British Council, India in collaboration with Department of Science and technology (DST) and Department of Biotechnology (DBT), India are pleased to invite applications for funding to support short-term PhD placements between the UK and Indian institutions.

The programme will sponsor UK and Indian PhD scholars to spend a period of their study (2 to 4 months) in Indian and UK higher education institutions between April to December 2017. Through this opportunity, scholars will learn new research skills or techniques, develop international training pathways, access facilities or resources which may not be readily available in their home country and build relationships with potential new collaborators, including industry partners where relevant.

Priority areas:

Applications are invited in STEM and Life  Sciences subjects including the Grand Challenges areas and underpinning capabilities identified by the UK-India Task Force on Science and Innovation, which are:

• Biological and medical sciences – This includes Life sciences, Biotechnology, Botany, Zoology, Micro biology, Bio chemistry, Medicine , Pharmacy and Veterinary Sciences
• Engineering and Physical sciences – This includes Physics, Chemistry, Engineering, Physical Mathematics, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
• Environment Food and Agriculture sciences
• Public health and well being

Eligibility Criteria

In UK, the scheme is open only for UK scholars pursuing their PhD at a UK higher education institution.

In India, The scheme is open only for Indian scholars enrolled at Indian higher education institution with following criteria:

1. INSPIRE PhD Senior Research Fellows (SRFs) of Batch 2013 are eligible to apply for a STEM subject.
2. PhD Scholar who have qualified through national level test and are pursuing PhD in mid second or third year of Life sciences are eligible to apply.

Please refer to call guidelines for full details of eligibility criteria.

Key Dates

Deadline for receipt of applications:  Friday 16^th August 2016 by 17.00 hrs UK time.

Results will be announced by mid November 2016

Placements to take place between April to December 2017

To have detailed information, please follow the link: http://www.britishcouncil.in/newton-bhabha-phd-placements-programme

For any further queries feel free to contact Purti Kohli at purti.kohli@britishcouncil.org