Seed Money Policy

COIMBATORE – 641 114, Tamil Nadu, India

POLICY ON SEED MONEY / SHORT-TERM RESEARCH GRANT

Policy On Seed Money / Short-Term Research Grant

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1. PREAMBLE Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences (KITS) provides seed money to the newly joined faculty members and students with research aptitude to introduce them to the research and product development ecosystem. This was introduced in 2011 as decided by the Board of Research and Consultancy in its meeting held on 5 January 2011. Thereafter, the policy and the funding procedure underwent several revisions and the present policy is the latest, which is in vogue. The seed money projects of KITS mainly come under three heads, namely, short-term research grant sanctioned for a specific project, seed money granted to the faculty members to work with international students coming to Karunya under IAESTE and other programmes, and student seed money provided to students by Karunya as well as other agencies for the purpose of research and product development. So far, more than 500 faculty members have gained from the seed money/short-term research grants (STRG), apart from several students of Bachelor and Master degree programmes in KITS. 2. BUDGET FOR SEED MONEY/STRG KITS allocates an annual budget for seed money/STRG, which is operated by the Research Office. Whenever more applications are received, additional allocations are made during the course of the year to encourage the faculty members and student community in taking up research and product development activities. Apart from the budget allocated/expended by Karunya for seed money/STRG, funds from outside agencies are also made available to the students/faculty members for carrying out research project/product development.

Recognizing the need for collaborations in research and subsequent enhancement of citations, the faculty members are provided with seed money to work with the students from reputed institutions abroad and publish quality papers, and also to facilitate networking with other institutions.

3. GENERAL PROCEDURES FOR ALLOCATING SEED MONEY/STRG i)

Every year, the faculty members and students are invited to submit a concept note on the proposed project to be taken up under seed money/STRG.

ii)

The project concept submitted after an initial scrutiny by the Heads of Departments, is placed before the committee constituted specifically to scrutinize and sanction the projects.

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iii)

The investigators of the project/students present the proposal before the scrutiny committee and based on the merit of the project, sanction is communicated from the Office of Research.

iv)

The investigators/students shall submit a report at the end of the project after a presentation before the Department Research Committee (DRC).

v)

The progress of the project is reviewed periodically by senior faculty members and midcourse corrections suggested from time to time.

vi)

Investigators/students are encouraged to publish papers in journals of repute or file patents or initiate startups based on the outcome of the seed money projects.

vii) Investigators/students are also encouraged to submit larger projects to funding agencies based on the results/experience gained from implementing seed money/STRG.

4. ADMINISTRATIVE AND FINANCIAL PROCEDURES i)

A project report shall be submitted at the end of the project to the Dean of the respective School through HoD.

ii)

Presentations shall be made before the DRC

iii)

The DRC shall monitor the progress of work once in a fortnight.

iv)

International publications/ patents shall emanate from the project.

v)

A major project proposal shall evolve from the seed funding.

vi)

Stationery / photocopying shall not exceed 5% of the total grant.

vii)

All the equipment purchased shall form part of the common facility and made available for the use by others in the Department concerned

viii) The consumables procured shall be used only for the sanctioned project. ix)

A project file shall be maintained for scrutiny by the authorities, and accounts be properly kept.

x)

At the end of the project, all financial details shall be submitted to the Finance Officer through the HoD.

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5. SEED MONEY FOR JOINT PROJECTS WITH INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS i)

The faculty members are also provided seed money to carry out joint research work with international students coming to KITS under IAESTE programme, of which Karunya is a Permanent Member. An average of 30 students from reputed universities/institutions from abroad come to Karunya every year under the IAESTE programme. The faculty members are provided seed money to facilitate the students and carry out joint research with them leading to standard publications and reports. This exercise has also helped the faculty members in networking with the reputed faculty members in the educational institutions aboard.

ii)

The foreign students are provided stipend, accommodation at subsidized rates, and all research facilities to work with the faculty member, from whom the request is received for assigning a student from abroad.

iii)

Students of Karunya are also given opportunity to go abroad with stipend under the IAESTE programme and involve in short-term research works.

6. SEED MONEY FOR PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT Apart from sanctioning seed money for research leading to publications, seed money is also sanctioned to the faculty for coming out with products and patents. The procedure followed for sanctioning the seed money for product development is the same as for sanctioning seed money for research projects.

7. SEED MONEY FOR PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IN THE AREA OF HEALTHCARE i)

Seed money is sanctioned to the students for developing products and processes relevant to the healthcare sector.

ii)

The Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital have sponsored several such projects to be carried out exclusively by the student community under the guidance of a faculty member. The experts from Harvard Medical School visit Karunya frequently to conduct hackathons and to guide the students in their activities related to innovation in the healthcare sector.

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