CRG 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 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 :

1. Applicants [Principal Investigator (PI) and Co-Principal Investigator(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 ).
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Faculties recruited through UGC-Faculty Recharge Program are eligible to apply. INSPIRE Faculty, Ramanujan and Ramalingaswamy Fellows are also eligible to apply provided they have at least three and half years of tenure remaining at the time of submission of application.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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]
8. Aspirants of NPDF, SRG and CRG(EMR) can submit their proposal only once in a calender year in any of these schemes.

Nature & Duration of Support :

1. The CRG scheme provides research support to an individual researcher or a group of researchers working in a recognized academic institution or national laboratory or in other recognized R & D institution in India.
2. The funding is provided normally for a period of three years.
3. 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.
4. 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)
5. 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. If project is approved for SERB support, a certificate from National Laboratory / Research Institution will be required for the same.

Selection & Mode Of Application :

1. An applicant is eligible to apply only one proposal during a call.
2. Any proposal technically rejected should not be resubmitted without any substantial revision to any schemes or programs of the SERB.
3. Not more than one project is allowed at any given time. This rule should be implemented to the projects under the schemes Core Research Grant, Early Career Research Award, High Risk High Reward, Distinguished Investigator Award, SUPRA, Startup Research Grant, YSS, SERB SURE and Exponential Technologies. All other schemes will be considered as ‘Special Call’ and will be exempted from this rule. The PI is encouraged to apply for another project six months prior to the completion of the project. Application for another project more than six months prior to the completion is not allowed.
4. 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 only through the website "www.serbonline.in".
5. 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.

How to Apply Online :
For successful online submission of the application the following points may be noted:

1. Applicant(s) should first register into the online website click here to register
2. After log-in, applicant(s) are required to fill all the mandatory fields in Profile Detail section under User Profile. which includes Bio-data, Photo, Institute Address etc.
3. If you have CO-PI in your proposal then ensure that all the CO-PI"s are also registered into the system following the same procedure.
4. Some of the details of your proposal like Project Title (max 500 characters), Project summary (max 3000 characters), Keywords (max 6), Objectives of project (max 1500 characters), Expected output and outcome of the proposal (max 1500 characters), Budget (Manpower,Consumables,Travel, Equipment, Contingency, Overheads ) have to be entered at the time of proposal submission.
5. Other relevant information of the proposal has to be uploaded in single PDF file not more than 10 MB as other technical document (OTD). Download Template Complete guideline for Principal Investigator for SERB-online system

Documents Required (in PDF format) :
For online submission of the application the following points may be noted:

1. Biodata (under user profile section) Download Template
2. Certificate from Principal Investigator Download Template
3. Endorsement Letter from the Head of Institution Download Templatee
4. If project is approved for SERB support, the Quotations of the approved equipment need to be uploaded within one month of the date of the Approval Letter.
5. Plagiarism undertaking Download Template

Formats and Guidelines

Terms and Conditions
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

SERB has developed a scheme SERB-SUPRA (Scientific and Useful Profound Research Advancement) that seeks to explore new scientific breakthroughs, with long-term impact on our fundamental scientific understanding, and offer disruptive technologies at the cutting edge. SERB-SUPRA is a scheme beyond normal core research grants and purposefully designed for high quality proposals consisting of new hypothesis or challenge existing ones and provide "out-of-box" solutions. Transformative and disruptive research concepts based on innovative and unproven hypothesis, possessing a high degree of uncertainty, yet having conviction to produce a lasting impact across discipline boundaries qualify for support under SERB-SUPRA.
Most important measures of this scheme are:

1. Quantum of advances (incremental and short terms gains are strongly discouraged).
2. Extent of disruption in fundamental understanding or impact on outstanding research grand challenges: new areas, new concepts, new products, new disruptive technologies.
3. Ability of research outcomes in enhancing scientific knowledge of the cutting-edge at the international level and/or emergence of critical technologies.
4. Global impact, outstanding publications, advancement of science.

