ICSSR Senior Fellowship 2026-27 by Indian Council of Social Science Research

The Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), an autonomous body under the Ministry of Education, Government of India, has invited online applications for its Senior Fellowship for the Financial Year 2026-27. The call opened on 22 June 2026 and closes on 21 July 2026.

Senior Fellowships are awarded to senior Indian researchers who have made a significant contribution to the social sciences through projects and publications, including books published by reputed publishers and research papers in peer-reviewed journals with high impact factor. The studies undertaken by Senior Fellows are expected to contribute to the development of the nation by providing evidence-based solutions to current and future challenges.

Law is an explicitly eligible discipline. The 2026-27 guidelines name Legal Studies as one of the broad domains (S.No. 10), with priority areas directly relevant to law researchers, including:

• 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 also features across other domains, such as Law and Economics, Constitutionalism, Human Rights and Legislation, Constitutional Legislation and Acts for Social Inclusion, Insolvency and Bankruptcy, SEBI and securities regulation, and IKS and Law. Interdisciplinary proposals that span boundaries are welcomed.

• The applicant must be an Indian citizen.
• Age must be not less than 45 years and not more than 70 years as on the last date of application.
• Must possess a Ph.D. degree and, in the opinion of ICSSR, have the competence to conduct research in social sciences or allied disciplines.
• Must have outstanding research publications, including books from reputed publishers and/or papers in peer-reviewed journals with high impact factor, at the time of application.
• The fellow must affiliate with a UGC-recognised University / Deemed-to-be-University, Institute of National Importance (as defined by MoE/UGC), or ICSSR Research Institute.
• A minimum gap of 2 years is required from the submission of the final report of any earlier ICSSR Post-Doctoral Fellowship / Research Project / Programme.
• Defaulters of any previous ICSSR fellowship/project/grant are not eligible. A fellow cannot hold the same fellowship more than once.

• Duration: Two years (full-time research engagement). No extension will be considered.
• Fellowship amount: Rs. 45,000 per month.
• Contingency grant: Rs. 40,000 per annum (for research/office assistance, books, stationery, computer costs, research assistance, and field work).
• Pay/salary protection may be considered in exceptionally meritorious cases for eligible faculty in public-funded institutions, as decided by ICSSR Expert Committees.
• A 7.5% overhead charge is paid to the affiliating institution on completion.

• Applications must be submitted online only through the ICSSR portal at app.icssr.org. No hard copies are accepted.
• The research proposal must be submitted in the prescribed format attached with the application form; no separate proposal or copies of research papers should 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 Senior Fellowship scheme (but may apply separately for another scheme).
• There is no application fee.

Selection involves evaluation and interaction/presentation before a panel of subject experts in multiple phases; recommendations are placed before the requisite ICSSR Committees for approval. Selected candidates and their affiliating universities are informed individually via a provisional award letter.

During the tenure, the fellow must publish at least two research papers in peer-reviewed journals or edited books on the research theme, with due acknowledgement to ICSSR. On completion, a book-length final report (with a 3,000-4,000 word summary) and two published papers must be submitted; the final report must clear a plagiarism check (similarity index not beyond 10%).