Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, has invited applications for Faculty Fellowship, a component under Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research scheme (INSPIRE).

Under the INSPIRE scheme, opportunities are provided to meritorious young Indian students to study basic and natural sciences at the college and university level and to pursue research careers in both basic and applied science areas including engineering, medicine, agriculture and veterinary sciences.

The INSPIRE Faculty Fellowship (IFF) is generally required to be implemented at any recognized institute/university/laboratory in the country other than the institute/university/laboratory from where the candidate has received his/her Ph.D. degree or has undertaken Ph.D./post-Ph.D. research activities. Host institutions are expected to provide congenial atmosphere to INSPIRE Faculty Fellows to enable them to excel in their work and should view them as potential assets for faculty development. It is desirable if the host institutes introduce new areas/directions of research through this scheme. Selected candidates who have not identified host institutions at the application stage should do it immediately after their final selection.

Selected fellow must submit two undertakings. (i) Duly signed undertaking by INSPIRE Faculty Fellow and (ii) Undertaking duly signed by both the competent authority from the chosen Host institution and the INSPIRE Faculty Fellow. Both these documents may be found under the under Guidelines & formats tab at https://www.online-inspire.gov.in.

Eligibility: Applicant should be an Indian citizen or a person of Indian origin with PIO status having a Ph.D. degree in science, mathematics, engineering, pharmacy, medicine, or agriculture-related subjects from any recognized university in the world. Those who have submitted their Ph.D. thesis and are awaiting the award of degree shall also be eligible. However, selection for the Fellowship will be confirmed only after the Ph.D. degree is awarded.

Applicants should possess a minimum of 60% marks/equivalent CGPA throughout their academic profile starting from the Senior Secondary Examination (Class 12 onwards).

Upper age limit as on 1st January 2025 is 32 years for the general category. For SC/ST/Women candidates, the upper age limit will be 37 years on the said date. For persons with benchmark disabilities (Divyangjan with not less than 40 percent of a specified disability), the upper age limit will be 42 years.

Applicant should have publication(s) in highly reputed journals demonstrating outstanding research potential of the candidate. Those applying for a Faculty Fellowship in the new subject area ‘Translational Research in S&T’ should have at least two patents filed or one patent granted to their credit. In case of selection under area ‘Translational Research in S&T’, it is mandatory that the host institution be chosen as one of those S&T institutions that have Central/State Govt.-supported Technology Business Incubators (TBIs), so that the deep-tech research can be mentored and carried out in conjunction with the TBI. Details can be seen at the link provided in the notification.

Those already holding a permanent academic or research position are not eligible to apply. Those who are employed in contractual positions within India may apply for improvement and enhancement of their career prospects, but, upon selection, they need to resign from the current job and organization before taking up the INSPIRE Faculty Fellowship. No lien or deputation or any type of leave would be accepted. Those who get selected for a regular position in any institute/university after submission of the IFF application would be entitled to receive the Research Grant only.

Desirable: It is desirable that applicants were within the top 1% in the Class 12 examination, rank holders of JEE Advanced and NEET, and first rank holders in either graduation or post-graduation level university examinations.

The INSPIRE Faculty Fellowship is for a maximum period of 5 years. Availing of fellowships concurrently from more than one source during the tenure of this fellowship period is not permitted.

Fellowship: INSPIRE Faculty Fellows will be eligible to receive a consolidated amount of Rs. 1,25,000/- per month as a fellowship with an annual increment of Rs. 2,000/-. In addition, a research grant of Rs.7,00,000/- will also be provided every year for 5 years.

Detailed Notification is available at https://www.online-inspire.gov.in (Announcement > Faculty link).

Application: Application can be submitted online with all essential documents https://www.online-inspire.gov.in by 23.59 hrs. IST on 14th September, 2025.

Registration has to be done at this portal before submitting online application. Guidelines for submission of applications are available on the portal.

For further enquiries email to: inspire.prog-dst@nic.in. For queries, call on 0124-6690020, 0124- 6690021.