Indo-French Visiting/Mobility Programme for Women in Science (PROWIS)

What is PROWIS?

PROWIS, the Indo-French Visiting/Mobility Programme for Women in Science, is a programme run by the Indo-French Centre for the Promotion of Advanced Research (IFCPAR/CEFIPRA) to support women scientists moving between India and France for collaborative research. It is dedicated to women researchers in both countries and aims to accelerate advanced research by opening opportunities for collaboration between the Indian and French scientific communities.

CEFIPRA is a bilateral organisation funded jointly by the Government of India, through the Department of Science and Technology under the Ministry of Science and Technology, and by the Government of France. PROWIS is one of CEFIPRA's mobility and fellowship offerings, sitting alongside programmes such as the Raman Charpak Fellowship. Because it is a competitive, call-based programme, PROWIS is best understood as a research-collaboration opportunity rather than an open welfare benefit that any citizen can claim.

What the programme is trying to do

• Support women scientists in India and France in advancing their research through international collaboration.
• Build durable research links between Indian and French institutions.
• Encourage the movement of women researchers across the two countries at a stage in their careers when such mobility has the most impact.

Who is eligible for PROWIS?

According to CEFIPRA, eligibility differs by country:

Indian applicants can apply if they:

• Hold a PhD degree.
• Hold a sanctioned or tenured post in a scientific or academic institution.
• Are willing to carry out collaborative research in a French institution or university.

French applicants can apply if they:

• Hold a PhD degree.
• Are currently doing postdoctoral research.
• Are willing to undertake a collaborative project in an Indian institution or university.
• Preference is given to candidates with prior R&D experience and publications.

Who cannot apply: the programme is only for women scientists, so men are not eligible. Researchers without a PhD, and Indian applicants without a tenured/sanctioned position, do not meet the criteria. As a bilateral programme, PROWIS is limited to the India-France corridor and is not a general overseas research grant.

How much does PROWIS provide?

PROWIS provides mobility support so a selected woman scientist can spend a period working in a partner-country institution. The support is a grant for the research visit rather than a salary or a scholarship. CEFIPRA sets and publishes the specific grant and travel terms with each call, so no fixed rupee figure is quoted here, the exact amounts should be read from the live call document on the CEFIPRA website. Both long-term and short-term mobility have been offered under the programme.

How to apply for PROWIS

PROWIS runs through periodic calls, so the first step is always to check whether a call is open:

1. Watch the CEFIPRA website (cefipra.org) for an open PROWIS call. As last checked, the mobility call for women scientists was closed, so applications are only accepted during an announced window.
2. Read the call document for that cycle to confirm eligibility, the mobility duration, and the exact grant and travel terms.
3. Prepare your proposal and documents — PhD certificate, proof of your tenured post (India) or postdoctoral status (France), a research/collaboration proposal, and your CV with publications.
4. Submit the application to CEFIPRA through the route specified in the call, before the deadline. Selection is competitive and made by CEFIPRA.

Because the programme is call-based, the timing and precise conditions change between cycles. Treat the CEFIPRA call notice as the authoritative source and do not rely on figures or deadlines from secondary sites.

Who runs the programme and where to get help

PROWIS is administered by CEFIPRA/IFCPAR, funded by the Department of Science and Technology and the French government. Queries can be directed to CEFIPRA at its New Delhi office on (011) 2468 2251 / 2468 2252, or by email to contact.ifcpar@cefipra.org during office hours. This is a research programme with no application fee and no agents; all steps are handled directly with CEFIPRA.

PROWIS is a genuinely niche programme with a small, specific audience. For a general reader it may be most useful as one item within a wider guide to CEFIPRA and Indo-French science cooperation, rather than as a scheme most people will ever apply to.

How to check your application status

PROWIS does not run an online application-tracking dashboard the way a large individual-benefit scheme might. Status checking works through direct contact with CEFIPRA rather than a self-service portal:

• Note your submission reference. When you submit under a call, keep the acknowledgement email or reference number CEFIPRA (or the submission form) issues; you will need to quote this in any follow-up.
• Contact CEFIPRA directly for status updates. Call the New Delhi office at (011) 2468 2251 / 2468 2252, or email contact.ifcpar@cefipra.org, quoting your name, the call you applied under, and your reference number if you have one.
• Watch for CEFIPRA's own communication. Since PROWIS is a competitive, evaluated call rather than an entitlement, CEFIPRA typically informs applicants of outcomes directly, by email, once the evaluation for that cycle is complete; there is no public results list to search independently.
• Recheck the call document's stated timeline. Call notices generally indicate an expected evaluation period. If that period has passed with no communication, that is the point to follow up by phone or email rather than before it.
• Do not expect SMS or portal-based tracking. Unlike large welfare schemes with SMS/portal status codes, PROWIS is a small, manually administered research call, so a phone or email query to CEFIPRA is the only real tracking mechanism.

Common reasons for rejection

PROWIS rejections tend to trace back to a mismatch with its specific bilateral, competitive design rather than paperwork errors alone.

• Applicant does not hold a completed PhD. A master's degree, an ongoing doctoral programme, or a thesis "submitted but not yet awarded" does not meet the PhD requirement on either side. Fix: apply only once your PhD is formally conferred, and include the degree certificate, not a provisional or bonafide certificate, with the application.
• Indian applicant lacks a sanctioned or tenured post. Contractual researchers, postdoctoral fellows, or PhD scholars in India do not meet the Indian-side eligibility bar, which specifically requires a confirmed institutional position. Fix: this criterion cannot be worked around; wait until you hold a tenured or sanctioned post before applying, or explore CEFIPRA's other mobility programmes that do not carry this requirement.
• No genuine joint collaboration with a named partner institution. Proposals framed as an individual's request to "visit and do research" in France or India, without a specific host researcher and institution committed to the joint work, do not fit the programme's design. Fix: secure a written commitment from a specific French (or Indian) collaborator and institution before submitting, and build the proposal around the joint project, not a one-sided placement.
• Application submitted outside an open call window. Because PROWIS has no continuous intake, submissions sent to CEFIPRA between calls, or after a call's deadline has passed, are not considered. Fix: submit only during the announced window stated in the current call document, and build in a buffer before the deadline for institutional approvals.
• Weak or generic research proposal. A proposal that does not clearly state the research question, the specific activities planned during the mobility period, and the expected joint outcome is a common weak point in a competitive, peer-reviewed process. Fix: write the proposal jointly with your counterpart, and be concrete about what will actually happen during the visit and what it will produce.
• Missing proof of position or incomplete supporting documents. Submitting without the required proof of tenured post (India) or postdoctoral status (France), or without a proper research proposal, weakens or disqualifies an otherwise eligible application. Fix: cross-check the current call document's document list exactly, since requirements can be refined between cycles, rather than relying on a previous cycle's checklist.
• Applying to the wrong CEFIPRA programme. Male researchers, or researchers seeking a general Indo-French collaboration rather than a women-in-science mobility slot, sometimes apply to PROWIS by mistake. Fix: check CEFIPRA's other offerings, such as its collaborative research projects and the Raman Charpak Fellowship, for options that fit if you do not meet PROWIS's women-only criterion.