The Faculty Initiation Grant (FIG) scheme encourages and supports newly joined faculty members to establish preliminary R&D setups that will help augment their research output.

## The procedure and guidelines for availing support under FIG scheme are mentioned below:

- 1. An initiation grant based on a research proposal up to a maximum amount of Rs. 20.00 lacs may be sanctioned to new faculty members for developing research infrastructure for a period of two years . The new faculty members must apply for this grant within one year from the date of joining the Institute. When faculty members express their intent to collaborate on a research proposal, leveraging their diverse expertise, such joint endeavours are warmly welcomed. In cases where the proposal involves more than two faculty members, their participation across multiple departments, centres, or school to foster rich interdisciplinary research will be encouraged. In the spirit of supporting such collaborative initiatives, there's an exciting opportunity for budget consolidation in interdisciplinary research proposals. Thefunding ceiling can be expanded based on the number of participating faculty members, with each additional member contributing to an augmentation of 20lakhs. For instance, if a proposal involves two faculty members at the level of Assistant Professors, the maximum allowable budget may extend to 40 lakhs, promoting an environment conducive to innovative and impactful research endeavours. In fostering collaborative endeavours with industry, the institute may consider the possibility of raising the budget cap up to 25 lakhs, provided the PI expresses the intent to submit a proposal with the potential for establishing present or future collaborations. This underscores the institute's commitment to supporting research initiatives that create meaningful connections between academia and industry for mutual production-level advancement. This scheme shall be applicable to new faculty joining the position of Assistant Professor (all levels included).
- 2. In addition t o t he above, an amount of Rs. 2.00 lacs shall be provided to all new faculty without the need for a proposal. These 2.00 lacs shall be in a Project Account in the SRIC Office, and new faculty can use it for travel and buying equipment/laptop/ printer/ furniture/ consumables/non- consumables/ software which can be procured within Rs. 2.00 lacs. The newly joined faculty may send the joining details by email to dsric@iitr.ac.in to avail this support.
- 3. The applicant faculty member shall submit a research proposal in the prescribed Proposal Template and phase-wise budget ( Annexure A) through the respective Head of the Department / Centre to the office of the Dean SRIC, preferably by email to dsric@iitr.ac.in as a single file in pdf format. All submissions under the FIG scheme should be in tandem with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). PIs are expected to confirm that the items/equipmentoutlined in the budget are unique to the institute and will contribute to the enrichment of resources without unnecessary duplication.
- 4. The submitted proposal will be sent for external peer review. Herein, the PI may suggest five external experts (Annexure B) . The PI is expected to ensure that there is no conflict of interest with the suggested experts. The external review reports shall be presented to the Expert Committee.
- 5. The proposal will be evaluated by the following Expert Committee consisting of :