STI Policy (2013): Implementation hurdle- is U/C condition bringing research at IITs/ IISc to halt?

Release of grants to faculty is guided by General Finance Rules (GFR) of Government of India. Researchers are expected to spend the money received in the current financial year  and seek next installment in the following year. The GFR condition stipulates that unspent amount need to be returned to the granting body if carry forward is not approved . In actual practice, the researcher routinely keeps the unspent money on to his / her project account and submits Utilisation Certificate (U/C) only when he/she needs next installment.
State governments are major defaulters in submission of U/Cs and many times Finance Ministry takes a tough stand w.r.t defaulting states.
Both,the amount released and underutilized by researchers is insignificant yet this time the Finance Ministry wants the scientific departments to play tough. I understand that departments now insist on U/C from the institute for all the projects taken by its researchers. That means if an IIT has 20 projects run by 20 different faculty, then this IIT has to submit a comprehensive U/C for all the 20 projects. If information from one faculty is delayed all others suffer.Whether the threat of stopping further research grants would actually be carried out or not is to be seen but this directive has slowed down funds release to the researchers.

What is the way out of this bureaucratic maze? Why cannot the annual budgetary support to academic and research institutes be increased so that they do not have to seek grants from scientific  departments for individual projects?

RCB-Young Investigator Awards

The Regional Centre for Biotechnology (RCB) is a newly established institution of education, training & research in the National Capital Region (NCR) of Delhi by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India under an agreement with UNESCO. RCB is designed to be a centre of excellence in biotechnology with intimate contributions from the countries of the region and academic institutions from the rest of the world. It provides a meeting place where innovation, enterprise, and industrial development will germinate.

RCB-Young Investigator Awards are designed to identify and nurture outstanding young scientists with innovative ideas and desirous of pursuing research in frontier areas of biotechnology related (but not limited) to structural, systems and synthetic biology, nano science & technology, cellular and molecular biology, disease biology, and data-intensive discovery research, under the mentorship of senior faculty at the Regional Centre for Biotechnology. Young scientists (below the age of 35) having PhD degree (or likely to complete in next 3 months) in any discipline of natural sciences are eligible to apply.

The award shall be initially for the duration of three years, subject to annual review. It may be further extended for additional two years, based on a review by a committee of experts. The award carries a consolidated stipend of Rs. 40,000/-per month. The awardee shall not be entitled to draw any other fellowship or salary.

Interested candidates may submit their application by filling the application form available on the website (www.rcb.res.in) to email id: registrar@rcb.res.in. Copy of the application should be sent by registered post to The Registrar, Regional Centre for Biotechnology, 180 Udyog Vihar Phase 1, Gurgaon-122016. Haryana, India so as to reach by 31st July 2011. 

MIT's DESHPANDE CENTER ANNOUNCES FALL 2009 RESEARCH GRANTS

The fall 2009 grant recipients are: MEMS for Large Area and Flexible Applications : Vladimir Bulovic A flexible paper thin micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) array that can be used for sensing and actuation over large surfaces. Device for Treatment of Cerebral Edema : Michael Cima A drug delivery device to treat brain edema with reduced systemic side-effects typical of conventional treatments.Stable Inorganic-Organic Hybrid Light Emitting Diodes : Karen Gleason Long-lived LEDs on flexible substrates providing energy efficient portable displays. (Renewal from Fall 2008 grant round.) A Novel Device for Label-free Cell Rolling Separation : Rohit Karnik and Jeffrey KarpA device for separating cells that could be used for the monitoring and diagnosis of a wide variety of diseases. A Wearable Sensor for Continuous Glucose Monitoring for Diabetics : Michael Strano A carbon nanotube based, minimally invasive, tissue implantable, glucose sensor. The sensor will allow continuous glucose monitoring for diabetes patients, resulting in improved glucose regulation and better health. Chemical Production of Functionalized Graphene for Enhanced Composite Materials : Timothy Swager The development of a chemical process to produce graphene at a very reasonable cost, leading to the industrial use of new composite materials. Nano-engineered Surfaces for Ultra High Power Density Thermal Management : Kripa Varanasi Heat needs to be removed rapidly from high power electronics or the semiconductors will fail. This project will develop a system to very rapidly dissipate large amount of heat from such devices.New Antibiotic Target : Graham WalkerA project to attempt to isolate lead compounds to develop a new antibiotic.

DESHPANDE CENTER 2008 RESEARCH GRANTS

The Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at MIT announced it is awarding $700,000 in grants to nine MIT research teams currently working on early-stage discoveries. These projects have the potential to make a significant impact on our quality of life by revolutionizing disease therapies, allergy diagnosis, HIV care in the developing world , drug discovery, energy efficient displays, energy storage, and nano-scale imaging.