PMRF May 2020

The Prime Minister’s Research Fellows (PMRF) Scheme has been designed for improving the quality of research in various higher educational institutions in the country. With attractive fellowships, the scheme seeks to attract the best talent into research thereby realizing the vision of development through innovation. The scheme was announced in the Budget 2018-19. The institutes which can offer PMRF include all the IITs, all the IISERs, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru and some of the top Central Universities/NITs that offer science and/or technology degrees. The candidates will be selected through a rigorous selection process and their performance will be reviewed suitably through a national convention. Starting Academic Year 2020-21, candidates can apply for PMRF through either of these two channels:

PMRF Deadline: August 2020 

Candidates can apply for PMRF through two channels:

DIRECT ENTRY CHANNEL
To apply for PMRF through this channel, the candidate must satisfy all of the following
criteria: (1) The applicant should have satisfied one of the following criteria in the preceding
three years from the date of submission of the application :
(a) completed or be pursuing the final year of four (or five) year undergraduate or five year integrated M.Tech. or 2 year M.Sc. or five year undergraduate postgraduate
dual degree programs in Science and Technology streams from
IISc/IITs/NITs/IISERSs/IIEST and centrally funded IIITs. These candidates
should have secured a CGPA/CPI of at least 8.0 (on a 10-point scale). For
applicants in the five year integrated or dual degree programs, if separate
CGPAs/CPIs are awarded for UG and PG parts of the program, the
CGPA/CPI of the UG part (first four years) will be considered.

OR

(b) completed or be pursuing the final year of four (or five) year undergraduate or
five year integrated M.Tech. or five year integrated M.Sc. or 2 year M.Sc. or
five year undergraduate-postgraduate dual degree programs in Science and
Technology streams from any other Institute/University recognized in India,
not covered in 1(a) above. These candidates should have secured a
minimum CGPA of 8 or equivalent apart from a minimum score of 650 in the
respective GATE subject.

OR

(c) qualified GATE and be pursuing or have completed M.Tech./MS by research
at one of the PMRF Granting Institutions having a minimum CGPA or CPI of
8.0 (on a 10-point scale) at the end of the first semester with a minimum of
four courses. For those candidates who are applying after the first semester,
the CGPA or CPI requirement of 8.0 will be based on all the courses, labs,
thesis that the candidate has completed.

(2) They apply for Ph.D. programme in one the PMRF granting institutes and get
selected in the programme.

(3) The PMRF granting institute, which has admitted the student in the Ph.D.
programme makes a strong recommendation, and uploads the relevant information
at the PMRF web-portal. Student can only get admission in those institutes where
he/she has got selected and wishes to seek admission (i.e., selection in one institute
and availing PMRF from another institute which does not support the student for
PMRF will not be allowed).

(4) The metrics on which the candidates will be judged will include (but not
restricted to): research exposure, publications, performance in international
competitions (like Math. Olympiad, ACM ICPC Programming Contest), grades and
recommendation letters.

(5) Within 12-18 months of admission into the PhD programme, the progress of the
candidate will be reviewed by the PMRF panel, and continuation of PMRF will be
subject to candidate’s satisfactory performance. A strong research proposal is
mandatory, and a clear assessment from the host institution in support of
continuation of PMRF status. Due weightage would be given to publication in reputed
journals/conferences.

LATERAL ENTRY CHANNEL
To apply for PMRF through this channel, the candidate must satisfy all of the following
criteria:
(1) The candidate should be pursuing Ph.D. in one of the PMRF granting
institutions. Further, he/she should have completed at most 12 months in the PhD
programme if he/she joined the programme with a Master’s degree; and should have
completed at most 24 months in the PhD programme if he/she joined the PhD
programme with a Bachelor’s degree. The relevant period of 12 months or 24
months will be counted from the date of admission in the PhD programme till the
date of application for lateral entry. A candidate can be considered at most twice
through lateral entry channel PMRF. In case of Integrated M.Tech/MSc and PhD
programmes, the candidate will be eligible to apply within 12 months of the date of
satisfying the Master’s degree requirement.

(2) The candidate should have completed at least four courses in the PhD
programme, each of which should be a full-semester course, and obtained
aggregate CGPA of 8.5 (out of 10) or higher.

(3) The PMRF Granting Institute, in which the student is enrolled, makes a strong
recommendation for the candidate and uploads the relevant information on the
PMRF web-portal. This includes a research proposal and soft copies of publications
(which could include those under submission).

(4) Candidate continues work only in the host institute and transfer to another PMRF
eligible institute is not allowed. Further, once enrolled in a PhD programme through
lateral entry, the candidate cannot be considered for direct entry channel in a
subsequent year.

(5) The metrics on which the candidates will be judged include (but not restricted to)
a strong research proposal, publications record and grades. Due weightage should
be given to publication in reputed journals/conferences.

Deliverables

(a) At the time of joining, each Fellow shall be given deliverables to be achieved each
year. This will be decided by the assigned guide and the department which the fellow
is joining.

(b) The deliverables are to be designed keeping in view the topic selected by the fellow.

(c) There shall be an annual review of PMRF fellows. The candidates would continue to
avail the fellowship in the next year only if their performance is found satisfactory by
the review committee. The review will be a rigorous process, and can be done in the
form of a national convention (for each discipline). The nodal institute for the
discipline may form multiple expert panels to evaluate the progress of the PMRF
fellows. Each such panel can have 3-4 members, with at most 2 members from the
host institution.