Eligibility :

1. Applicants [Principal Investigator (PI) and / or Co-Principal Investigator(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.
2. 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 with at least 5 years of service remaining. The term "Regular" 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. The PI and Co-PI who has a financial commitment in the proposal should have at least 5 years of service remaining at the time of submission of proposal.
3. 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.
4. Faculties recruited through UGC-Faculty Recharge Program are eligible to apply. INSPIRE Faculty, Ramanujan and Ramalingaswamy Fellows, Research Associates, Ad-hoc faculties, Guest Faculty, Visiting Scientist, consultant, Project Fellows and Faculty membrs whose contract is renewed every year are not eligible. In respect of cases that are not mentioned here, SERB reserves the right to determine the eligibility.
5. 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.

Nature & Duration of Support :

1. The SUPRA scheme provides research support to an individual researcher or a group of researchers working in a recognized academic institution or national laboratory or in other recognized R & D institutions in India.
2. Funding will be provided normally for a period of three years, which could be extended to 2 years (5 years total) subject to performance evaluation.
3. 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.
4. 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. If project is approved for SERB support, a certificate from National Laboratory / Research Institution will be required for the same.

Selection & Mode Of Application :

1. A single submission of full SUPRA proposal will be subjected to a two-phase evaluation process.
2. First phase: Initial screening will be based on assessment of extended synopsis as described in the application format and research track record of the Principal Investigator, as judged by her/his CV. Only those proposals which proceed through the first phase will be sent out for external review.
3. Second phase: Full scientific proposal should meet the core mandate and features of SUPRA and it will be closely judged on these lines in the second step of the assessment process. Proposals qualifying after domain expert reviews may be subjected to formal presentation by PI / co-PIs before the Committee.
4. An applicant is eligible to apply only one proposal during a call as a PI.
5. Any proposal technically rejected should not be resubmitted without any substantial revision to any schemes or programs of the SERB.
6. Not more than one project is allowed at any given time as a Principal Investigator under the program SUPRA.
7. 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".
8. 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 might 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.

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.

How to Apply Online :
For successful online submission of the application the following points may be noted:

1. Applicant should first register into the online website. click here to register. If you have already registered, you can login using your user ID.
2. After successful registration, user will be sent a confirmation mail on registered email ID. User must click on the URL provided in the mail to confirm registration.
3. After log-in, applicant(s) are required to fill all the mandatory fields in Profile Detail section under User Profile. which includes Bio-data, Photo, Institute Address etc.
4. If you have Co-PI in your proposal, then ensure that all the Co-PI"s are also registered into the system following the same procedure.
5. Details of Patent, Publications in last 5 years, Projects, Research Collaboration, Academic Supervision of all investigators (PI and all COPI"s) has to be provided
6. Some of the details of your proposal like Project Title (max 500 characters), Project summary (max 3000 characters), Keywords (max 6), Objectives of project (max 1500 characters), Expected output and outcome of the proposal (max 1500 characters), Budget (Manpower, Consumables, Travel, Equipment, Contingency, Overheads) must be entered at the time of proposal submission.
7. Other relevant information of the proposal must be uploaded in single PDF file not more than 10 MB as other technical document (OTD). Download Template

Documents required (in PDF) should be in prescribed format:

1. Biodata (under user profile section) Download Template
2. Certificate from Principal Investigator Download Template
3. Endorsement Letter from the Head of Institution Download Template
4. If project is approved for SERB support, the Quotations of the approved equipment need to be uploaded within one month of the date of the Approval Letter.
5. Plagiarism undertaking Download Template

Formats and Guidelines

Terms and Conditions
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

“Fund for Industrial Research Engagement (FIRE)”, intends to address the challenges in the research and innovation space in India, by creating an ecosystem that would accelerate the growth in the research work and drive the R&D landscape efficiently and effectively with close co-ordination with Industry.

Objectives :

1. Government-Industry collaboration for transforming research mind-set and culture in India to foster novel, transformative and impactful research ecosystem led by the Government of India and supported by the Industry.
2. Creating ‘Research Fund’ with the objective to collaborate on research problems that can have an impact at a large scale and fund top high-quality research with maximum industry impact potential, at a national scale. 50% monetary fund match by DST-SERB.

