Newton Bhabha PhD Placement Program 2020, Application form, Dates

About the Program

• The Newton-Bhabha Fund is back with its annual PhD Placement Programme. This year, the fund will offer Ph.D. scholars from India and the UK to spend a period of their study (up to two to four months) in UK higher education institutions. These students will get an opportunity anytime between April- December 2021

• The Newton-Bhabha Fund fosters long-term sustainable research collaborations between the UK and India. On behalf of the Department for Business Energy & Industrial Strategy in the UK and ­ Ministry of Science and Technology in India along with British Council India.

Newton Bhabha PhD Placement Program 2020 Important Dates

Aim of the Program

• Develop individual capacity through international training and development opportunities

• Increase the number of trained researchers in the UK and India to foster research and innovation in the two countries.

• Build cultural understanding and foster long-term sustainable research collaborations. Develop international joint training pathways.

• Increase awareness of the research strengths of the UK and India.

Eligibility Criteria for Newton Bhabha PhD Placement Program 2020

• In the UK, the scheme is open only for UK scholars pursuing their PhD at a UK higher education institution. Please see the list of eligible UK institutions in the downloads section below.

• In India, the scheme is open only for Indian PhD scholars enrolled at Indian higher education institutions with the following criteria:

• INSPIRE PhD Senior Research Fellows (SRFs) of Batch 2017 are eligible to apply for a STEM and Life Sciences subjects.

• PhD Scholar (other than INSPIRE Fellows) pursuing PhD in mid second or third year of Life Sciences are eligible to apply.

• ICSSR Doctoral Fellows or registered PhD scholars (full time) studying in second or third year of Social Sciences are eligible to apply.

Newton Bhabha PhD Placement Program 2020 Application Process

• Eligible candidates can apply online through the official website http://dbtindia.gov.in/

• Applications should be accompanied with endorsement letters or a formal email (pdf format) from both the sending and receiving institutes, signed by the Head of Department (or equivalent).

• The letter from the host institution must confirm that they will host the PhD scholar and provide details of all academic and country-level support, the duration of the stay and the level of bench fees they will charge.

• The endorsement letter should explicitly state that the support under Newton-Bhabha PhD Placement Programme will be acknowledged in publications (in any form) arising from the work undertaken during the placement.

Funding arrangements for the UK scholars

• UK scholars’ travel – international return airfare (economy class)

• visa fees to India

• UK scholars’ one-time arrival allowance in India – INR 10,000

• UK scholars’ stipend in India – INR 31,000 per month

• For their own convenience, UK scholars need to arrange their accommodation either in the host institution or off-site before departing to India. DST/DBT/ICSSR will release accommodation allowance @ 8 % or 16 % or 24 % of the stipend amount of INR 31,000, based on the class of the city, as per Government of India norms.

Funding arrangements for Indian scholars

• Indian scholars’ bench fees in the UK : Maximum GBP 5,000 for STEM and Life Sciences Subjects and GBP 3,000 for Social Sciences, where the UK host university cannot waive the bench fees (or consumables costs).

• The UK host supervisor can apply for these bench fees by stating the amount in the endorsement letter or formal email. In addition, an applicant has to enter this amount in his/her application form.

• Amount stated in the application form will be considered for funding. Indian scholars’ stipend in the UK – GBP 1300 per month to cover meals, accommodation, domestic travel, etc.