Office of International Relations

It is a dedicated program exclusively for overseas scientists and academicians with emphasis on Non-resident Indians (NRI) and Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) / Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) to work as adjunct/visiting faculty for a specific period of time in Indian public funded academic and research institutions. The Scheme recognizes the value of collaborative research as a crucial element for information sharing among researchers for updating and acquiring knowledge and skills, and also to draw different perspectives to solve a shared problem. SERB welcomes accomplished Overseas Scientists to take up challenging research problems in the Indian setting.

Duration and Funding:The Faculty will work for a minimum of 1 month and a maximum of 3 months a year in an institution in India. It is expected that the Indian Host Institution may engage him/her for a longer duration even after the completion of the assignment. The adjunct position will be offered initially for a period of 1 year and can be renewed every year.
The VAJRA Faculty will be provided with a lump-sum amount of US $ 15000 in the first month of engagement in a year and US $ 10000 pm in the other two months to cover their travel and honorarium. While no separate support is provided for e.g. accommodation, medical/personal insurance etc. the host institute may consider providing additional support. The payment to the faculty will be made in Indian Rupees.

Visa Type: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has advised that if the period of stay is up to 3 months at a time, no registration is required with the FRROs/FROs. However, if the faculty is engaged for a duration exceeding 180 days, then registration may be as per the requirement of the Employment Visa regime.
The foreign academicians/experts/faculty visiting India under VAJRA should apply for Research VISA. Please find the following link for more information about the VAJRA program: https://www.vajra-india.in/

Please find the following link for more information about the GIAN program https://gian.iitkgp.ac.in/. The coordinator of the GIAN program.: IIT Kharagpur

Contact: Dr. Praveenkumar S., Programme Coordinator

It aims at improving the research ecosystem of India’s Higher Educational Institutions by facilitating academic and research collaborations between Indian Institutions and the best institutions in the world from 28 selected nations to jointly solve problems of national and/or international relevance. The scheme proposes to enable productive academic cooperation by supporting the following critical components that can catalyze impact making research, namely

• Visits and long-term stay of top international faculty/researchers in Indian institutions to pursue teaching and research
• Visits by Indian students for training and experimentation in premier laboratories worldwide
• Joint development of niche courses, world-class books and monographs, translatable patents, demonstrable technologies or action research outcomes and products
• Consolidation of Bilateral co-operation through academic and research partnerships through Indo-X Workshops in India
• Publication, Dissemination and Visibility through a high profile annual International Conference in India

The expected outcomes include tangible results in terms of a large number of high-quality research publications, the solution to key national and international problems, development of niche courses, high-quality textbooks and research monographs, imbibing of best practices from top international academicians and researchers, strong bilateral co-operation, and improved world reputation and ranking of Indian Institutions. Please find the following link for more information about the SPARC program:  https://sparc.iitkgp.ac.in/index.php

Duration and Funding: The proposal will be for a period of two years.  The budget can be in any one of the three baskets

• Up to ₹ 50 lakhs
• From ₹ 50 lakhs up to ₹ 75 lakhs
• From ₹ 75 lakhs up to ₹ 100 lakhs

Proposals which have longer time visits of foreign faculty will be given priority for larger sized baskets.

Funding details

• For a visit of foreign faculty ranging from 1 to 4-month, payment will be made up to US$ 15,000/- for the first month and US$ 10,000/- thereafter including honorarium, travel, stay, etc. Usually, the honorarium of foreign faculty is approx $333 per day.
• For the visit of a foreign post-doctoral/doctoral scholar, the host Institute will provide suitable free accommodation and an out-of-pocket allowance of ₹ 12,000 per month subject to an upper limit of ₹ 2 lakhs over the duration of the project. The student has to stay for a minimum period of 3 months and register as a visiting foreign student. Tuition fees will be waived by the Indian Institution. Usually, the out-of-pocket allowance for a foreign student is Rs 400 per day.
• For the visit of an Indian student to the Foreign Institution, payment will be made up to US$ 2000 for travel and $1000 per month for out-of-pocket allowances. Usually, the out-of-pocket allowance for an Indian student is approx. $33 per day.