DST to award VAIBHAV fellowship to 22 Indian-origin scholars to collaborate with Indian institutes

NEW DELHI: The Department of Science and Technology (DST) has announced the first-batch of recipients of Vaishvik Bharatiya Vaigyanik (VAIBHAV) fellowships. The ministry received a total of 302 proposals from Indian-origin scholars based abroad, of which 22 proposals have been selected.

The fellowships which was launched in 2020 aims to connect the Indian diaspora with the Indian institutes such as Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Indian Institute of Science (IISc) to begin a research project along with the host university in the areas of science and technology.

The ‘VAIBHAV’ fellows will receive a grant of Rs 4 lakh per month, international and domestic travel, accommodation and contingencies. Scholars mostly from California Institute of Technology (Caltech), University of Southern California, University of Geneva, University of Oslo, University of Michigan, National University of Singapore were among the 22 fellows shortlisted.

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The scientists will identify an Indian institution for collaboration and will spend up to two months in a year for a maximum of 3 years. IIT Madras, IIT Bombay, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Kanpur, IIT Roorkee, IISc Bengaluru, NIT Calicut, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) Mumbai, IISER Pune, SRM Institute of Science and Technology Tamil Nadu, are institutes that are taking part.

The ministry also issued the complete list of Indian host and institute details selected by the Indian-origin scholars. 5 proposals on health, medical sciences and biomedical devices have been selected.