FIST — Fund for Improvement of S&T Infrastructure

What is FIST?

FIST. The Fund for Improvement of S&T Infrastructure in Universities and Higher Educational Institutions; is a flagship infrastructure programme of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Ministry of Science & Technology. FIST funds the shared research infrastructure of a science or engineering department rather than the research project of any one scientist.

According to the DST FIST page, the programme is intended to provide basic infrastructure and enabling facilities for promoting R&D activities in new and emerging areas, and is treated as complementary support that lets a department, centre, school or college pursue research more effectively. Over 23 rounds, FIST has supported more than 3,285 departments and postgraduate colleges with roughly Rs 3,458.95 crore in total funding.

Key objectives of FIST

• Modernise postgraduate and doctoral research laboratories in universities and colleges.
• Create equipment and computing facilities that a whole department shares, instead of duplicating them per faculty member.
• Align department-level research with National Missions and national priorities.
• Open FIST-funded facilities to startups, MSMEs and manufacturing industry, in line with the Atmanirbhar Bharat goal, including through multi-shift usage.

Main features

• FIST support runs for 5 years at every level.
• Support is given to a Department, School or Centre as a unit, or to a PG college as a whole at Level A.
• Selection is through peer review, with laboratory visits where necessary, and an Advisory Board of Experts assists DST in the final selection.
• Proposals are accepted only online on the DST e-PMS portal, onlinedst.gov.in.

Who is eligible for FIST?

A department or college is eligible if:

• It is a science or engineering department, centre or school with a strong PG research programme that has existed for at least 5 years.
• Its parent university or institution is recognised or regulated by UGC, AICTE, the Ministry of Education or a State Education Department.
• It has the minimum number of core PhD-holding faculty for the level applied for to 5 or more at Level B and 8 or more at Level C in the FIST 2023 norms.
• It has completed any cool-off period arising from an earlier FIST project and has obtained the Project Completion Certificate for that project.
• For Level A, the PG college has valid NIRF ranking, NBA, NAAC or other national accreditation, has existed for at least 5 years, and meets the minimum student and faculty norms in the call.

Who cannot apply:

• Individual scientists cannot apply. The DST advertisement states that proposals towards individual R&D support are not accepted under FIST. There is no personal fellowship, stipend or scholarship in this programme.
• Humanities, management and commerce departments are not eligible, since Level A support is limited to postgraduate S&T departments.
• Educational organisations under the aegis of other ministries, departments or agencies are excluded from the scope of FIST support.
• NITs, IITs, schools, centres and university constituent colleges are not eligible under Level A.
• Modern biology proposals, biotechnology, molecular biology, immunology, disease biology and similar areas: fall outside the FIST 2023 life-sciences scope, which covers only traditional or basic biological areas.
• Departments still within the cool-off period after a previous FIST project are not eligible for a repeat cycle.

What documents are required for FIST?

How to apply for FIST online

1. Wait for DST to publish the FIST call for proposals on dst.gov.in and on the e-PMS portal; FIST is not open for submission all year round.
2. Log on to onlinedst.gov.in, the DST e-PMS Portal, and create or use the institutional login.
3. Download the level-specific proposal format; Level A for PG colleges, Level B, Level C or FIST-SHAKTI for departments — from the Proposal Formats section after logging in.
4. Fill the format offline, save it as a Word and PDF file within the 5 MB size limit, and keep it ready for upload.
5. Click Submit Proposals on the portal and enter the general information, Principal Investigator details and departmental data requested.
6. Upload the mandatory documents: PI endorsement and summary sheet, institutional endorsement letter, conflict of interest policy, signed terms and conditions, Project Implementation Group details, and the earlier-support summary if this is a repeat cycle.
7. Use the Preview button to check every entry, because no change is possible after final submission.
8. Click Submit before the last date in the advertisement, after which the web link is disabled automatically. There is no need to send a hard copy to DST.

Three submission chances are available for the same department or college, and the last proposal submitted is the one taken up for evaluation.

How much benefit does FIST provide?

According to the DST FIST page, funding is organised by level:

Cost sharing. For Levels A and B, all government organisations receive 100% DST funding, while any non-government, private or aided organisation is funded on a 75% DST and 25% grantee institute basis. At the higher levels, support to all organisations, government and non-government alike, is shared 75:25 between DST and the grantee institute, computed on the total project cost or the actual expenditure, whichever is less.

What FIST money buys. Renovation of existing laboratory space and cold rooms, modernisation of PG and higher research laboratories, acquisition of essential equipment, upgradation of existing facilities, networking and computational facilities including software and databases, scientific and technical books, and maintenance and refurbishing of existing and new facilities.

What FIST money does not buy. Fresh construction, journal subscriptions and individual R&D support are all outside the scheme. At the higher levels there is no additional maintenance support, so departments are expected to negotiate a comprehensive warranty of up to 5 years at the time of equipment purchase.

What is the cool-off period for repeat FIST support?

Every repeat cycle of FIST support, at any level, is governed by a cool-off period linked to the review grading of the immediately preceding project. Per the FIST 2023 advertisement, an Excellent or Very Good grading carries a 2-year cool-off, Good carries 3 years and Satisfactory carries 5 years, counted after the project tenure including any extended period. Review grading can be sought by emailing DST from the institutional email account of the Head of Department or Principal.

A department must also close out its earlier FIST project; submitting all settlement documents and obtaining the Project Completion Certificate, before a fresh proposal is considered.

Common reasons FIST proposals are rejected

• Proposal not in the prescribed format for the applicable level, which leads to summary rejection without further processing.
• Incomplete application, missing endorsement letters, conflict-of-interest declaration or Project Implementation Group details.
• Cool-off period not completed after an earlier FIST project.
• Earlier project not closed, with no Project Completion Certificate.
• Department too new, having existed for less than 5 years.
• Insufficient PhD-holding core faculty for the level applied for.
• Submission by email or hard copy, which is not entertained.

Help and contact for FIST

• DST R&D Infrastructure Division: 011-26590452
• Address: Department of Science & Technology, Technology Bhawan, New Mehrauli Road, New Delhi 110016
• Portal: onlinedst.gov.in for submission; dst.gov.in for the current call

Each FIST advertisement names a scientist as the contact for queries, so check the live call notice for the current coordinator's email before writing in.