FAQs

The sponsoring host institute is expected to provide the following:

• agree to administer the award for the full tenure of the Fellowship

• assure that its space and resources will be available to the applicant

• ensure that if awarded, the Fellow would be provided status and benefits similar to others employed in equivalent/similar position at the institution.

Typical requirements for an institution to be eligible to receive funds from the India Alliance are it should be a non-profit organization, willing to agree to India Alliance’s grant conditions and its mission is broadly in line with that of the India Alliance. Please contact info@wellcomedbt.org if you require specific information regarding your organization.

A nonprofit organization does not distribute its surplus funds to owners or shareholders, but instead uses them to help pursue its goals. It includes charitable organizations. Most government-funded institutions, government agencies and deemed Universities in India meet this definition.
Please note that we do not provide support to other charities where the sole intention is for that charity to redistribute the funds.

Preliminary applications forms are available online. They will be available only after the scheme is launched. Forms are located here for the Senior, Intermediate and Early schemes.

No, hard copies are not required by the Office. Preliminary application and the letters can be submitted online to the info@wellcomedbt.org

Yes, any individual wishing to submit a letter to the India Alliance under cover may do so by sending the letter via email to info@wellcomedbt.org. Please ensure that the letter is clearly marked in the applicant’s name. It would also be helpful if it is mentioned in the relevant section of the application that the letter of recommendation will be sent under separate cover. We will upload the letter in to the application once it is submitted.

Full application can be submitted using the Alliance’s e-grants online submission system. https://secure.wellcome.ac.uk/ealliance/Authentication/login.asp Applicants should refer to the general guidance for application (in the help section). Note: Full applications can be submitted by invitation only.

 

No, only applications that use the e-grants online application form will be accepted. For more information on e-grants, please visit http://www.wellcomedbt.org/Funding/Information-for-applicants/Process/eGrantFAQ.htm

Sponsoring host institutions do not have to be registered on eGrants in order for applicants to submit a preliminary application. However, if you are invited to submit a full application and your sponsoring host institution is not registered on eGrants, please contact the India Alliance office at info@wellcomedbt.org for initiating the registration process.

The Office recognizes that finding an appropriate sponsor is a difficult process and it is not mandatory at the preliminary application stage to have a sponsor. However, we encourage applicants to pay due attention to their career and organize a sponsor at the time of application; a sponsor is mandatory if you are invited to submit a full application. Additionally, please be aware that referees are asked to evaluate your application in the context of your research environment so it is important for you to choose an appropriate host institution. In a technical sense though, the India Alliance does not prevent applicants from switching sponsors at any point during their application process although it is absolutely essential that the Office be kept abreast of these developments.

The India Alliance will not accept a late submission unless there are clearly exceptional mitigating circumstances that prevented the applicant from submitting a completed form by the due date. Please note that for the Full application, a concerted effort is required by the applicant, host institution and the sponsor. It is expected that the applicant work with their partners to ensure that all material is submitted to the India Alliance on time since all deadlines are announced significantly in advance.

Applicants are advised to apply for an Early Career Fellowship when they are in the last year of their PhD. It is not necessary to have finished your PhD viva or received you PhD degree at the time of application. However, it is essential that you determine that you will indeed finish within a year’s time from the time of application. If you are recommended for an award, the grant will not start till the Office has received confirmation from your thesis supervisor that you have successfully defended your PhD viva or an equivalent exam.

These fellowships are open to all nationals. However, in keeping with our mandate, it is essential that a major part of the research should be conducted at the sponsoring host institution in India.

The India Alliance considers the date of your successful PhD viva (final defense) to be the point at which your PhD studies are complete. Any research activity undertaken after this date is assumed to contribute to time calculated towards your eligibility for the respective Fellowship scheme.

Yes, the India Alliance takes into consideration any interruptions in your research career due to unavoidable personal circumstances or your involvement in non-research activities e.g., maternity leave. Further clarifications can be sought by writing to info@wellcomedbt.org .

Any research activity regardless of the type of organization where it was carried out would be counted towards years spent on research post-PhD. Research conducted in academia and in industry are considered at similar levels.

A sponsoring host institute in India is a prerequisite for all India Alliance Fellowships, regardless of whether you are employed there or not. Status of the applicant’s employment at the respective institute does not affect their assessment by the office although it is encouraged that applicants find an appropriate sponsor at the time of their application.

