• Applicants [Principal Investigator (PI) and / or Co-Principal Investigator(s) (Co-PI(s))] should be Indian citizens. Foreign nationals (including OCI and NRI) are also eligible to apply provided they fulfil the eligibility criteria notified by SERB (SERB Funding Guidelines for foreign nationals dated 27th Oct 2016 ).
• The applicant(s) must hold a regular academic/research position in a recognized academic institution or national laboratory or in any other recognized R&D institution in India with at least 5 years of service remaining. The term "Regular" refers to the applicants who are appointed against the sanctioned post or in a tenure post, but are likely to be renewed after the end of the tenure.
• Private Academic institutions with valid UGC / AICTE / PCI approval, Private R&D Institutions with valid DSIR-SIRO recognition and Voluntary and Non-Governmental Organizations registered under NITI-AAYOG Darpan portal are eligible to host a project.
• Faculties recruited through UGC-Faculty Recharge Program are eligible to apply. INSPIRE Faculty, Ramanujan and Ramalingaswamy Fellows, Research Associates, Ad-hoc faculties, Guest Faculty, Visiting Scientist, consultant, Project Fellows and Faculty members whose contract is renewed every year are not eligible. In respect of cases that are not mentioned here, SERB reserves the right to determine the eligibility
• The PI and Co-Investigator(s) should hold Ph.D. degree in Science, Mathematics, Engineering or M.D / M.S. / M.D.S. / M.V.Sc degree at the time of applying for grant.
• The term "Regular" in the context of `scheme refers to the applicants who are appointed against the sanctioned post or in a tenure post, but are likely to be renewed after the end of the tenure.
• [Note: Research Associates, Ad-hoc faculties, Guest Faculty, Visiting Scientist, consultant, Project Fellows and Faculty members whose contract is renewed every year are not eligible. In respect of cases that are not mentioned above, SERB reserves the right to determine the eligibility]
• Academic and research institutions are encouraged to submit competitive proposals having a strong interdisciplinary component. Proposals involved with web lab component, one of the participating institutions should have access to BSL-3 and above facilities, along with expertise of handling respiratory viruses as per WHO/Govt. of India protocols.

• Research grant of Rs. 25 lakh (including overheads) for a period of One year.

• Proposals should be submitted through SERB online portal (www.serbonline.in)
• Proposals will be initially screened for the competence of PI, suitability and scope prior to peer-review.
• Projects concerning other pathogens will not be considered in this call.
• Projects will be evaluated on first-come basis

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

• PI should first register into the online website.  click here to register
• If you have CO-PI in your proposal then ensure that all the CO-PI's are also registered into the system following the same procedure.
• Some of the details of your proposal like Project Title (max 500 characters), Project summary (max 3000 characters), Keywords (max 6), Objectives of project (max 1500 characters), Expected output and outcome of the proposal (max 1500 characters), Budget (Research Personnel, Consumables, Travel, Equipment, Contingency, Overheads ) have to be entered at the time of proposal submission.
• Other relevant information of the proposal has to be uploaded in single PDF file not more than 10 MB as other technical document (OTD). Download Template

• Biodata (under user profile section) Download Template
• Certificate from Principal Investigator Download Template
• Endorsement Letter from the Head of Institution Download Template
• If project is approved for SERB support, the Quotations of the approved equipment need to be uploaded within one month of the date of the Approval Letter.