DST Inspire Fellowship 2018 - Registration Started

INSPIRE Fellowship 2018: Innovation in Scientific Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) is an initiative of Government of India that offers an opportunity for pursuing Doctoral Research at any recognized University or Institute in India through Fellowships at the level same as National Eligibility Test (NET) qualified candidates. Inspire fellowship is offered by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) Government of India.

DST Inspire Fellowship program is given to University 1st Ranker in a particular subject at PG level examination in Basic and Applied Science courses as well as to the Inspire Scholars who have secured aggregate marks of 65% and above at the 2-year M.Sc or 5-year Integrated M.Sc/M.S. Courses like Basic and Applied sciences as well as Medicine and Agriculture are applicable for Inspire Fellowship. Get complete information on INSPIRE Fellowship 2018 from this page.

Latest Update:  The registration has started from 10 September and the last date to apply for the INSPIRE Fellowship is 10 October 2018.

Inspire Fellowship 2018 Dates

Inspire Fellowship 2018 Eligibility

Following Students are eligible for Inspire Fellowship:

• An Inspire Scholar who has secured minimum 70% marks (or CGPA equivalent) in aggregate at M.Sc. or Integrated M.S./ M. SC Course.
• First Rank holders in Post Graduate Degrees in Basic Applied Sciences at any recognized Indian University
• First Rank Holders at Graduate level examination in Engineering Sciences and Professional Courses from Institute/ Statutory Body in India, which is eligible for admission to the PhD Program in any recognized University/ academic Institutions in the country.

 Not eligible for the Inspire Fellowship 2018

• Students who are 1st Rank Holder in College including Autonomous College Exam
• Obtained degree through Distance Education Mode
• 1st Rank Holder in any specialization at M.Sc 2nd Year 
• DST Inspire Fellowship is not available at MSc or MPhil or MTech level during pursuing in any such Integrated MSc-PhD/ MPhil-PhD/ MTech-PhD courses.
• The students who are already enjoying Senior Research Fellowship (SRF) or higher position in any project.

Inspire Fellowship Eligible Courses

• Basic & Applied Sciences
• Graduate Degree in Engineering Sciences/ Medical Sciences/ Pharmaceutical Sciences/ Agricultural Sciences/ Veterinary Sciences

INSPIRE Fellows are offered financial support in the form of a fellowship as per of GOI norms a Fellowship equivalent to NET/ GATE fellowship (Junior Research Fellowship / Senior Research Fellowship) and research grant to the candidate.

• Fellowship Number: Every year 1000 INSPIRE Fellowship grants are offered to eligible candidates. Processing of received applications would be done on first cum first serve basis up to the provision of 1000 INSPIRE Fellowships every year.
• Duration: Fellowship is tenable for a maximum period of 5 years, subject to the completion of fellows’ PhD degree whichever is earlier (i.e. up to the date of final defend of the PhD Thesis), whichever is earlier.
• Other Benefits to Fellows: Medical benefits, HRA, contingency grant and other allowances shall be given to INSPIRE Fellows.
• Continuation of the Fellowship for once selected candidates is based on satisfactory performance certified by the institution.

Type of Fellowship Awarded

• Fellows with 3+2 duration of graduation and post-graduation degrees will be eligible for Junior Research Fellowship in basic science (JRF) and with a 4+2 duration will be eligible for Junior Research Fellowship in Professional Science (JRF-P).

DST Inspire Fellowship Amount

To consider of releasing the fellowship to an ongoing Fellow, the amount of unspent balance on account of Fellowship including HRA shall be less than Rs. 40,000. The Inspire Fellowship Amount includes the monthly stipend as well as Travel cost, Visa Fee and Overseas Travel Insurance as per GOI norms. The payment of the fellowship amount is not paid monthly and is done in instalments. The Inspire Fellowship Amount is deposited directly into the account of the fellow.

Inspire Fellowship Amount - Download PDF

The application process of Inspire Fellowship 2018 will be done through the online mode. Candidates can visit the official website to fill Inspire Fellowship application form or can click on the following link.

Click here to Apply

Documents to be uploaded with the Inspire fellowship form

• Passport size photograph (JPEG ) 50 KB
• Class 10 certificate PDF 1 MB
• Mark sheets for provided educational qualifications (12th Std., UG & PG Program), PDF in a size of maximum  1 MB
• First Rank Certificate for applicants who are not INSPIRE Scholars  PDF 1 MB
• Appointment letter ( if employed) PDF 1 MB
• If already enrolled in PhD Admission Letter PDF 1 MB
• Fee Receipt, PDF 1 MB
• Endorsement Letter  PDF 1 MB

Submission of the Inspire Fellowship Application Form

Completing the online application form is sufficient and there is no need to send any printout of the application form to complete the application process.

Inspire Fellowship Selection Criteria

Selection for Inspire Fellowship shall be purely on the basis of academic merit of the candidate, choice of the Supervisor, Host Institutions and the Research Proposal. Applications would be screened by two levels of screening committees.

Guidelines for Selection Criteria

• Host Institute should be registered under CPSMS for receiving the Fellowship amount
• it is mandatory to produce the Rank certificate in INSPIRE Fellowship Format

Download Inspire Fellowship 2017 Notification

DST inspire Fellowship for PhD Selection Process

The selection among the eligible applicants will be done in two stages i.e. Level-1 and Level-2.

1. The applicants who are already admitted into the PhD Program in S&T prior to submitting the application and selected at both Level-1 and Level -2, will be awarded the Final Offer of the INSPIRE Fellowship 2018.
2. The applicants who have not admitted into the PhD Program in S&T prior to submitting the application and selected only in Level-1 will be awarded the Provisional Offer of INSPIRE Fellowship 2018. The Provisional Offer will be made on the basis of scrutiny of application along with the required documents (Level-1) submitted by the applicant.

DST Inspire Fellowship Final Offer

Inspire Fellowship Final Offer is made on the basis of evaluation of the application in Level-2 on:

1. Academic merit
2. Host Institution including Research Supervisor
3. The detailed Research Proposal by the Expert Panel

In this Evaluation Process, the applicants will have to secure a minimum qualifying score/cutoff as recommended by the Expert Panel and approved by the competent authority. For example, the minimum cut-off marks were 60 out of 100 to finally offer INSPIRE Fellowship in previous cases. The cut-off marks may vary on the competitive framework of the selection process. It is also important to note that the Provisional offer does not guarantee the award of INSPIRE Fellowship 2018.

INSPIRE Program Division
Department of Science and Technology,
Technology Bhavan,
New Mehrauli Road,
New Delhi – 110 016. 

Contact details for Inspire Fellowship
Phone:  +91-9643339670