Science and Engineering Research Board
Established through an Act of Parliament: SERB Act 2008
Department of Science & Technology, Government of India

EMR Eligibility Guidelines:

Extramural Research (EMR) funding scheme of SERB to academic institution, research laboratories and other R&D organizations to carry out basic research in all frontier areas of Science and Engineering is in limelight for more than four decades since from the inception of SERC. This scheme encourages emerging and eminent scientist in field of science and engineering for individual centric competitive mode of research funding. Since the scheme provides core research support to the active researchers, the existing name Extramural Research (EMR) has been renamed as Core Research Grant (CRG)

Objective:

The scheme provides core research support to active researchers to undertake research and development in frontier areas of Science and Engineering.

Eligibility:

• Applicants [Principal Investigator (PI) and Co-PrincipalInvestigator(s) (Co-PI(s))]should be Indian citizens. Foreign nationals (including OCI and NRI) are also eligible to apply provided they fulfil the eligibility criteria notified by SERB (SERB Funding Guidelines for foreign nationals dated 27th Oct 2016).
• The applicant(s) must hold a regular academic/research position in a recognized academic institution or national laboratory or in any other recognized R&D institution in India.
• Private Academic institutions with valid UGC / AICTE / PCI approval, Private R&D Institutions with valid DSIR-SIRO recognition and Voluntary and Non-Governmental Organizations registered under NITI-AAYOG Darpan portal are eligible to host a project.
• Faculties recruited through UGC-Faculty Recharge Program are eligible to apply. INSPIRE Faculty, Ramanujan and Ramalingaswamy Fellows arealso eligible to apply provided they have at least three and half years of tenure remaining at the time of submission of application.
• Investigators who will be superannuating during the duration of the project or already superannuated are also eligible to apply. In such cases, a Faculty/Scientist from the host institute who has at least 5 years of service remaining should be associated as a Co-PI. The host institution should allow the investigator to continue after superannuation and provide required support towards implementation of the project.
• The PI and Co-Investigator(s) should hold Ph.D. degree in Science, Mathematics, Engineering or M.D. / M.S. / M.D.S. / M.V.Sc. degree at the time of applying for grant.
• The term “Regular” in the context of CRG refers to the applicants who are appointed against the sanctioned post or in a tenure post but are likely to be renewed after the end of the tenure.

[Note:Research Associates, Ad-hoc faculties, Guest Faculty, Visiting Scientist, consultant, Project Fellows and Faculty members whose contract is renewed every year are not eligible. In respect of cases that are not mentioned above, SERB reserves the right to determine the eligibility]

• Aspirants of NPDF, SRG and CRG (EMR) can submit their proposal only once in a calendar year in any one of these schemes.

Nature & Duration of Support:

• The CRG schemeprovides research support to an individual researcher or a group of researchers working in a recognized academic institution or national laboratory or in any other recognized R&D institution in India.
• The funding is provided normally for a period of three years.
• The research grant is provided for equipment, manpower, consumables, travel and contingency. “Overheads”is also be provided to the implementing institution as per prevailing norms of SERB.
• Proposals from applicants belonging to National Laboratories/Research Institutions should be in-line with the mandated research work of the lab/institution. (A certificate duly authorised by the Head of the Institution should be uploaded along with the proposal).
• National Laboratories and Research Institutions should share 50% of the non-recurring cost of the project. For projects with total cost more than Rs. 80 lakh, 50% of the non-recurring and consumables cost should be shared by the Lab/Institution.

Mode & Selection of Application:

• An applicant is eligible to apply only one proposal during a call.
• Any proposal technically rejected should not be resubmitted without any substantial revision to any schemes or programs of the SERB.
• Not more than one project is allowed at any given time. However, projects under the programs EMEQ, HRHR, IRRD and special calls are exempted from this category. The PI is encouraged to apply for another project six months prior to the completion of the project
• The Call for applications will be notified through the website www.serbonline.in and www.serb.gov.in. The application form along with a proper research proposal highlighting the research work to be undertaken should be submitted online through the website www.serbonline.in.
• The selection will be based on the recommendations of Program Advisory Committee (PAC) constituted by the Board. If required, the applicants maybe called for discussion/ presentation.

Plagiarism

Proposals submitted must be original in ideation and content. Plagiarism in any form will not be acceptable. All submitted proposals would be subjected to a third-party similarity check and proposals are liable to be rejected if found plagiarised. Any text taken verbatim from other source needs to be identified using quotation marks and proper reference. Applicants are requested to pre-check their proposals for plagiarism before uploading.Proposals found containing plagiarised content will be rejected.

Scientific Social Responsibility

SERB has adopted Scientific Social Responsibility (SSR) Policy to imbibe a culture of social commitment among SERB Grantees. The policy intends to effectively utilize scientific infrastructure and expertise of SERB grantees to benefit other S&T stakeholders especially the less-endowed researchers and the society. SSR activities need to be chosen after approval and depending on the activities chosen additional budget would be provided under separate head to carry out the chosen activities. SERB Grantees need to undertake the proposed SSR activities during their project period.

Formats and Guidelines

The project proposal should be prepared according to the guidelines and submitted online through the website www.serbonline.in  

The details of Programme Advisors / Coordinators and Programme Officers are given below: