under this scheme. The initiative may also consider proposals for upgrading obsolete research equipment or any obsolete subsystem of any existing equipment,” says Akshay Dvivedi, dean, Sponsored Research and Industrial Consultancy, IIT Roorkee where research is mainly supported by DST, DBT, MNRE, ICMR, DRDO, etc and various other government ministries.
Institute schemes
Dvivedi further cites institute schemes such as the Faculty Initiation Grant (Fig), Matching Grant Scheme and Institute Research Fellowships (IRF) to promote research activities.
“The Faculty Initiation Grant (FIG) scheme supports newly joined faculty members to establish preliminary R&D setups while the Matching Grant Scheme encourages the submission of more sponsored research proposals from the faculty members in addition to addressing some of the issues that arise when a sponsored research proposal is approved. A group of faculty members can apply for pooling of their Matching Grants to procure a high-cost equipment/facility. A Matching Grant can also be sought as a commitment letter from the institute at the time of submission/negotiation of a sponsored research proposal,” Dvivedi adds.
For young faculty members below the age of 40, there is an Institute Research Fellowship which recognises and rewards their outputs. Considering the facilitation measures, Dvivedi feels there are no instances where a faculty’s research has been hampered due to a lack of finances and equipment.
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