Submission of Proposals

GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS

1. General: Detailed procedure for submission of proposals and their processing is given in the succeeding paragraphs.

2. Eligibility: The Fellowship Programme at the USI is open to all serving and retired service officers, members of the Institution, officers from ministries and departments of the Government of India, other institutions, and members of the academic community. Senior Fellowships are usually awarded to officers of the rank of Colonel or equivalent and above and Research Fellowship to officers of the rank of Lt Colonel or equivalent and below. Minimum desirable qualification for a Senior Fellowship is MSc/M Phil, with some research experience and published work. Officers planning to undertake research in technical fields must have requisite technical background. Similarly, minimum qualification for Research Fellowship is MA/MSc or demonstrated expertise in the chosen subject, backed by good analytical skills.

3. Submission of Proposals: The procedure for award of 'Fellowships' is as under: -

(a)	A synopsis of the research proposal in quadruplicate is to be submitted to the Director USI by 01 April every year either directly or through the respective Service Headquarters, for the consideration of the BOM. The proposal should contain the focus and scope of the project, a framework in the form of tentative chapterisation, a tentative bibliography, details of fieldwork, if any, together with the methodology of research. It should also indicate the precise contribution the project is expected to make to the existing body of knowledge and its relevance in terms of both military and national security policy. "Guidelines for the Formulation of Research Proposal", enclosed at Annexure, will assist the scholars in proper formulation of proposal. A copy of the researcher's bio-data should accompany the proposal.
(b)	USI-CS3 also reserves the right to seek proposals for specific projects that it wants to promote or undertake as a sponsored activity. Details of these projects will be indicated well in advance and proposals will follow the same procedure as outlined.
(c)	Serving officers will route their proposals through their respective Headquarters. Retired officers and members can send them directly to the Director, USI. Similar procedure will apply for scholars and officers from other ministries and institutions. In case of proposals routed through the Service Headquarters, an advance copy of the proposal may be endorsed to the Director, USI.

4. Processing and Decision on Award of Fellowship. The following procedure will be adopted: -

(a)	The Service HQ will be requested to comment on proposals and forward a panel of names together with their recommendations for consideration by the BOM, by 01 April every year.
(b)	Applications will be screened by the BOM, who will examine and short-list these proposals. Short-listed scholars will be called for interview where they will be required to make presentation of their synopsis. BOM may suggest modifications to original proposals if necessary.
(c)	After detailed consideration of all the proposals, BOM will decide which of the proposals are to be accepted for the Fellowship programme.
(d)	In case of research subjects sponsored by the USI-CS3, the Service HQ will be asked to sponsor names of officers with requisite experience and background to undertake studies in those areas. Selection and nomination procedure will remain the same as outlined above.

5. Period of Research. All research fellowships will be for an initial period of two years. Additional period may be authorised by the BOM in accordance with research requirements, nature of the project, exceptional circumstances. All such requirements will be considered on case-to-case basis. The date of commencement of research fellowships including the Chairs will usually be 01 Jul.

6. Conduct of Fellowship Programme. Each Fellow will be required to give three seminars and make a final presentation where he/she will present his/her research findings. These seminars will be once in six months. Scholars will be encouraged to publish their seminar papers after duly incorporating the suggestions and issues raised during the seminars and the remarks of the discussants. On completion of the research project, a monograph/report is to be submitted within three months of the completion. In addition to their own research, scholars will be encouraged to take part in other activities of the USI-CS3 including collaborative research with other scholars. Scholars will also be encouraged to undertake field trips to enrich their effort rather than depending primarily upon secondary sources. Funds for these trips will be provided from the earnings from contractual studies including some portion of the corpus fund of the Chairs. Exact amounts and methodology will be formalised in due course, once the activities of the Centre take off. Each research project will be validated through simulation exercises that could take the form of scenario building exercises, politico-military gaming or focused seminars.

7. Fellowship Grants

(a)	Service Officers: In the case of Service officers on study leave or on duty, a one-time contingency grant will be provided on completion of their Fellowship programme. However, during the Fellowship, all research-oriented expenses will be borne by the Centre (USI). BOM will decide the amount of grant taking cognisance of the financial position of the USI.
(b)	Other Scholars. Scholars on duty from their parent organisations will be governed by rules similar to those of service officers. Retired officers, members of the USI and other scholars will in addition to contingency grant be given an honorarium, details of which will be promulgated from time to time based on the financial position of the USI.
(c)	Chairs under Research Centre. Scholarship and Contingency grants in their case are already covered under the ‘Rules for Award of Fellowship Grants and Conduct of Research’(Appendix C).

8. Publication of the Projects and Copyright. The BOM may arrange publication of the final report or send copies of the final monograph to the Service HQ or Ministries of Defence, External Affairs, NSCS, etc. Reports found suitable for publication will be published within one year of acceptance of the report and the decision to do so will be communicated to the concerned research scholars within six months of submission. The copyright of all the publications based on research projects will vest with the USI.