Union Government announces four new schemes for young scientists, researchers

Union Minister for Science and Technology Dr. Harsh Vardhan on January 24, 2018 announced four schemes to promote young scientists and researchers in the country.

These schemes are Teacher Associateship for Research Excellence (TARE) scheme, Overseas Visiting Doctoral Fellowship, Distinguished Investigator Award and Augmenting Writing Skills for Articulating Research Scheme.

Aiming at early recognition of young talent in the field of science, these schemes focus on youth to empower, recognize and motivate them.

Teacher Associateship for Research Excellence (TARE) scheme
• In a bid to tap the potential of trained faculty in Universities, colleges and private academic institutions, 500 teachers will be assisted under the Teacher Associateship for Research Excellence (TARE) scheme.

• It will connect them to lead public funded institutions like IIT, IISc or national institutions like CSIR, preferably nearer to their place of work to pursue research.

• These teachers will be paid Rs 5 lakh yearly, and a monthly out-of-pocket expense of Rs 5000. This will be in addition to the salary from their existing employer.

Overseas Visiting Doctoral Fellowship
• Overseas Visiting Doctoral Fellowship scheme will offer support to 100 PhD scholars for training in universities or laboratories abroad for up to 12 months during their doctoral research.

• Scholars will be given a monthly fellowship equivalent to USD 2000, one-time contingency allowance of Rs 60000 to cover travel and visa fee.

Distinguished Investigator Award
• The Distinguished Investigator Award will offer a maximum of 100 fellowships to principal investigators of SERB/DST projects.  

• This one-time career award will be judged on the basis of a completed project and will be aimed at giving early recognition and reward to young scientists.

• The selected 100 researchers will be given a monthly fellowship of Rs 15000 for three years and an optional research grant, based on the review of the project proposal submitted.

Augmenting Writing Skills for Articulating Research
• Augmenting Writing Skills for Articulating Research (AWSAR) is a scheme to encourage science writing seeking to tap the potential of over 20000 PhD scholars in science to popularise and communicate their research outcome.

• It carries a monetary incentive of Rs 10000 each for 100 best entries in a year and a Certificate of Appreciation, besides getting the story published.

• Three leading stories from the selected 100 would be awarded Rs 1 lakh, Rs 50000 and Rs 25000 respectively.

All these four schemes will be notified soon and applications will be invited from across the country on February 1, 2018.