(d) Each fellow is expected to teach once a week in a neighbourhood
ITI/Polytechnic/Engineering College, as per modalities approved by the Government.

(e) If the deliverables are not achieved, the fellowship could be brought down to the institutional fellowship level or even discontinued.

The following would be the fellowship for the PMRFs:

Apart from this, each Fellow would be eligible for a research grant of Rs. 2 Lakhs per
year (total of Rs 10 Lakhs for five years).

The tenure of fellowship will be till the end of the 4th year of PhD for students from
integrated courses and till the end of the 5th year of PhD for B.Tech. (or equivalent)
students. For students selected through the lateral entry channel, the PMRF scholarship
and obligations will continue only for the remainder of the student’s stay in the doctoral
program. No retrospective payment will be made.

Industry participation in the PMRF program would be explored through CSR funding or
otherwise to enable industry to sponsor Fellows.

Prime Minister’s Research Fellowship (#PMRF)- Improving the quality of #research in various HEIs in the country.

With attractive fellowships, the scheme seeks to attract the best talent into research thereby realizing the vision of development through #innovation.

Aligarh Muslim University

Banaras Hindu University

IISc Bangalore

IISER Berhampur

IISER Bhopal

IISER Kolkata

IISER Mohali

IISER Pune

IISER Thiruvananthapuram

IISER Tirupati

IIT Bhilai

IIT BHU

IIT Bhubaneswar

IIT Bombay

IIT Delhi

IIT Dharwad

IIT(ISM) Dhanbad

IIT Gandhinagar

IIT Goa

IIT Guwahati

IIT Hyderabad

IIT Indore

IIT Jodhpur

IIT Kanpur

IIT Kharagpur

IIT Madras

IIT Mandi

IIT Patna

IIT Roorkee

IIT Ropar

IIT Jammu

IIT Palakkad

IIT Tirupati

Jamia Millia Islamia

Jawaharlal Nehru University

National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli

University of Delhi

University of Hyderabad

FAQ:

1. Q. How do I apply for PMRF Direct Entry?
A. You need to apply for the regular PhD programme in one of the PMRF Granting Institutions. If selected, and you are found strong enough, the institute will nominate you. Nomination does not guarantee PMRF. After nomination, an expert panel will look at the nominations and make decisions.

2. Q. Is there a central portal where I can apply for Direct Entry?
A. No. There is no such portal because you have to go through one of the institutes and get admission in the PhD programme.

3. Q. What is the deadline for Direct Entry Application?
A. There is no separate deadline. You need to look at the deadlines for applying to the regular PhD programme in the PMRF Granting Institutions.

4. Q. When will the interviews for PMRF be held?
A. There will be no such interviews. We will look at the PMRF nominations from each institute and select suitable candidates based on their paper applications.

5. Q. How do I apply for PMRF Lateral Entry?
A. You need to be a PhD student in one of the PMRF granting institutions, and then get nominated by the institution.

6. Q. If I am a PhD student in Institution A, can I get lateral entry PMRF in some other Institution B?
A. No. You will get PMRF for continuing your PhD in Institution A only.

7. Q. What is the deadline for applying for PMRF Lateral Entry?
A. You need to be nominated within 12 months of joining the PhD programme if you had joined after Masters degree. If you had joined the PhD programme after Bachelors degree, you need to apply within 24 months. (There is a one time relaxation in lateral entry of 18 months for the Masters students who joined the PhD programme in May-July 2019. In other words they will be eligible in the December 2020 round as well).

8. Q. How many times can I apply for PMRF Lateral Entry ?
A. At most twice.

9. Q. What is the deadline for applying for PMRF this year?
A. Given the exceptional circumstances, there may be several rounds of selections this year. The first nomination deadline will be sometime in August. All PMRF Granting Institutions will be notified.

10. Q. I am a PhD student in one of the PMRF granting institutes. Who should I approach for lateral entry nomination?
A. Your point of contact should be your supervisor, Head of Department and PhD coordinators.

11. Q. I have not done 4 courses which are needed for PMRF lateral entry. I didn’t know about this earlier. I had done several PhD/Masters level courses before joining the PhD programme. Will these count.
A. Right now, these are the guidelines. If any change happens, it will be reflected on this web-page, and all concerned departments will be informed. No, the above courses do not count as per current guidelines.

12. Q. I am in an intergrated Masters-PhD programme. From what date will the 12 month period for lateral entry start getting counted?
A. It should be 12 months from the date when you have completed all requirements of the Masters programme.

13. Q. What is the overall selection process?
A. For both direct entry and lateral entry, one of the PMRF Granting Institute needs to nominate you (as explained above). Then a central discipline specific selection panel will look at your application and make decisions.

14. Q. Is there reservation quota for PMRF.
A. No.

15. Q. Due to Covid-19, my semester is delayed and I fear that I may not be able to complete the 4 course requirement for lateral entry at the time of application. What should be done for this?
A. Assuming your 4 course requirement would be over by the end of the current semester, you are eligible to apply. However, the PMRF will be contingent on you maintaining CGPA of 8.5 at the end of the current semester.

16. Q. Due to Covid-19 delay, I may miss the 18 month (or the 24 month) deadline for lateral entry. What should be done here?
A. As long as you were satisfying this criteria during May 2020, you are eligible to apply.