As long as you satisfy the eligibility criteria for a particular scheme, your status of employment at the sponsoring host institute does not preclude you from applying to the India Alliance.

The Senior and Intermediate Fellowships provide funding for 5 years, while the Early Career Fellowships are provided with 4 years funding. This duration is rigid for all the schemes. Applicants are not permitted to ask support for a duration different from the one fixed by the India Alliance.

The India Alliance provides personal support of the Fellow and directly incurred research costs associated with the Fellowship project; these may include staff salaries, equipment, materials and consumables, animals etc. There is no provision of funding equipment and staff salaries under the Early Career Fellowship scheme. For detailed information on our costs policy, click here.

Applicants may request up to 2 posts if applying for the Intermediate Fellowship, while the applicants applying for the Senior Fellowships can ask up to 4 posts. However, The Early Career Fellowships do not provide any support for the support staff.

Intermediate Fellowship applicants are not normally permitted to hire a postdoctoral fellow on their grant. However, if this requirement is fully scientifically justified the Selection Committee will consider the request.

No, as mentioned in the costs section the India Alliance will provide the host institution with 10 percent of the total award as our contribution towards the indirect costs incurred in administering the grant. Therefore any such request would not be taken into consideration.

Flexible Funding Allowance (FFA) are contingency funds provided to grant holders to compensate in the variation in charges of (equipment, consumables etc.) due to annual inflation. FFA is fixed for each of the Fellowship schemes. This can also be used to meet any unforeseen expenses during the tenure of the grant. Read more about FFA here.

The Alliance has a stringent resubmission policy. Following the consideration of full application resubmissions within the same scheme are permitted only on the recommendation of the Selection Committee. Although, unsuccessful applicants in one scheme can apply at a later time for the next funding level available from the India Alliance.

Yes, the India Alliance requires ethical approval from the necessary authorities if your study will use human patient samples or your research is human patient-oriented.
The India Alliance does not require ethical approvals at the time of submission of full application. However, to ensure that all ethical approvals have been obtained, activation of the award is subject to the condition of submitting the approvals to the India Alliance.

Any research that involves the use of human cell lines available from a cell line repository is not considered human subject research. As long as information on a cell is publicly available the India Alliance does not require ethical clearance for its usage.

All India Alliance funded research work accepted in peer reviewed journals would have to open access i.e., the complete article should be available free of cost.

Open access charges for enabling a publication permanently accessible to everyone are paid by the author to the journal (Publisher). The Alliance would provide open access charges to the grant holders, where these costs fall within the period of the grant.

If you are successful in obtaining an India Alliance Fellowship for a similar application submitted to another agency we would expect that you would withdraw the application from the other funding agency.

Being a non-profit charitable organization, the India Alliance will not fund application where a for-profit collaborator is one of the partners of the research.

No, as the India Alliance provides substantial funds to pursue your research goals as well as your personal support, we do not permit Fellows to hold our Fellowship along with another simultaneously. If you have an ongoing Fellowship at the time of application, if awarded we would expect you to choose between retaining your current Fellowship and accepting our Fellowship. Furthermore, Fellows are not permitted to apply for other Fellowships during the tenure of their grant. Please note that only overlapping Fellowships are not permitted; Fellows (except Early Career) are welcome to hold other project and programme grants.

For Early Career Fellows we expect that 100% of your research time is spent on your Fellowship. For Intermediate and Senior Fellows we expect that 80% or greater part of your research time is spent on your Fellowship. Teaching and other administrative duties are expected not to exceed more than 8 hours a week.

India Alliance Fellowships are intended to support the researchers at key stages of their career after their doctoral studies (newly qualified postdoctoral researchers, postdoctoral scientists and senior scientists). Therefore, we don’t have any provision to provide fellowships for supporting any kind of doctoral studies. However, graduate students can aim for the Early Career Fellowship as a launching pad of their scientific career immediately after finishing their PhD.

We do not provide supplementary funds for any work supported by other funding agencies.

Our mission is to advance biomedical research related to human and veterinary medicine through support of basic, clinical and population based research. Any scientific investigation required to understand the underlying life processes which affect human and animal well-being can be funded by the Alliance

The India Alliance does not currently provide funds specifically to attend meetings. However, you may wish to consider travel assistance provided by other national funding agencies such as DST, CSIR , INSA , Indo-US Science and Technology Forum and DBT