Women's Instinct for Developing and Ushering in Scientific Heights & Innovation (WIDUSHI)

What is WIDUSHI?

Women's Instinct for Developing and Ushering in Scientific Heights & Innovation (WIDUSHI) is a programme of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) under the Ministry of Science and Technology, run through the WISE-KIRAN Division. According to DST, WIDUSHI supports senior women scientists, those who are retiring, have retired from government service, or are active researchers not holding a permanent position, so that their knowledge and experience continue to benefit science and society.

WIDUSHI provides a monthly fellowship of Rs 75,000 for Category A and Rs 85,000 for Category B, along with a research grant of Rs 5 lakh per year, one research assistant, and institutional overhead of Rs 1 lakh per annum. The support is extended for a project period of up to five years. The programme is part of DST's larger WISE-KIRAN (Women in Science and Engineering-KIRAN) umbrella, which addresses the under-representation of women in Indian science.

The distinctive feature of WIDUSHI is its focus on the later stage of a woman scientist's career. Many accomplished women researchers lose institutional support at retirement or never secure a permanent post despite an active research life. WIDUSHI gives them a fellowship, a grant and a research assistant to lead an independent project in interdisciplinary areas of science and technology.

Key features

• Monthly fellowship of Rs 75,000 (Category A) or Rs 85,000 (Category B).
• Research grant of Rs 5 lakh per year and Rs 1 lakh annual overhead.
• Support for one research assistant.
• Project duration of up to five years.
• Delivered through a host institution with a permanent-faculty Co-Investigator.

Who is eligible for WIDUSHI?

You can apply if:

• You are a woman scientist up to 62 years of age.
• You hold a Ph.D. in Basic or Applied Sciences or an equivalent degree.
• You have completed at least two R&D projects as Principal Investigator with an excellent track record.
• You are retiring, retired, or an active researcher not in a permanent position.
• You can secure a host institution and a Co-Investigator who is a permanent faculty member at that institution.

Category A applies to women scientists retiring or retired from government service. Category B applies to senior women scientists who are not in regular employment but are active, continuously excelling researchers.

You cannot apply if:

• You are over 62 years of age.
• You do not hold a Ph.D. in an eligible science discipline or an equivalent degree.
• You lack the required record of at least two R&D projects as Principal Investigator.
• You are a man or an early-career researcher — WIDUSHI is exclusively for senior women scientists, and other WISE-KIRAN schemes serve younger women.
• You cannot arrange a host institution and permanent-faculty Co-Investigator.

What documents are required for WIDUSHI?

How to apply for WIDUSHI

1. Prepare your research proposal in the WISE-KIRAN prescribed format, available on dst.gov.in and onlinedst.gov.in, choosing an eligible discipline.
2. Arrange a host institution willing to hold the project and a Co-Investigator who is a permanent faculty member there.
3. Go to the DST e-PMS portal at onlinedst.gov.in and complete New PI Registration to create your Principal Investigator account.
4. Fill in the online application, upload your proposal, Ph.D. certificate, project track record, publications and host-institution endorsement, and submit. Proposal submission is open throughout the year.
5. Your proposal is screened and then presented before a Programme Advisory Committee; selected projects receive a sanction letter from DST.

Because WIDUSHI is a research-funding programme rather than a personal cash benefit, individuals cannot receive money without an approved project and a host institution. There is no shortcut or agent route: everything runs through the DST e-PMS portal.

How much benefit does WIDUSHI provide?

The fellowship is Rs 75,000 per month for Category A (retiring/retired from government service) and Rs 85,000 per month for Category B (active researchers not in regular employment). On top of the fellowship, each project receives a research grant of Rs 5 lakh per year for consumables, travel and contingency, one research assistant, and Rs 1 lakh per annum as institutional overhead. The support is sanctioned for a project period of up to five years.

Funds are released to the host institution, which administers the fellowship and grant. The Principal Investigator is expected to produce research outputs and acknowledge DST support, in line with the WISE-KIRAN Division's terms.

Help and where to check details

WIDUSHI's amounts, categories and eligibility are set by the DST WISE-KIRAN Division and published in the official advertisement on dst.gov.in. For queries, the WISE-KIRAN Division can be reached at enquiry-wosdst@gov.in during office hours. Always confirm the current proposal format and terms on the official DST and e-PMS portals before applying, as details are revised from cycle to cycle.

How to check your application status

WIDUSHI runs on DST's e-PMS portal, so status tracking is done online, there is no offline or SMS-based route for this scheme.

1. Log in at onlinedst.gov.in using the Principal Investigator (PI) credentials created at the New PI Registration stage.
2. Open the "My Proposals" or applicant dashboard section, where every proposal submitted under your PI login is listed with its current stage.
3. The status shown typically moves through stages such as submitted, under screening, placed before the Programme Advisory Committee (PAC), and approved or not recommended. Exact labels can vary by cycle, so treat the portal's own wording as authoritative over any third-party description.
4. If a proposal has been under screening for an unusually long time with no change, or the portal shows an error, write to the WISE-KIRAN Division at enquiry-wosdst@gov.in, quoting your PI login ID or the proposal/application number generated at submission.
5. Once a proposal is approved, DST issues a sanction letter to the host institution, not to the individual applicant directly. Applicants should also confirm with their host institution's project/finance office that the sanction letter and first instalment have been received, since the fellowship and grant are released to the institution, which then disburses them.
6. Because WIDUSHI proposal cycles and committee meetings do not run on a fixed daily schedule, checking once every few weeks after submission is more useful than frequent daily checks; the e-PMS dashboard is updated only when a proposal actually moves to its next stage.

Common reasons for rejection

• Proposal does not meet the two-projects-as-PI requirement. Many rejections happen because the applicant was a Co-Investigator or team member on projects rather than the Principal Investigator. Fix: apply only once you can document at least two completed R&D projects where you were named PI, with sanction letters or completion certificates as proof.
• No confirmed host institution or Co-Investigator at submission. Proposals submitted without a willing host institution, or with a Co-Investigator who is not a permanent faculty member there, are turned back at screening. Fix: secure the institution's written consent and the Co-Investigator's confirmation before you start the online application, not after.
• Age exceeds 62 years at the time of application. WIDUSHI has a hard upper age limit; there is no relaxation category published for this scheme. Fix: apply well before turning 62, since processing and committee review take time even after submission.
• Research proposal not in the prescribed WISE-KIRAN format or discipline. Proposals written as generic project reports, or pitched in a discipline outside Physical/Mathematical Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Life Sciences, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Engineering and Technology, or S&T-based Societal Research, are weeded out at the screening stage. Fix: download the current format from dst.gov.in or onlinedst.gov.in for the live cycle and map your proposal section-by-section to it.
• Weak or undocumented publication and research track record. A thin publication list, or one without verifiable details (journal, year, indexing), makes it hard for the Programme Advisory Committee to judge research quality. Fix: attach a complete, verifiable list of publications and highlight work most relevant to the proposed project.
• Incomplete uploads on the e-PMS portal. Missing the Ph.D. certificate, track-record evidence, or the host-institution endorsement letter at the time of submission is a common technical rejection, since e-PMS does not always allow later addition of documents to an already-submitted proposal. Fix: assemble every required document before starting the online form so the full set can be uploaded in one sitting.
• Proposal not shortlisted by the Programme Advisory Committee on merit. Even complete, eligible applications compete for limited slots each cycle; a proposal can be rejected simply because the PAC ranked it below the funding cutoff. Fix: this is not a technical error to correct, applicants may revise and resubmit a stronger, more focused proposal in a later cycle.