IIT Gandhinagar Early-Career Fellowship: Apply by June 7, 2021.

The IIT Gandhinagar Early-Career Fellowship (IITGN-ECF) offers young scholars the opportunity to work on exciting challenges or research problems in a creative and interdisciplinary ecosystem. Fellows in the program will have access not only to their assigned department, but to the entire research infrastructure and facility of the Institute, which prizes interdisciplinary.

The opportunity to work on an exciting challenge or a research problem is the dream of a scholar, especially when possible within a creative and innovative ecosystem. IITGN-ECF is designed to offer these possibilities and support young scholars in their pursuit of excellence. With the possibility of extraordinary personal and professional growth, IITGN-ECF would prepare you for an independent futuristic academic career. The opportunities presented to you through IITGN-ECF offers access not only to a department but to the entire research infrastructure and facility of the Institute. The non-existent boundaries of disciplines at IITGN allow you to unlock the potential to experiment and contribute to the interdisciplinary ecosystem, which was carefully built over the years.

Who Should Apply?

The applicant should have successfully defended their PhD thesis from an Indian Institution/University on or after January 1, 2020, and their research work should be rated high with supporting scholarly publications. The candidates who have submitted their doctoral thesis or expected to submit in the next two-three months are also welcome to apply.

Fellowship

Fellows will receive Rs. 1,00,000 per month (Rs. 90,000/- plus Rs 10,000/- HRA).
A professional development grant of up to Rs. 2.00 Lakh per year will be made available that also supports international travel to attend conferences, workshops, training programmes, etc.
Fellows can submit individual proposals for financial support to conduct seminars, workshops and other scholarly activities.
The Fellowship will be awarded initially for one year. In case of outstanding performance, the Fellowship may be extended for another one year (that is, total Fellowship duration of two years).

Selection

As part of the application process, the applicants will develop a research proposal in a prescribed format in collaboration with a faculty member at IITGN. The plan will outline their research and professional objectives and must be endorsed by the proposed faculty collaborator. The applicants are strongly encouraged to directly contact the faculty collaborator.
The applicant will also submit a personal statement describing their aspirations and the expectations from themselves during this Fellowship.
The candidates from IIT Gandhinagar can apply to work with a faculty collaborator other than their PhD supervisor on a topic of their mutual interest.
The applicant will provide names and contact information of THREE referees who can objectively assess the candidate’s potential towards this Fellowship.
Applicants are free to apply to ANY discipline and can submit only ONE application.
Faculty members may endorse more than one proposal.

Expectations

Fellows are expected to dedicate themselves to work full-time towards their research goals in collaboration with a faculty member, and they should aspire to join another top academic institution after completing their tenure.
Fellow will work on a specific research project in collaboration with a faculty member besides engaging in other scholarly activities.
Fellows may be permitted to engage in teaching a course or guiding undergraduate & postgraduate students after assessing their research outcome.
One of the aims of the project should be to timely disseminate the created knowledge through high-impact scholarly publications.
The faculty collaborator undertakes to suitably involve, direct, supervise and evaluate the Fellow’s work, and share quarterly assessments and at the conclusion of the Fellowship with the office of the Dean R&D.
Fellows are expected to submit quarterly reports of their work and engagement in other scholarly activities to the faculty collaborator. The faculty collaborator will provide an objective assessment on the performance of the Fellow before forwarding the report to the office of the Dean R&D.
Fellows are expected to follow the ethos of the Institute and be proactive towards their performance. We have zero tolerance policy towards poor performance and misconduct and any such instances would trigger one month’s notice or immediately with pay of one-month fellowship.