1. The Indo-Australian Career Boosting Gold Fellowships (IACBG-Fellowships) is an initiative of the Government of India through the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology; with in kind support from the Australian Government, Australia, through the Department of Industry, Innovation, Climate Change, Science, Research and Tertiary Education. Under this initiative, the Government of India will fund ten (10) researchers from India. The fellowships support travel to undertake a collaborative research project at a leading science institute or university in the Australia for a period of 24 months, commencing in 2016.
2. This Program is open to applicants based in India who are employed on a full time basis (need not be permanent employees) but have not accrued more than five (5) years employment in a research role since being awarded their PhD.
3. Ten (10) Fellowships will be awarded in total annually, for applicants from India who have identified an opportunity to undertake a high quality, technically feasible and strategically valuable research project with a collaborating organisation in Australia.
4. In the first call, priority will be given to projects that are relevant to one of the following thematic areas and topics:
Agricultural Biotechnology
- abiotic and biotic stress tolerance in crops
- crop improvement for nutrition and biomaterials
- germplasm sources for adaptability to climate extremes
- disease resistance.
- biofuels
Medical biotechnology
- bioresourcing of novel antimicrobials from natural resources
- developing novel & improved vaccines delivery platforms
- diagnostics - affordable and rapid diagnostics for genetic and infectious diseases; and
- drug discovery and delivery system
- biomedical devices & implants for therapeutic applications.
- stem cells/regenerative medicines
5. However, applications that identify an opportunity to collaborate with a leading Australia research institution/university in another research area not listed will be considered for support under this program
6. Applicants will need to demonstrate that access to the requisite knowledge/expertise, skills and facilities has been agreed by their host, the value of such access and the prospects for ongoing development of the partnership and the benefits this will bring to India.