Exclusive portal for women scientists launched

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research on Thursday announced operationalising a special funding mechanism for women scholars to access grants from next month as an effort to further nurture the research careers of women scientists.

“An exclusive portal for women scientists would be operational from April 1, using which they can apply for grants. The funds will be provided for staff, contingency and minor equipment but the total budget for the proposal including research fellow’s stipend should generally not exceed the limit of 25-30 lakh”, Union Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh announced here at a CSIR event to celebrate the International Women’s Day.

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The plan to create such a fund was approved by the CSIR governing body in December 2022. As per the new CSIR-ASPIRE (A Special Call for Research Grants for Women Scientists) programme women scientists will be eligible to apply to carry out R&D in life sciences, chemical sciences, physical sciences, engineering sciences, and interdisciplinary sciences.

While there is no age limit, the scholars should have sufficient time before retirement so that they could complete the grant, said a CSIR official.

The new scheme comes at a time when the All India Survey on Higher Education, 2019 shows over 50 per cent participation of women in science courses in the Bachelor’s and Masters programmes, but a sharp drop in their numbers at the post-doctoral level when the bulk of the research takes place. At the doctoral level, women graduates at 44 per cent lagged behind men at 56 per cent.

Data compiled by the Department of Science and Technology shows four times increase in the number of women principal investigators in R&D in the last 15 years - from 232 in 2000-01 to 941 in 2016-17. Also, the percentage of women among researchers increased from 13.9 per cent in 2015 to 18.7 per cent in 2018 and more women researchers are securing extramural funds.

But despite the overall data showing an upward trend, women researchers in engineering and technology are fewer than in natural sciences, health and agriculture.

The new programme, sources said, would seek to address some of these imbalances. This comes in the wake of Chennai-based Central Leather Research Institute announcing 15 per cent discount in the licensing fee on CSIR technologies for women to encourage entrepreneurship among women.

Out of 37 CSIR laboratories, as many as six labs have women directors which is the highest ever, according to a CSIR official. This is excluding the director general Nallathamby Kalaiselvi, who is the first woman scientist to head the research council in eight decades.