ICSSR International Collaboration Programme

What is the ICSSR International Collaboration programme?

The ICSSR International Collaboration programme is run by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), an autonomous body under the Ministry of Education. According to the ICSSR, the programme's purpose is to promote academic links between social scientists in India and abroad and to help Indian research engage with the international scholarly community.

Rather than a single grant, the programme is a set of routes through which Indian social scientists can work internationally. Based on the ICSSR International Collaboration pages, these fall into three broad components:

• Participation in international conferences abroad: support for invited Indian scholars to present substantial work at significant international seminars and conferences.
• Financial assistance for data collection abroad; support for Indian social science researchers travelling overseas for fieldwork or archival research.
• Bilateral joint research: collaborative calls run with foreign partner agencies, such as JSPS (Japan), NSTC (Taiwan) and DFG (Germany), for jointly designed projects in the social sciences and humanities.

Because the specifics: ceilings, eligibility fine-print and deadlines; are set per call, this guide explains the shape of the programme and the real route to apply, and points you to the live call documents for exact figures.

Who is eligible for ICSSR International Collaboration?

You can apply if:

• You are an Indian social science scholar or researcher, generally affiliated with a recognised Indian university, college or research institution.
• For conference support: you have been invited and your paper has been accepted at a significant international conference or seminar.
• For data collection abroad: your research genuinely requires overseas fieldwork or archival access that cannot be done in India.
• For bilateral calls: you have (or will form) a partnership with an eligible institution in the partner country and meet that call's conditions.

You cannot apply if:

• You are not working in the social sciences. The programme is limited to social science and allied humanities disciplines.
• You are seeking a personal stipend or scholarship unrelated to a specific collaboration, conference or project. This is not a general fellowship.
• You do not meet a specific call's conditions on affiliation, seniority or the presence of a foreign partner.

Eligibility for the bilateral joint-research route is usually institution-led — a principal investigator based at an eligible Indian institution applies, not a member of the public. If you are an individual with no institutional affiliation, the conference and data-collection routes are the realistic options, and only against an open call.

What support does the programme provide?

The programme's support is practical and tied to the activity:

• Conference component: assistance toward attending and presenting at the international event (for example travel and related costs, within ceilings set by ICSSR).
• Data-collection component, assistance toward the cost of travelling abroad and carrying out the fieldwork or archival study.
• Bilateral joint research; project funding for the Indian side of a jointly agreed research project, with the foreign partner agency funding its own side.

ICSSR publishes the exact ceilings and admissible expenses in each call document, not as one blanket figure. This guide therefore does not quote a single rupee amount, check the specific open call on icssr.org for the current numbers, because they differ by component and are revised over time.

How to apply for ICSSR International Collaboration

1. Identify an open call. Go to the International Collaboration section of icssr.org and find a currently open component or bilateral call that fits your work (conference, data collection, or a specific partner-country call).
2. Read the call document for that component, eligibility, admissible costs, ceilings, documents and the deadline.
3. Register and log in to the ICSSR applicant portal at app.icssr.org.
4. Complete the online application for the relevant component, entering your academic and institutional details and, for bilateral calls, your foreign partner's details.
5. Upload the required documents, your proposal or abstract, conference invitation/acceptance (for the conference route), CV, institutional no-objection, and a budget where asked.
6. Submit before the deadline and keep the acknowledgement. Applications are evaluated by ICSSR and, for bilateral calls, jointly with the partner agency.

For any question on a call, communication is addressed to the concerned divisional head at ICSSR, as the Council advises on its website.

Help and contact

• ICSSR (headquarters): JNU Institutional Area, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi - 110067; phone +91-11-26741849 / 50 / 51.
• Applicant portal: app.icssr.org
• Programme pages: icssr.org/international-collaboration for the list of open calls and their individual guidelines.

A note on scope

The ICSSR International Collaboration programme is a narrow, call-driven research-support scheme, not a mass public benefit. It genuinely has limited published detail at the programme level because the real terms live inside each call notification. Readers looking for exact ceilings and deadlines should always open the specific current call on icssr.org rather than rely on a general summary.

