Indian Economy News

VAIBHAV Fellowship Programme has been announced to connect the Indian STEMM diaspora with Indian Higher Educational Institutions

The Government has introduced a new fellowship scheme to connect the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEMM) diaspora of India with Indian academic and research and development institutions for collaborative research activity that will lead to sharing of information, wisdom, and best practices in the frontier areas of science and technology.

The Department of Science and Technology (DST), Ministry of Science and Technology, will implement the Vaishvik Bhartiya Vaigyanik (VAIBHAV) fellowships programme. These fellowships will be given to outstanding scientists and technologists of Indian origin (NRI/OCI/PIO) who are actively involved in research in their respective nations. The 75 chosen fellows would be given the opportunity to work in 18 different knowledge verticals, including, quantum technology, health, pharmaceuticals, electronics, food, energy, computer sciences, and material sciences, among others.

In order to connect the Indian STEMM diaspora with Indian institutions, the Government of India organised the VAIBHAV Summit, which attracted more than 25,000 participants and was launched by the Prime Minister. Over 70 different nations' representatives from the Indian STEMM diaspora took part in the discussions.

The VAIBHAV programme was developed and implemented as a way to advance the efforts. The fellowship programme envisions collaboration between scientists from the Indian Diaspora and Indian Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs), Universities, and/or Public Funded Scientific Institutions. Through a call for proposals, applications are being accepted for the initial call from June 15, 2023-July 31,2023.

In order to collaborate, the VAIBHAV Fellow would choose an Indian institution and might spend up to two months there year for a maximum of three years. A fellowship would cover the grant of US$ 4,864.49 (Rs. 4,00,000 per month), accommodation, international and domestic travel, and contingencies. The VAIBHAV fellows are expected to collaborate with their Indian counterparts and help in launching research initiatives in the host university in the cutting-edge fields of science and technology.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.