Visiting Advanced Joint Research Faculty Scheme(VAJRA)

Overview

About VAJRA

The person VAJRA exists for cannot submit a VAJRA application. The scheme brings an overseas-based scientist into an Indian publicly funded laboratory for a residency of one to three months, but the form is filed by the Indian collaborator who will host the visit, and the overseas faculty only enters the process afterwards, to accept. That single mechanic decides how an interested researcher abroad should actually start, and it is the thing the scheme's own pages state most quietly.

VAJRA is an adjunct or visiting faculty assignment, not a grant a scientist wins and takes anywhere. The Prime Minister announced it at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention in Bengaluru on 8 January 2017, the Department of Science and Technology launched it, and the Science and Engineering Research Board implements it, as DST's own scheme page records. The scheme puts an accomplished researcher working abroad, with emphasis on NRI, PIO and OCI scientists, inside an Indian host institution as a named adjunct or visiting faculty member for a defined stretch of the year.

The assignment is short and repeatable rather than long and singular. It is offered initially for one year and can be renewed every year, with the residency itself capped at three months in any year, and the scheme's eligibility and funding page says the Indian host institution may engage the visitor for a longer duration even after the assignment is complete.

One clause on the money sits on only one of the scheme's two pages. The Anusandhan National Research Foundation lists VAJRA under Awards and Fellowships on its portal, and its guideline text carries what the older pages leave out: if the assignment is for shorter durations, the amount is provided on a pro rata basis, so a residency cut short does not draw the full figure for the month.

What the scheme actually does at that size is worth stating plainly. SERB's Annual Report 2022-23 records 19 new VAJRA Facultyships sanctioned in the reporting period, against an expenditure of Rs 5.88 crore on new and ongoing assignments together. When the scheme was launched, the government told the Lok Sabha it was a pilot for an initial 3 to 4 years with a target of enrolling 50 to 75 VAJRA Faculty a year, according to the July 2017 reply carried by PIB.

Who runs it

Provider

At a glance

Key details

Calendar

Important dates

There is no closing date to miss, and that is the point of the design. Applications are received online at any time during the year. What is fixed is everything after submission: the committee meets in January and July, and results are announced in April and September. An application that lands in, say, February is therefore waiting for the July sitting and a September result, so the useful planning question is which committee a proposal can realistically reach, not when a call opens.

Who can apply

Eligibility criteria

Two people have to clear the bar at the same time, and they clear different bars. On the overseas side, the applicant has to be an active researcher working with an overseas academic, research or industrial organisation with a proven track record in research and development, and the scheme is open to scientists, faculty and R&D professionals of any nationality, with NRI, PIO and OCI researchers named as the emphasis rather than the limit.

On the Indian side, the collaborator has to be a regular faculty member or researcher, and the ANRF portal tightens that further: a regular faculty or researcher in a publicly funded academic or research institution, with significant ongoing research in the VAJRA Faculty's own area. A host has to be a publicly funded academic institution or a national laboratory. There is one published route around that: SERB's research networking page allows Indian collaborators from the top 10 private institutions in the NIRF ranking to apply if the institute contributes 50% of the cost.

Who cannot apply

Exclusions

The scheme documents publish no separate list of disqualifications, so the exclusions are the ones the eligibility text creates: a researcher based in India cannot be the VAJRA Faculty, a private institution outside the NIRF top 10 cannot put up an Indian collaborator at all, and an Indian collaborator without a regular position cannot lead the application.

Continuation

Renewal conditions

Renewal is earned on paper at the end of every assignment. The overseas faculty guidelines require an Appraisal Report at the end of the assignment setting out the outcome of the research and its significance in the international context, sent to SERB with the recommendation of the Head of the host institution for continuation or the next tenure. A committee constituted for the purpose then evaluates that report together with the head's recommendation, per the renewal page. The ANRF text frames the same test as an assignment extendable to subsequent years based on the collaborative outcome and interest, which puts the burden on the collaboration having produced something rather than on the visitor's standing.

What you get

Award & benefits

The headline figure is published in US dollars and paid in Indian Rupees. The eligibility and funding page states that outright, and it matters because the visiting faculty carries whatever the exchange rate does between sanction and disbursal. The dollar amount also has to stretch further than an honorarium usually does: DST's page says it covers travel and honorarium together, with no separate support for accommodation or medical and personal insurance, though the host institute may add support of its own, which the ANRF page describes as highly subsidised on-campus or nearby off-campus accommodation.

The rest of the money does not go to the visiting faculty at all. It goes to the Indian side of the collaboration.

• The residency period of VAJRA Faculty in India would be for a minimum of 1 month and a maximum of 3 months.
• VAJRA Faculty will be provided US$ 15000 in the first month of engagement and US$ 10000 p.m. in the subsequent two months. While no separate support is provided for travel, accommodation, medical/personal insurance, etc. the host institute may consider providing additional support.
• Return visit of Indian faculty to the Institute of VAJRA Faculty: One research visit by the Indian host to the Institute of the VAJRA Faculty for a period not less than a week and not exceeding 30 days will be supported. The board will provide return economy airfare, not exceeding ₹1.5 lakhs per diem, and accommodation as per the norms of the Board. 1. Student mobility (Doctoral & Postdoctoral Level: Across labs): Collaborative research visit of not more than 2 students, doctoral, preferably co-advised / post-doctoral level after 2 years of engagement from the research group of Indian host to the Institute of the VAJRA Faculty for a duration of three to six months will be supported. The board will provide a return economy airfare, a one-time contingency grant of ₹60,000/- and fellowship equivalent to the norms of the Board. 1. Research Contingency Grant to the hosting Indian Collaborator: ₹5.0 lakhs per year of research visit per VAJRA Faculty to the Indian host to meet expenses related to the collaborative research will also be provided. 1. Support to engage VAJRA Faculty to give lectures in his/her area of expertise in the host Institute: Support to VAJRA Faculty to the tune of ₹1.0 lakh per year for this activity will be provided.