Eligibility :

1. Academic Partner
   • Indian citizens residing in India.
   • The academic partner must hold a regular academic/research position in an academic institution or national laboratories or recognised R&D institutions. More than one academic partner may be allowed.
2. Industry Partner
   • All industries (including MSME & industrial R&D Centres) are eligible.
   • More than one Industry and or more than one Investigator from one Industry can be associated in a project.

Nature of Support and Duration :
Scheme will be designed in partnership with Industry. A national call will be made for proposals by defining the scope of the scheme and its deliverables.

Application & Selection Procedure :

1. Prospective researchers from academia/lab contact Nodal Officer of respective Industries for identifying research partner/s from industry. The industry and the academia partners work together in identified areas of research.
2. SERB will constitute a Programme Management Review Committee (PMRC) to review the proposals.

Objective :
The Empowerment and Equity Opportunities for Excellence in Science (EMEQ) scheme is aimed at providing research support to researchers belonging to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe in undertaking research in frontier areas of science and engineering.

Eligibility :

1. The applicant should be an Indian National.
2. Should be an active researcher belonging to the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe category working on regular basis in an academic institutions/national lab or any other recognized R&D institutions in the field of Science and Engineering.
3. The applicant should hold Ph.D. degree in Science or Engineering or M.D. / M.S. / M.D.S. / M.V.Sc. degree.
4. The applicant should have at least four years of service remaining before superannuation as on the date of submission of the proposal.
5. Researchers/Scientists who have ongoing project under EMEQ scheme as on the date of submission of the proposal are not eligible to apply.
6. Co-Investigators are not allowed in the scheme

Nature Of Support :

1. Funding is provided up to a maximum of Rs. 50.0 lakh (excluding overhead charges).
2. The research grant will cover equipment, manpower, consumables, travel and contingency. Overheads will be provided as per prevailing norms of SERB.
3. Duration of the project shall be for a maximum of three years.

Plagiarism :
Proposals submitted need to be original and 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 to avoid any serious repercussions at a later stage.

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. SERB Grantees need to undertake some SSR activities during their project period. SSR activities need to be chosen during submission process. Depending on the activities chosen additional budget would be provided under separate head to carry out the chosen activities.

Mode of Application and Selection :

1. The call for applications will be made once a year and will be notified through the websites www.serbonline.in and www.serb.gov.in.The project proposal should be prepared according to the guidelines and submitted online through the website www.serbonline.in
2. The selection will be based on the recommendations of a Task Force Committee that will be constituted by the Board. If desired by the Committee, the applicants may be called for personal discussion.

How to Apply Online :
For online submission of the application the following points may be noted:

1. Applicant(s) should first register into the online website
2. After log-in, applicants are required to fill all the mandatory fields in Profile Detail section under User Profile, which includes Bio data, photo, Institute Address, etc.
3. Some of the details of your proposal like Project Title (max 500 characters), Project summary (max 3000 characters), Keywords (max 6), Objectives of project (max 1500 characters), Expected output and outcome of the proposal (max 1500 characters), Budget (Manpower, Consumables, Travel, Equipment, Contingency, Overheads ) have to be entered at the time of proposal submission.
4. Other relevant information of the proposal has to be uploaded as a single PDF file, not more than 10 MB, as technical document (TD)

Documents Required (in PDF format) :
For online submission of the application the following points may be noted:

1. Biodata (under user profile section) Download Template

Formats and Guidelines

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

State University Research Excellence (SERB-SURE) is a new scheme of the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) to augment the research capabilities in a structured way to create a robust R&D ecosystem in state universities and colleges by fostering collaboration for high-end research. The growth of existing research capabilities at these institutions is imperative to ensure horizontal diffusion of research excellence reaching all research students hoping to contribute to the national R&D ecosystem and promoting the enhancement of quality through SERB support.

Objective :
SERB-SURE scheme provides research support to active researchers belonging to state universities and colleges including private universities and colleges across India to undertake research and development in frontier areas of science, engineering and quantitative social science. The scheme will seed new research opportunities at various state & private universities and colleges and will propagate scientific temper in faculty and students of these institutions.

