Margdarshi Fellowships 2016

The 5 year Fellowship provides

• Generous personal support for the Fellow
• Salary support for personnel, which may include Assistant Professors
• Large quantum of funds for equipment, animals and consumables
• Funds to attend scientific gatherings, for collaborative visits and to organize meetings
• Overheads for the Host Institution

Vision of the Margdarshi Fellowship Programme

The Margdarshi Programme requires a “synergistic effort” between the Host Institution and a scientist with an exemplary track record in biomedical research.

The Host Institution and the Applicant are encouraged to make a joint effort towards establishing a ‘Center of Excellence’. It is envisaged that this synergy will be effective in opening new opportunities for realising their common vision.

By using the expertise of a visionary scientist, this scheme should be used to build institutional capacity and to establish inter-institutional links towards creating a new research programme.

This will provide institutions an opportunity to identify a highly accomplished scientist from within or from any other institution in India or overseas to set up a research programme of their interest.

Similarly, interested candidates are encouraged to approach their own institutions or any other institution in India to nucleate a new programme of research using their unique expertise. It is expected that the proposed programme will add value to existing research at the Host Institution in accordance with mutually agreed interests.

Institutions are therefore expected to demonstrate a strong commitment by proposing robust mechanisms that they will put in place for successful execution of the programme.

Applicants, especially those from outside India, are expected to demonstrate strong integration within the Host Institution. This could, for example, be through an existing engagement, or any other mechanism that demonstrates commitment.

It is expected that this mechanism will:

1. induce scientific leaders to set up partnerships with the Indian biomedical research community.

2. provide mentorship and training to students, postdoctoral fellows and junior scientists in cutting-edge biomedical research.

3. seed new areas of research within the Indian biomedical research ecosystem.

The overall goal of the Programme is to utilise the expertise of highly accomplished scientists to speed the development of biomedical research in India.

Framework of the Research Programme and Guidelines

The overarching mandate of the programme is to transform the research environment and capabilities at the Host Institution by identifying new and creative research directions. The Margdarshi Fellow should be the vehicle for establishing a biomedical research programme that is sufficiently different from the ones that already exist at the host institution.

The programme must be designed to employ innovative approaches for bringing in new expertise in frontier areas, creating new infrastructure, building collaborative networks and training young scientists. It should be able to provide new impetus to the research environment and must demonstrate the potential to develop into an important center of research. Applicants must also outline their engagement plans with the wider scientific community, and an outreach beyond the scope of their proposed research.

A clear plan must be shared to justify the need for collaboration between the participating elements and the mechanisms that will be put in place to achieve the desired impact.

Two institutions may also come together towards creating a new programme not available in either of the institutions. They should make a concerted effort under the leadership of a visionary scientist, who will lead this initiative and will also be responsible for capitalising available resources towards developing a cutting edge programme.

The degree of collaboration and the contributions expected of all the components must be outlined in the proposal. It should also state how the integration of resources and expertise will enhance scientific understanding that would otherwise not be possible if the participating institutions and individuals worked independently.

It is important that adequate governance procedures must be followed. These include the distribution of funds, data management, resource sharing and ownership of the data generated out of the proposed initiative.