What to prepare

Documents required

The paperwork is split between three signatories, and the parts that trip applicants up are the limits rather than the list. The CV of the VAJRA Faculty has to carry academic qualifications, research experience, awards and honours and a maximum of ten relevant publications, in a file no larger than 10 MB. The technical details of the proposed work go on SERB's own template, which asks for a research plan of 1 to 3 years even though the faculty will physically be in India for 1 to 3 months, and asks separately for the plan of work while the VAJRA Faculty is present and the plan for continuing it when they are not.

The certificate from the lead Indian collaborator is an undertaking, not a formality: it commits the collaborators to a biosafety certificate if genetically engineered organisms are involved, to ethical clearance where the work involves field trials or human and animal material, and to abide by the terms and conditions of the SERB grant. The endorsement letter from the Indian institution is heavier still, since the institution certifies that the necessary equipment, infrastructure and manpower are available, that it assumes the financial and management responsibility for the work, and that no administrative or other liability attaches to SERB once the work ends. The ANRF portal lists the last document as a consent letter from the institution of the VAJRA Faculty, which is the overseas employer's written release for the visit.

Step by step

How to apply

Start with the collaboration, not the form. An interested overseas researcher approaches Indian institutions to explore a VAJRA position, or an Indian institution scouts abroad, and the two then jointly frame a research plan, as the application page sets it out. The lead Indian collaborator registers on the portal, ensures any other Indian collaborators are registered with their profile details complete, chooses VAJRA under Form Submission, and uploads the four documents as PDFs. The application has to be endorsed by the Head of the Indian institution before it goes in.

One thing needs untangling before any of that. The scheme's own timeline page names serbonline.in as the address applications are received at, and the ANRF page repeats that name in its instructions, yet the registration link and every VAJRA document template on that same ANRF page resolves on anrfonline.in. A collaborator who cannot find the VAJRA form at the address the text gives should look for it at the address the links go to.

What Happens to a Submitted Application

Submission by the Indian collaborator does not complete the application. The ANRF page states that once it is submitted online, a link to view the submitted application is sent to the overseas faculty, and only on that acceptance is the application completed for further consideration. So the first status an applicant should check is not a portal dashboard but the overseas faculty's inbox, and a proposal that appears stuck is often one waiting on that acceptance. After it, the wait is calendar-driven rather than notification-driven, since the committee sits twice a year and the results follow in fixed months. A portal fault is the one thing worth escalating in the meantime, and the ANRF VAJRA page gives the helpdesk as support at anrfonline dot in on 011-26552179, 26552197.

How winners are picked

Selection process

A Selection Committee of eminent scientists evaluates the applications, meets twice a year in January and July, and makes recommendations, after which SERB announces the results. The committee's membership is not public: the scheme's selection committee page says the composition is given below and then publishes nothing under that line. What the scheme does publish about the outcome sits on the timeline page: the details of the selected faculty are shared with the Ministry of External Affairs for appropriate references at the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas scheduled each January.

Fine print

Terms & conditions

Immigration is handled as part of the assignment rather than left to the visitor. The visa guidelines record that the power to issue the visa is delegated to Indian Missions and Posts abroad for faculty invited under VAJRA, that the Ministry of Home Affairs has advised no registration with the FRRO or FRO is needed where the stay is up to 3 months at a time, and that registration under the Employment Visa regime may apply if the engagement exceeds 180 days. The host institution is required to facilitate that visa clearance with permission to work in India for the specified duration.

The host carries more than paperwork. Under the host institution guidelines it has to provide laboratory space, adequate research infrastructure and manpower, equipment, supplies and consumables and administrative facilities throughout the duration, appoint the visitor as adjunct or visiting faculty, involve them in co-guiding and mentoring students, and submit the financial statements and progress report to SERB. The visiting faculty has to hold their own medical and personal insurance cover for the period of the visit, and the primary role stays research, with teaching allowed by mutual agreement so long as it does not distract from that.

On intellectual property and publication credit, the scheme's published documents are silent. VAJRA carries no IP or acknowledgement clause of its own, and the only binding commitment on that ground is the collaborator's undertaking to abide by the terms and conditions of the SERB grant, so the ownership of results and the wording of acknowledgements are settled by the grant terms and the host institution's own rules rather than by anything the scheme states.

Get help

Contact

VAJRA is run by a named pair rather than a general helpdesk. The research networking page lists Dr. Praveen kumar S, Scientist F, as Programme Coordinator for the scheme, and Dr. V. Ramesh, Scientist E, as its Program Officer. The office that runs it now sits with the Anusandhan National Research Foundation at the 4th Floor, AI Block, Technology Bhawan Complex, New Mehrauli Road, New Delhi-110016, the address published on the portal's VAJRA page. The scheme's own printed brochure still gives SERB's older Vasant Square Mall address in Vasant Kunj, which is not the office that runs VAJRA now.

Source

Official links

Frequently asked questions

From the official scheme FAQ (myScheme)

Read this

Disclaimer

Disclaimer

Scheme details are compiled from myScheme, the Government of India’s official scheme-discovery platform, and are reproduced without alteration. Amounts, deadlines and eligibility change between cycles, so always confirm on the official links above before applying. Expertie does not process applications or charge fees.

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References

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