Eligibility :

1. Applicants [Principal Investigator (PI) and Co-Principal Investigator(s) (Co-PI(s))] should be Indian citizens.
2. PI and Co-Investigator(s) should hold Ph.D./M.D./M.S./M.D.S./M.V.Sc. degree at the time of applying for the grant. To submit proposal under Quantitative Social Sciences area, The PI and Co-Investigator(s) should hold Ph.D. degree in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, M.D. / M.S. / M.D.S. / M.V.Sc. degree or Ph.D. degree in any Social Sciences area.
3. The applicant (Principal Investigator) must hold a regular academic/research position in a State University/College or Private University/College which is recognized by UGC / AICTE / PCI.
4. Co-Principal Investigators (Co-PIs) 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.
5. The term "Regular" in the context of this scheme 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, Postdoctoral fellows, 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].
6. The upper age limit is 50 years, with a relaxation of five years for SC/ST/OBC/ Physically challenged and women candidates.
7. The number of Co-PIs should not exceed two per project. However, if one of the Co-PI is a woman, maximum number of Co-PIs is relaxed to three. Co-PI is not eligible for any research grant from the sanctioned project.
8. Applicant (PI) having any ongoing or have completed any SERB project/s is not eligible to apply. PIs who have availed NPDF, TARE, SIRE, Fast Track/YSS (with PI Fellowship) and other fellowships are eligible.
9. (PI) from centrally funded universities / colleges / institutes/ organization would not be considered for support under this scheme.
10. Not more than 10 projects per institution per call will be supported under SURE Scheme

Nature & Duration of Support :
The total research grants not exceeding Rs. 30 lakhs plus overheads for a period of three years are provided for equipment/s, research personnel, consumables, domestic travel, contingency and other costs (analytical charges, equipment user charges, fieldwork charges, etc.). Budget under equipment head is limited to not more than Rs. 14 lakh. "Overhead" is provided to the implementing institution as per prevailing norms of SERB.

Mode & Selection of Application :

1. An applicant is eligible to submit only one proposal during a call.
2. Any proposal technically rejected by SERB in any scheme should not be resubmitted without any substantial revision to this scheme.
3. PI having an ongoing SURE project are not eligible to avail of any other project during the tenure of the project other than EMEQ. They can submit another proposal under regular project schemes of SERB six months prior to the completion of ongoing project.
4. 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".
5. The selection will be based on the recommendations of Expert Committees constituted by SERB.

Transfer of Project :
Transfer of approved/sanctioned SURE project to another institution will be considered from a private/state government university/college to any other state government university/college only. Change of institute will not be considered in any other cases.

How to apply online :
For successful online submission of the application the following points may be noted:

1. Applicant(s) should first register on the online website click here to register.
2. After login, the applicant is required to fill all the mandatory fields in the Profile Detail section under User Profile, which includes Bio-data, Photos, Institute addresses etc.
3. Some of the details of your proposal like Project Title (max 500 characters), Project summary (max 3000 characters), Keywords (max 6), Objectives of the project (max 1500 characters), Expected output, and outcome of the proposal (max 1500 characters), Budget (Research Personnel, Consumables, Travel, Equipment, Contingency, Other Cost, Overhead) have to be entered at the time of proposal submission.
4. Other relevant information about the proposal has to be uploaded in a single PDF file not more than 10 MB as Other Technical Document (OTD) . Download Template
5. The call for proposal will be notified through the websites "www.serbonline.in" and www.serb.gov.in. The proposal highlighting the research work to be undertaken should be submitted online through the website "www.serbonline.in".

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. Any text taken verbatim from other sources 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 plagiarized 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 the scientific infrastructure and expertise of SERB grantees to benefit other S&T stakeholders, especially the less-endowed researchers and society. SSR activities need to be chosen after approval. SERB Grantees need to undertake the proposed SSR activities during their project period.

Document Required (in PDF format) :

1. Biodata (under user profile section) Download Template
2. Certificate from Principal Investigator Download Template
3. Endorsement Letter from the Head of Institution Download Template
4. Age Proof Certificate (Class X marksheet or Birth certificate)
5. Category Certificate (in case of Age Relaxation)
6. Plagiarism undertaking Download Template