Full Form of SRF

What is SRF?

A Senior Research Fellowship, or SRF, is a fellowship awarded to formidable Indian social scientists for conducting full-time research on themes and issues of national and social concern. The idea behind the fellowship is to garner contributions to conceptual as well as theoretical advancement in various disciplines, to generate field work based on empirical data. Additionally, these studies should successfully contribute to policy making. The broad disciplines of the social sciences are:

1. Economics and Development Studies
2. Management
3. Commerce
4. Sociology
5. Social Work
6. Social Anthropology
7. Cultural Studies
8. Sanskrit Studies
9. Socio-Philosophical Studies
10. Social Linguistics
11. Gender Studies
12. Health Studies
13. Political Science
14. International Studies
15. Public Administration
16. Diaspora Studies
17. National Security and Strategic Studies
18. Education
19. Social Psychology
20. Legal Studies
21. Social Geography
22. Environmental Studies
23. Modern social history
24. Media Studies
25. Library Science

Eligibility for SRF

• The scholar should be 45 years of age and cannot exceed 70 years of age as of the last date of the application.
• Moreover, it is necessary for the scholar to possess a Ph.D. degree in addition to the necessary competence to conduct research in the social sciences or social aspects of other disciplines, according to the ICSSR.
• In addition to that, the scholar should also have outstanding research publications at the time of application.
• It is necessary for a fellow to affiliate themselves with an ICSSR institute or a national institute of importance that is approved by the Ministry of Education (MoE), a government research institute, or a publicly funded university.
• Senior government and defense officers, with no less than 25 years of regular service, should have proven expertise in social science and possess a PhD degree in any social science discipline. Moreover, the candidate should demonstrate research experience through publications such as reports, books, and/or research papers.
• Lastly, faculty with regular service in research institutes, publicly funded colleges, or universities who are getting UGC pay-scales may be considered for pay protection in meritorious cases. This is to be decided by the Expert Committees of the ICSSR.

SRF's Duration and Value

The Senior Fellowship is a full-time research opportunity. The fellowship will last only two years. Unemployed and superannuated scholars will receive INR 45,000 per month and a contingency grant of INR 40,000 per annum. This is irrespective of pensionary benefits. Fellows under salary protection are entitled to a salary, an allowance admissible as per the rules, and a contingency grant of INR 40,000 per annum. However, special allowances such as medical reimbursement, child education allowance, or LTC are not admissible. Lastly, the ICSSR shall pay the leave salary or pension contribution towards the CPF and gratuity for the period for which the fellow holds the ICSSR fellowship (as per the rules of the parent institution). [wp-faq-schema title=" Full Form of SRF FAQs" accordion=1]