Minor Research Projects

CHRIST (Deemed to be University) in its pursuit of academic creativity and excellence has established independent Minor Research Projects for each of its core academic streams of Humanities and Social Sciences, Science, Commerce, Management, Law, and Engineering

Each Minor Research Project headed by the Dean/Assoc. of the respective stream who shall initiate and build capability for fundamental and applied research in areas concerning its stream. The Minor Research Project has the following specific objectives.

    To promote and facilitate research among faculty members of CHRIST (Deemed to be University)
    To serve as a resource centre providing professional guidance and technical support
    To carry out independent research on topics of academic and professional interest.
    To publish research material in appropriate media and to make available such published information to the end users.
    To develop and provide relevant database support to faculty members and postgraduate students pursuing doctoral and post doctoral research.
    To identify research areas and specify research topics of academic and practical significance.
    To provide financial support to the faculty members to undertake research studies and to prescribe regulations for its effective usage.

Faculty Research Programme

Faculty Research Programme, under Minor Research Project is a continuing programme and any eligible faculty member may apply for financial support with well-prepared proposals at any time during the academic period of June to April.

Research Project Time Cycle

Receipt of Application and Project Proposal by the HODs concerned. Initial scrutiny by the HOD and referral to the review committee constituted by him/her.Presentation of the proposal to the committee /department. The review committee will give its written comments to the HOD. Rectification of the proposal by the proposer, if needed: 2 weeks. HOD forwards the application and proposal to the Dean/Associate Dean concerned.
Dean/Associate Dean convenes meeting with the Chief Finance Officer and Office of Accounts for presentation of the proposal by the Applicant. The approval: 1 week.For approved applications- Completion of documentation, selection of start date, and release of the first instalment of financial support: 1 week. First Progress Report to be submitted to Office of Accounts, forwarded by the HOD, and Dean/Associate Dean and release of second instalment of financial support: 3 months from the start date.Second Progress Report to be submitted to Office of Accounts, forwarded by the HOD, and Dean, and release of third instalment of financial support: 6 months from the start date.Final Report presentation of the project and final release of the financial support: On completion of the project duration or on expiry of 12 months from the start date, whichever is earlier. The presentation of the final report is to be made to the Approval Committee Consisting of the respective Dean/Associate Dean, Chief Finance Officer, Representative from Office of Accounts, and HOD, Chaired by the Dean/Associate Dean. The Committee may approve/ask for modification or reject the report. In case of suggestion for modification or rejection, the report should be resubmitted with appropriate corrections with a months’ time. The final report should be submitted along with proof of a research paper sent for publication based on the project.

Minor Research Projects Guidelines and Conditions for Consideration of Research Proposals:

	Cycle 1	Cycle 2	Cycle 3
Last date to submit the Application and Proposal	10 January	10 June	10 September
Last date for the HODs to forward the Application and the Proposal to the Deans/Associate Deans concerned	20 January	20 June	20 September
Last date for convening of RDC Approval Committee meetings and final approval by the Committee	27 January	27 June	27 September
Last date for the completion of documentation, signing of agreement, selection of start date, and release of the first instalment of financial support	05 February	05 July	05 October
Last date for the submission of First Progress Report along with expenditure records	25 April	25 September	5 January
Last date for the submission of Second Progress Report along with expenditure records	05 August	5 January	05 April
Last date for the submission of Third Progress Report along with expenditure records	20 November	05 April	05 July
Last date submission of Final Report along with expenditure records	4 February	4 July	4 October
Last date for the presentation of the Report to the Approval Committee	14 February	14 July	14 October
Submission of the revised report, in case of suggested modifications.	13 March	13 August	13 November

Project Duration

Duration of the research project will be 6-12 months extendable up to a maximum of 3 months with prior written permission of the HOD and Dean/Associate Dean.

Funding Support by Minor Research Project

Minor Research Project

offers two types of financial support for Research:

Research expenses to meet the out of pocket cost of conducting the research including expenses on travel, data collection, printing and stationery, source materials etc. as detailed in the proposal subject to a maximum of Rs 30000/-(Rupees thirty thousand only). This amount will be disbursed as 25% in advance and the balance progressively, as detailed hereunder, based on actual expenditure incurred duly supported by proper vouchers. Admissibility of travel and related expenditure in this regard shall be as per University rules for official travel or 30% of the allowed limit of research expenses whichever less is.

Research allowance of Rs 2500/- per month for a period of 12 months from the start date of the project subject to submission of quarterly progress report. This allowance is exempt from Income Tax under Section 10(14) of the Act. No allowance shall be payable for the extended period, if any.

