The article will give a complete guide on How to Apply for Senior Research Fellowship. It’s kind of tricky that after qualifying prestigious UGC NTA NET exam and securing a Junior Research Fellowship commonly known as JRF, one has to enrol into PhD programme within 2 years to get the benefit of fellowship money.
So, You have already done the PhD registration, already have selected your thesis topic, done the Synopsis and at last completed 2 years of getting JRF while pursuing a PhD.
First, JRF is for 2 years amounts to INR 38,440/- month
(Tuition Fee: INR 31,000.
HRA Fee (For cities like Delhi): INR 7440)
After 2 years of JRF, Now, WHAT???
Follow these steps and Secure SRF with Flying Colors by knowing how to Apply for Senior Research Fellowship
You are required to apply for a Senior Research Fellowship. Now, after 2 years, UGC demands to see your research progress and hence your institute and with the help of your guide, you need an evaluating session with one external examiner.
Let’s Find out how to proceed on the conversion of JRF to SRF with simple steps (these are from experiences of my own in 2021).
Step 1:
Contact your guide and Head of the Department around 1 month before the completion of 2 years of JRF in advance so that you do not lose your precious time later on fighting and arguing with your institute accountant.
Step 2:
Make sure your guide take it as an urgent notice by constantly reminding him of your JRF completion for he/she is the first person who needs to set up an evaluation team to assess your research progress.
Step 3:
Start making a proper Powerpoint Presentation with a maximum of 7-8 slides for a quick glance at what you have done in your two years of JRF. When I presented my ppt to the evaluation team, they were quite impressed with how crisp and to the point was my ppt and how effective it looked. SO, spare the long briefings, this will disinterest the examiners.
Click here to find my PPT as a sample- INR 10
Step 4:
While working on your ppt, get your guide and head of the Department to schedule a proper date and time for evaluation. It would work out better if it is around Friday or Saturday where even examiners are in a relaxing mood, giving you a boost.
Step 5:
Get ready, present your progress with easiness. Try to be polite and use simple English words that are easy to be understood. Finish your presentation maximum in 7-8 minutes. Answer the questions asked by you with humbleness. Even, if you do not have much idea of the questions asked, you can always answer like– You are still exploring your topic and would work more towards your topic in the future.
Step 6:
Fill out the form on the same day and mail it to your guide and Head of the Department for a quick response. The format of the form is given on the official UGC NTA Website.
Click here for a Sample of the filled form- INR 10.
Step 7:
WAIT! for the response from your guide, once the form is filled and signed by your guide, HOD and external examiner, it will be sent to the administration office which is later submitted to the UGC office. The process would continue. You just have to wait till your data in Canara Scholarly account for fellowship gets updated from JRF to SRF.
Here is the link to checking your data from the Canara Scholar fellowship
Step 8:
When you get registered, you would want to know how much you are going to get in SRF Fellowship.
The amount will be INR 43,400/- month
Tuition Fee: INR 35,000
HRA: 24% (For Delhi) of 35000 = INR 8,400
(HRA differs with cities. It can be 8%, 16% and 24% as per city rankings)
Contingency Fee: INR 20,000/- annum
Note to YOU:
I had a hard time finding out what should I do to have a conversion from JRF to SRF. I Hope, my steps would make it clear to you and give you an edge in secut=ring credible remarks from the evaluators regarding your research progress. GOODLUCK. Let me know, how it goes.