How to check your application status

• Log in to the applicant portal. Since the application itself is submitted at app.icssr.org, that is also where status updates appear. Sign in with the same credentials used at submission and open your dashboard or "my applications" area to see whether your application is listed as received, under review, or decided.
• Check the acknowledgement you received at submission. ICSSR's online system generates an acknowledgement or reference number when an application goes through. Keep this on hand: it is what you should quote in any status query, whether online or offline.
• Watch for direct communication from ICSSR. For components tied to a specific call, decisions and follow-up requests (for example, a revised budget or additional documents) are usually communicated by the concerned division to the applicant's registered email rather than through a public tracker. Check the email used at registration, including spam folders, regularly during the review period stated in the call document.
• For bilateral joint-research calls, remember that evaluation is a two-sided process between ICSSR and the partner agency (JSPS, NSTC, DFG, or others). This can take longer than a single-institution decision, so a lack of update within the call's usual review window is not unusual before both sides have completed their assessment.
• Call or write to ICSSR headquarters if the portal shows no change for an extended period. Use the number +91-11-26741849 / 50 / 51, and reference your application/proposal title, the specific call you applied under, and your acknowledgement number. Because the programme runs multiple parallel calls (conference support, data collection, and several bilateral routes), always name the exact call in any query. A general "what is my ICSSR status" question without the call name is likely to bounce between divisions.
• Re-check the specific call document if the deadline for a decision has passed. Call documents on icssr.org typically state an indicative timeline for evaluation; if that timeline has genuinely elapsed, a written follow-up to the divisional head handling that call is the appropriate next step, not a general helpline call.

Common reasons for rejection

• The proposal does not fit any of the three components. Applications framed as a general request for funding, a personal stipend, or a scholarship unconnected to a specific conference, fieldwork trip, or joint project fall outside what this programme funds and get turned down at the screening stage. Fix: frame the application explicitly against one component (conference, data collection, or bilateral research) and show exactly how the requested support serves that specific activity.
• The applicant's discipline is not social science or an allied humanities field. Since ICSSR's remit is limited to the social sciences, proposals from unrelated disciplines are rejected regardless of the quality of the work. Fix: apply only if your research clearly sits within the social sciences and allied humanities, and make that disciplinary fit explicit in the proposal's framing.
• Conference support is claimed without a genuine invitation and paper acceptance. Because this component exists specifically for invited scholars presenting accepted work, an application built around a conference the applicant merely wishes to attend, without formal acceptance of a paper, is rejected. Fix: apply only once you hold documented proof of invitation and acceptance, and attach it with the application rather than promising to obtain it later.
• Data-collection abroad is not justified as necessary. Applications that do not clearly explain why the fieldwork or archival work cannot be done in India, or that describe a trip without a specific research question tied to it, are weak on this ground. Fix: state precisely what data or archival material exists only abroad and why the project cannot proceed using resources available in India.
• No institutional affiliation or no-objection for an individual applicant. ICSSR expects applicants to be affiliated with a recognised Indian university, college, or research institution, and for bilateral calls specifically, to be based at an eligible institution as principal investigator. An application from someone without a verifiable institutional link, or without the institution's no-objection where required, is rejected on this ground alone. Fix: secure and attach institutional affiliation proof and any required no-objection certificate before applying, not after a query is raised.
• Missing foreign partner or partner-country credentials on bilateral calls. Since bilateral routes are jointly evaluated with agencies like JSPS, NSTC, or DFG, an application that names a partner institution abroad without adequate detail on that partner's role, standing, or agreement to collaborate is difficult for the joint panel to assess and commonly fails at that stage. Fix: include full partner-institution details and evidence of the collaboration's genuineness, such as a joint proposal or a letter of intent from the foreign partner.
• Application submitted against the wrong or a closed call. Because ICSSR runs several parallel and rotating calls with different deadlines (for instance, the ICSSR-NSTC Taiwan call ran only from 1 June 2026 to 3 August 2026), an application submitted after a call's window has closed, or against a call whose conditions do not match the applicant's situation, is not considered. Fix: always confirm the specific call is currently open on icssr.org before beginning the application, and re-check the exact deadline rather than relying on a previous year's dates.
• Incomplete budget or missing supporting documents at submission. Where a call requires a travel/budget plan, CV, or specific supporting papers and these are left out or submitted after the deadline, the application is generally not processed further, since ICSSR's online system evaluates what was submitted by the closing date. Fix: review the specific call document's document checklist before submission and upload every required item within the same session, rather than submitting the form first and adding documents afterward.