SERB - POWER Research Grants

The “SERB - POWER Research Grants” is a program category under the SERB-POWER (Promoting Opportunities For Women in Exploratory Research) Program, launched by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India. SERB - POWER (Promoting Opportunities For Women in Exploratory Research) program is formulated to mitigate gender disparity in science and engineering research funding in various S&T programs in Indian academic institutions and R&D Laboratories. SERB-POWER is specially designed to provide structured effort toward enhanced diversity in research to ensure equal access and weighted opportunities for Indian women scientists engaged in research and development activities.
The aim of the ‘SERB - POWER Research Grants’ is to encourage emerging and eminent women researchers for an individual-centric and competitive mode of research funding to undertake R&D activities in frontier areas of science and engineering.

Nature and Duration of Support :
POWER Grants will empower women researchers by funding them under the following two categories:

• Level I: The scale of funding up to ₹60 lakhs for three years. - Level II: The scale of funding up to ₹30 lakhs for three years. - The POWER Grant is provided for equipment, manpower, consumables, travel, and contingency. "Overheads" is also being provided to the implementing institution as per prevailing norms of SERB.

Note: POWER Grant will be regulated through terms of reference conforming to SERB-CRG guidelines.

1. Applicants [Principal Investigator (PI) and Co-Principal Investigator(s) (Co-PI(s))] should be Indian citizens.
2. The Applicant(s) must hold a regular academic/research position in a recognized academic institution or national laboratory or in any other recognized R&D institution in India.
3. Applicants from IITs, IISERs, IISc, NITs, Central Universities, and National Labs of Central Government Institutions will be considered under the Level I category, whereas applicants from State Universities/Colleges and Private Academic Institutions should apply under the Level II category.
4. Faculties recruited through the UGC-Faculty Recharge Program are eligible to apply. INSPIRE Faculty, Ramanujan, and Ramalingaswamy Fellows are also eligible to apply provided they have at least three and half years of tenure remaining at the time of submission of application.
5. There is a mandatory requirement for female CO-PI from the same institute.
6. Male CO-PI is not allowed in the POWER Grant Research Scheme.
7. PhD guide cannot be CO-PI.
8. PIs who have already got a POWER Grant, are not allowed to apply again in POWER Grant Scheme.
9. JC Bose fellows and the PIs who have already completed two CRG are not allowed to apply for the POWER Grant Research Scheme.
10. The number of CO-PIs should not exceed two per project.

Note 01: Women Scientists cannot hold POWER Fellowship and POWER Grant at the same time.
Note 02: POWER Grant will be regulated through terms of reference confirming SERB-CRG guidelines.
Note 03: SERB POWER grant will be regulated through terms of reference conforming to SERB CRG guidelines except sharing of 50 % non-recurring cost by National Laboratories and Research Institutions.
Note 04: The budget under the equipment head is limited to not more than ₹14 lakhs for Tier II institutions (₹30 lakhs limit).

Online

For successful online submission of the application, the following points may be noted:
Step 01: Applicant(s) should first register on the online website. Click Here to Register.
Step 02: After login, applicant(s) are required to fill all the mandatory fields in the Profile Detail section under User Profile. which includes Bio-data, Photos, Institute Address, etc.
Step 03: If you have CO-PI in your proposal then ensure that all the CO-PI's are also registered into the system following the same procedure.
Step 04: Some of the details of your proposal like Project Title (max 500 characters), Project summary (max 3000 characters), Keywords (max 6), Objectives of the project (max 1500 characters), Expected output, and outcome of the proposal (max 1500 characters), Budget (Research Personnel, Consumables, Travel, Equipment, Contingency, Overheads ) have to be entered at the time of proposal submission.
Step 05: Other relevant information of the proposal has to be uploaded in a single PDF file not more than 10 MB as other technical documents (OTD).
Note: The selection will be based on the recommendations of the Program Advisory Committee (PAC) constituted by the Board. If required, the applicants may be called for discussion/presentation.