Back-To-Lab Post-Doctoral Fellowship Programme

What is the Back-To-Lab Post-Doctoral Fellowship?

Back-To-Lab Post-Doctoral Fellowship Programme is an initiative of the Women Scientists Division of the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE). It supports women scientists who experienced a career break of at least one year after completing their PhD, for personal or family reasons, and want to resume active research.

The situation the scheme exists for is common and specific. A woman finishes a doctorate at 28 or 30, and the same years are when marriage, childbirth and family care obligations land hardest. Two or three years out of the laboratory is enough to make her uncompetitive for a conventional post-doctoral position, because selection committees read the gap as a lapse rather than as a pause. The training is intact; the entry route has closed. Back-To-Lab reopens it.

According to the KSCSTE Back-To-Lab page, the fellowship provides a monthly stipend of Rs 60,000 consolidated and an annual contingency of Rs 75,000, for a maximum of 2 years.

Key features

• Rs 60,000 per month consolidated fellowship for up to 2 years.
• Rs 75,000 per year contingency for consumables, travel and publication.
• Open only to women, and only to those with a genuine post-PhD career break.
• Applicant must be unemployed with no other financial support.
• Host research centre must differ from the PhD institution.

Who is eligible for the Back-To-Lab fellowship?

You can apply if:

• You are a woman.
• You are a permanent resident of Kerala.
• You hold a PhD in Science or Engineering, completed before the date of application, with a minimum of 60 per cent in post-graduation.
• You took a career break of at least one year after the PhD for personal or family reasons.
• You are currently unemployed and have no other financial support.
• You have at least one research paper in an SCI journal, or a secured patent.
• You are not more than 40 years old at application, with relaxation of 3 years for OBC and 5 years for SC and ST candidates.

You are not eligible if:

• You are male. The general KSCSTE Post-Doctoral Fellowship is the equivalent route and pays the same Rs 60,000 a month.
• You are employed or receiving another fellowship or financial support.
• You have already availed a post-doctoral fellowship from KSCSTE or any other agency.
• Your career break was less than one year, or you moved directly from PhD into employment.
• Your PhD is not yet awarded.
• Your post-graduate marks are below 60 per cent.
• You are over 40 and cannot claim an admissible relaxation.
• You propose to work at the same institution where you did your PhD.

Where can the research be carried out?

The host research centre must be different from the institution where the PhD was obtained, and should preferably be in Kerala. KSCSTE accepts:

• Government R&D institutions and university departments, which are preferred.
• Exceptional institutions outside Kerala. The Indian Institute of Science, the IITs and the IISERs are named.
• Private R&D organisations, but only those meeting the mandatory requirements KSCSTE lays down, with compliance documentation attached to the application.

Choosing a host that is realistically reachable from home matters more in this scheme than in most. Applicants returning from a career break often carry continuing caregiving responsibilities, and a two-year fellowship at an institution three hours away frequently ends in withdrawal.

How to apply for the Back-To-Lab fellowship

1. Identify a host research centre and a scientist mentor. The centre must differ from your PhD institution. Discuss the research plan with the mentor and obtain their signed declaration and consent.
2. Obtain the institutional endorsement from the head of the host institution, confirming laboratory access and support. If the host is a private institution, collect the compliance documents as well.
3. Assemble the career break certificate; documentary evidence of the break since your PhD and of current unemployment. This is the document most applicants underestimate; start it early with your last employer or institution.
4. Write the research proposal with a defined question, methodology, a two-year timeline and a budget mapped to the Rs 75,000 annual contingency.
5. Register on submit.kscste.kerala.gov.in, the KSCSTE digital proposal submission system, and create your account.
6. Complete the Back-To-Lab application form and upload the PhD certificate, post-graduate mark list, Kerala residence proof, publication or patent evidence, career break certificate, proposal, declarations, endorsement and, if claiming relaxation, the caste certificate.
7. Submit before the closing date and time and save the acknowledgement with the proposal reference number.

What happens after you apply

KSCSTE screens applications first for formal eligibility — sex, residence, degree, marks, publication, career break, unemployment, age and host institution. Applications clearing screening are assessed by subject experts on the merit and feasibility of the research proposal and the strength of the applicant-mentor fit.

Selected fellows receive a sanction routed through the host institution, which administers the fellowship and contingency and files utilisation certificates. Fellows submit progress reports and acknowledge KSCSTE support in resulting publications.

Why Back-To-Lab applications get rejected

• Career break not documented. A verbal account of the gap is not enough; the certificate is mandatory.
• Applicant is employed or holds another fellowship at the time of application.
• Age above 40 with no admissible relaxation, or a relaxation claimed without the caste certificate attached.
• Post-graduate marks below 60 per cent.
• Host institution is the PhD institution.
• Previously availed a post-doctoral fellowship.
• No SCI publication and no patent. This is a real barrier for women whose break began immediately after the doctorate, before papers from the thesis were published, and it is worth pushing thesis work into an SCI journal before applying.
• Missing mentor declaration or institutional endorsement.

Key dates

The most recent notified cycle closed on 31 December 2025 at 5 p.m., a date that was an extension of the original deadline. KSCSTE announces each Back-To-Lab call on the scheme page at kscste.kerala.gov.in/back-to-lab/. Because the eligibility documentation, particularly the career break certificate and the host endorsement: takes weeks to assemble, prospective applicants should begin preparing before the call is published rather than after.

Help and contact

• Women Scientists Division, KSCSTE: 0471 2548402
• Email: wsd1kscste@gmail.com or jaya.kscste@kerala.gov.in
• Address: KSCSTE, Sasthra Bhavan, Pattom, Thiruvananthapuram 695004
• Scheme page: kscste.kerala.gov.in/back-to-lab/
• Proposal portal: submit.kscste.kerala.gov.in

Back-To-Lab has no application fee. Applications are accepted only through the official KSCSTE portal, and selection is by expert evaluation. No agent or consultant can secure an award.