Research Expenses will be disbursed progressively as under.

    25% on signing the Agreement of Commitment & providing activity plan for the first three months.
    50% on satisfactory progress made, at the end of first three months
    25% on satisfactory progress made at the end of second three months.

The financial support of Rs 2500 (Rupees two thousand five hundred only) per month (up to maximum research period of 12 months from the start date) towards Research Allowance will be disbursed quarterly in arrears and first disbursement shall be due on satisfactory progress made, at the end of first three months and on that basis for subsequent three month periods.

Conditions Applicable

No special leave or sabbatical would be permissible.
No exemption from regular work assignments.
Agreement of Commitment to be executed. This is an undertaking by the faculty member concerned to complete the research within the specified or extended time period (up to three months under exceptional circumstances) and to refund the funded amounts in full in the event of discontinuing service during the research period or within a period of 2 years from the completion of the Research.
Progress Report with prescribed details to be submitted every three months till the completion of the Research.
Where the proposal is submitted jointly with any other faculty member, it would be treated as an individual proposal in the name of the principal investigator who shall be responsible for compliance of the regulations.
No new proposal shall be considered under the scheme where the proposer (principal investigator or the co investigator) is yet to complete an already approved proposal.
Under normal circumstances, repeat grant of Minor Research projects shall be given only after a gap of three years after the completion of the previous grant.
In case of HODs the Application should be given to the Dean/Associate Dean concerned, who shall constitute a Review committee for such proposals.

Eligibility

Any faculty member of the university who has put in a minimum of 2 years of continuous service and has been confirmed in service and does not have projects/grants from CHRIST (Deemed to be University) Centre for Research or any other agency.

Research Proposal

The research proposal must be relating to any subject in the field of study of the faculty member and must be contributing to academic advancement. Topics of practical significance that could evince industry interest would be preferred. The proposal must ideally be extendable as a PhD resource material. The research paper must be completed within a maximum time limit of 12-15 months from the start date of the proposal as accepted by the Minor Research Project.

Research proposal on a topic directly or indirectly associated with already completed MPhil or PhD thesis of the faculty member is unlikely to be considered.
Proposals not selected in its original form are eligible for resubmission after due revision as may be suggested by the review committee for approval.

Evaluation and Selection Criteria

Research proposals will be selected on the following criteria:

Capacity to contribute to the existing body of knowledge
Conceptual and theoretical soundness
Methodological rigor
Practical significance for application
Feasibility of the study in terms of time, scope, finance, etc

Procedure for Approval

The application and the proposal submitted by the faculty member with the prescribed details after initial scrutiny and rectification if any, will be advised for presentation by the Principal Investigator. After the presentation, the proposal will be reviewed by a Review Committee of the Department constituted by the HOD, and if felt necessary will be sent to a panel of external experts for further review. Based on such scrutiny and review, the proposal shall be either approved or be returned with suggestions for modification and resubmission or be rejected. The decision of the HOD/Dean/Assoc Dean shall be final and no communication shall be entertained on the matter. In case of interdisciplinary proposals the primary discipline indicated in the proposal shall be treated as the Department it belongs to. For accepted research proposals, the principal investigator will be formally advised (Annexure-1) detailing the terms and conditions of the approval. On compliance of the requirements detailed in the approval advice, approval note for financial support (Annexure-2) will be processed for payment authorization by the Finance Officer.

Submission Requirements

The Research Proposal must be submitted strictly in accordance with the guidelines and in the prescribed formats. Faculty members can submit proposals either individually or in a team of two, from the same department or from two different departments. In the case of joint research proposals, one of the faculty members will be the Principal Investigator. Principal investigator is obliged to meet all the contractual requirements of the project. Budgetary estimates for cost and time must be realistic and may be reviewed by the Research Committee effecting changes thereon. The project proposal must necessarily include the Application Form in the specified format (2 copies) and the Research Proposal with all details as specified (4 copies). Formats for these are available herein. In addition a soft copy of all the documents should be submitted in a CD-ROM.

NB: Kindly note that all the documents should be typed or word-processed (font: Arial. Size 12 point), single sided, one and a half space on A4 white paper. The length of the research proposal should not exceed 10 pages.

Application Form >>

Research Proposal Part I >>

Research Proposal Part II >>

Research Proposal Part III >>

Approval Letter >>

Agreement>>

Approval Note-Financial Support>>

Progress Report >>