The ANRF-National Post Doctoral Fellowship (N‑PDF) is aimed at identifying motivated young researchers and providing them with support for doing research in frontier areas of science and engineering. The fellows will work under a mentor, and it is hoped that this training will provide them a platform to develop as independent researchers.

• The fellowship is tenable only in India and can be implemented in any of the recognized academic institutions, national laboratories and other recognized R & D institutions. The host institution should provide necessary administrative and infrastructural support.
• Selected candidates must join the Institution within 3 months from the date of the declaration of results.
• Change of Institute and change of Mentor will not be considered after the declaration of results.
• The fellowship is purely a temporary assignment and is tenable for a period of 2 years.
• Research grant can be used for minor equipment, consumables, contingencies and domestic travel. There is no provision for providing research personnel support under this scheme. The Fellow is expected to undertake the research objectives by himself/​herself during the entire duration of the fellowship.
• The fellows are not eligible to receive any other fellowship from any Government or Non-Governmental source during the tenure of the fellowship.
• The fellows must seek the consent of ANRF if he/​she intends to be away from the implementing institute (except for field work related to the project) continuously for a period of more than eight weeks.

• The applicant should be an Indian citizen.
• The applicant must have obtained Ph.D./M.D/M.S degree from a recognized University. Those who have submitted their PhD/M.D/M.S thesis and are awaiting the award of the degree are also eligible to apply. However, such candidates, if selected, will be offered a lower fellowship amount till they qualify for the eligible degree.
• Must have published at least two papers by the time of submission of the application.
• The upper age limit for the fellowship is 35 years at the time of the submission of application; age will be calculated by taking the date of closure of the respective call. Age relaxation of 5 (five) years will be given to candidates belonging to SC/​ST/​OBC/​Physically Challenged & Women candidates.
• In addition to meeting the age criteria, applicants will be allowed to apply for NPDF only within five years from the date of their Ph.D. viva-voce.
• NPDF can be availed of only once by a candidate in his/​her career.
• Mentor must hold a regular academic/​research position in a recognised institution in India. Should hold Ph.D. degree in Science or Engineering.
• The fellows will not be allowed to work with the Ph.D. guide/co-guide. It is also not availed at the same Department / institution where the candidates have earned their PhD/M.S/M.D degree.
• A mentor shall not supervise more than two ANRF-NPDF fellows at any given time. Mentors who already have two ongoing NPDFs will not be eligible to serve as mentors for new applications.
• A mentor may submit a maximum of two applications in a single call.
• Candidates who applied for any regular grants like PMECRG, ARG, IRG, etc. in the past are not eligible to apply for NPDF.

For successful online submission of the application the following points may be noted:

• Applicants should first register into the online website click here to register
• After log-in, applicants are required to fill all the mandatory fields in Profile Detail section under User Profile. which includes Bio-data, Photo, Institute Address etc.
• Please ensure that your proposed Mentor is registered into the system by following the same procedure. After log-in, Mentor is required to fill all the mandatory fields in Profile Detail section under User Profile. which includes Bio-data, Photo, Institute Address etc.
• Details including Project Title (max 500 characters), Project summary (max 3000 characters), Keywords (max 6), Objectives of project (max 1500 characters), and Expected output and outcome of the proposal (max 1500 characters) should be provided online at the time of submission of the application.
• Work Methodology and Research plan has to be uploaded in single PDF file not more than 3 pages (max 10 MB).
• For details one may visit http://​anr​fon​line​.in/​A​N​R​F​/npdf
• Please ensure that your proposed Mentor is registered into the system by following the same procedure as PI. After log-in, Mentor is required to fill all the mandatory fields in Profile Detail section under User Profile. which includes Bio-data, Photo, Institute Address etc.

For more details click here