As part of its capacity-building initiatives, the Centre for Development Studies (CDS) is pleased to announce the launch of the K. N. Raj–CDS Research Fellowship. The fellowship is designed to foster collaborative research between researchers in Kerala and CDS faculty members. It is open to early- and mid-career academics and researchers in Kerala. While preference will be given to faculty members of colleges and universities, other individuals based in Kerala with interests in scholarly work and teaching are also eligible to apply.
Objective
The Fellowship seeks to strengthen research linkages, promote joint scholarly work, and provide opportunities for collaboration between faculty members in Kerala and the academic community at the CDS.
Fellowship Provisions
Each fellowship will be awarded for a duration of one year and will provide support under the following heads:
• Reimbursement of expenses: Travel between the Fellow’s place of work and the CDS, accommodation in the CDS Guest House, and food expenses at the CDS Canteen, up to a combined maximum of ₹50,000.
• Honorarium: ₹50,000, payable to the Fellow after successful completion of fellowship requirements.
Fellowship Requirements
• The research work must be carried out jointly with a designated CDS faculty member. All resulting outputs, including a seminar presentation and working paper, will be jointly authored by the Fellow and the CDS faculty member. The designated faculty member will participate actively in the development of the research output.
• Fellows are required to submit a mid-term progress report six months after the fellowship is awarded, detailing research progress and preliminary findings.
• The Fellowship will culminate in:
1. Presentation of a research paper in the CDS Seminar Series (within one year of commencement of the fellowship).
2. Submission of the paper to the CDS Working Paper Series (within two months of the seminar presentation and after incorporating comments received at the seminar).
• The honorarium will be released only upon the submission of the Working Paper.
Application Guidelines
• Applicants are requested to submit the following documents to raj_fellowship@cds.edu:
o A detailed research proposal aligned with the research interests of CDS faculty members. Applicants must also mention the faculty member with whom they would like to work, and any relevant information about prior discussions.
o A curriculum vitae (CV).
• Applicants are encouraged to consult CDS faculty members in advance to identify common research interests and possible areas of collaboration.
• Selection will be based on academic merit, relevance to CDS research areas, potential for joint publication, innovation, and policy relevance.
• Applications may be submitted at any time of the year. However, the number of fellowships available in a given financial year is limited to five.
• Proposals found suitable but not accommodated in the corresponding financial year due to capacity constraints may be considered in the subsequent year.
• This is a rolling call for applications. Regular academic staff from colleges and universities across Kerala who wish to collaborate with the CDS are invited to apply at their convenience.
