ICSSR Postdoctoral Fellowship 2026 (Law & Social Sciences)

The Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), an autonomous body under the Ministry of Education, Government of India, has invited applications for its Post-Doctoral Fellowship 2026 (Financial Year 2026-27). The fellowship is awarded to young and mid-career Indian social science researchers who have completed their Ph.D. and have the acumen to conduct globally competitive, evidence-based research that addresses challenges to development through themes and sub-themes identified by ICSSR.

This is a two-year, full-time research engagement carried out at a public-funded host institution under the guidance of a senior social scientist.

This is a strong opportunity for law researchers. Legal Studies is one of the explicitly listed broad domains under the 2026-27 fellowship. Indicative priority areas within Legal Studies include:

• Access to Justice and Para-Legal Systems
• Legal History of India
• Judicial Reforms and Court Management
• Law, Technology and Digital Rights (including AI)
• Legal Pluralism
• Criminal Justice System and Reform
• Decolonising Legal Studies

Law and policy themes also run through other domains (for example Law and Economics, Enforcement of Contract, Constitutionalism, Human Rights and Legislation, Insolvency and Bankruptcy, and NBFC/SEBI regulation), so legal scholars can position proposals across several broad domains.

• The applicant must be an Indian citizen.
• Age not more than 45 years as on the last date of application; 5-year age relaxation for SC/ST/Persons with Benchmark Disability candidates.
• Must hold a Ph.D. degree at the time of application, with research competence reflected in publications.
• Must affiliate with a public-funded Indian university / deemed-to-be-university / college with an approved Ph.D. programme, an ICSSR Research Institute, an Institute of National Importance approved by MoE, or a government research institute.
• Must work under a supervisor who is a senior social scientist (not below Associate Professor level, with proven research supervision experience and publications) serving at the affiliating institution; supervisor selection is subject to ICSSR approval.
• Defaulters of any previous ICSSR fellowship/project/grant are not eligible.

• Fellowship amount: Rs. 31,000 per month
• Contingency grant: Rs. 25,000 per annum
• Duration: Two years (full-time); no extension is considered
• The host/affiliating institution receives overhead charges of 7.5% of the total fellowship (fellowship plus contingency).

• Applications are submitted online through the ICSSR application portal at app.icssr.org.
• The research proposal must be submitted only in the prescribed format attached to the application form (no separate proposal or research papers to be attached).
• The proposal may be in Hindi or English (use Unicode UTF-8 for Hindi).
• One applicant can submit only one application under the Post-Doctoral Fellowship scheme (but may apply separately for another ICSSR scheme).
• The affiliating institution forwards only the applications of candidates who meet the minimum eligibility criteria.

Selection involves evaluation and interaction/presentation of applications before a panel of subject experts in multiple phases. Recommendations of the Expert Committee are placed before the relevant ICSSR committees for approval. The list of selected applications is uploaded on the ICSSR website, and selected candidates and their institutions are informed individually through a provisional award letter.