AIOU Internal Funded Research Project Grant

a)      Eligibility Criteria

1. All regular faculty members and faculty members serving on long contract (3 years) are eligible to apply for this program.However, the faculty members serving on short contract (six months contract) can either submit a project as co-investigator with a regular faculty member
2. The regular faculty members can submit more than one research projects, but one faculty member shall receive funding for only one research project (of their choice) in a fiscal year.
3. The respective head of the department shall ensure research project completion and grant adjustment in case a contractual position faculty member leaves the University. Faculty members retiring in the same fiscal year shall not be entitled to receive research project grant.
4. The grant shall not be approved on submission of student synopsis.
5. The research project leading towards MPhil or PhD research degree of the faculty member shall not be entertained.
6. The research project requiring building infrastructure shall not be entertained.
7. The faculty members on study leave during the said fiscal year shall not be entitled for research project grant.
8. The Research Officers, Research Assistant, Research Associate and other such type of staff members shall not be entitled for research project grant. As for Research Officer/Research Assistants the appointment and job requirement by itself require research work and they are hired against the same.

b)     Grant Amount

The faculty members shall get grant as per following details:

*PI can request URSC for the continuation of the research project for another one year with enhanced goals/targets which could lead to impactful outcomes such as commercialization and benefit to the end-users. However, PI should submit complete fund utilization and progress report of the first year along with requestfor further grant, if required, not exceeding the amount mentioned in the above table. Such submissions shall also go through review process as mentioned below.

c)      Review Process

1. The research project shall be considered for each fiscal year. Preference shall be given to the projects which revolve around ODL and the AIOU research areas.
2. The application should reach ORIC office after grant call through proper channel i.e. routed through head of department and Dean of the Faculty.
3. The ORIC shall maintain a database of the received applications and no applications shall be considered after deadline.
4. ORIC shall forward to at-least one reviewer within or outside AIOU University. The URSC shall fix remuneration for the external reviewers. A list of reviewers shall be maintained by ORIC in this regard.
5. The overall score for review of the research project shall be 100, distributed equally on the following five scoring criteria:
6. Significance 
7. Investigator/Researcher
8. Innovation 
9. Approach
10. Environment
11. The decision shall be taken on the application based on overall score provided by the reviewer for which the criterion is as under:

• The submission of research projects for grant after the deadline (as may be fixed) shall not be considered.
• The projects shall be evaluated, and University Research Support Committee meeting shall be called who shallfinalize the approval of projects. Decision shall be communicated to the Principal Investigator within a month of the decision.  

d)     Financial Management

1. Approved funds under AIOU funded Research Project Grants shall be released in one installment by the treasurer office.
2. Treasurer section shall send a copy of Funds Release Letter along with copy of cheque to ORIC, AIOU for file record, reference and for future correspondence with P.I
3. Utilization of the research project grant would be in accordance with/in line budget proposal.
4. Sanctioning powers are to be held by P.I of the project and he shall be responsible.
5. The Principal Investigator can utilize up to 10% from the allocated grant of research project for contingencies.
6. The admissible contingency grant may be utilized on spares for apparatus, photo copies, typing, stationary, postage, telephone calls, internet, fax, computation and printing needed in connection with the project. However, major procurement cost shall not be met from this head.
7. After completion of project, the unutilized grant if any may be refunded immediately through a cheque to Treasurer Office. A copy of cheque shall also be submitted to ORIC.
8. The Principal Investigator is expected to settle the accounts immediately on completion of the project.
9. Principal Investigator shall be required to submit project completion report to the committee and grant adjustment to the treasurer office.
10. The Treasurer office shall issue a certificate for adjustment of the amount of research project grant by the Principal Investigator and provide a copy of the same to the ORIC.
11. Any expenditure incurred prior to the issuance of the approval letter and after the expiry of life of the project shall not be admissible.

e)      General Administration

1. All internal research projects shall be administered under the general rules of AIOU and as per all applicable SOPs of the research projects.
2. Once the project is approved and started in the University, it shall not be transferred to any other University/Institution.
3. In case, the P.I leaves the university, Co-PI may be inducted into the project with prior approval of the ORIC. However, he/she shall not be entitled to take over as P.I except in the incident of death or disability of P.I. Any P.I who wants to go for any assignment outside the country, shall inform ORIC for further necessary action to obtain NOC from ORIC.
4. In the absence of Principal Investigator, Co-Investigator shall act as Principal Investigator for smooth execution of Project activities subject to completion of all codal formalities from respective ends.
5. All research publications under the Project shall be reported to ORIC and PI shall have to publish their research papers in HEC approved Journals/ISI index journals.
6. The Books and Journals acquired by the Principal Investigator under any project funded this grant must be deposited to the central library at the end of the project. They shall become institutional property.
7. Approval of grant for the next research project shall be contingent upon:
8. Submission of project completion report to the committee.
9. Adjustment of grant to the Treasurer Office, verification by the Audit Department and the report to be submitted to the ORIC by the Treasurer Office.
10. Publication acceptance for publication of a paper in an impact factor or HEC approved Journal (maximum within one year after receiving the grant).
11. MS/MPhil/PhD student passed out
12. Any policy document/ report documented based on this project
13. Any product/Prototype
14. Linkages created as a result or through this project
15. The Project Proposal Evaluation proforma is attached.

f)       Project Procurement

1. All procurements shall be made as per PPRA rules and regulations.
2. All procurements for the Rs. 0.5 million or above shall be made as per PPRA rules and regulations and through normal AIOU purchase procedure. However, procurement for less than Rs. 0.5 million may be made through the project procurement committee.  The project procurement committee must have members as listed in Section 7(e).
3. All equipment/furniture and fixture shall be the property of the University and be entered in the university stock register.
4. P.I shall maintain a project stock register and shall be liable to provide the same at the time of annual audit.
5. All procurements shall be made as per approved Project document and no extra provision shall be granted. P.I shall initiate the request for procurement of any equipment/consumables as per project document through ORIC which shall be verified, approved and sent to Purchase & Store section for further necessary action.
6. Purchase & Store section shall maintain a separate data base of scientific equipment to be procured under the projects and shall share the details with ORIC as and when demanded.
7. Duplication of the scientific equipment shall be discouraged and P.I shall be requested to replace the equipment with some other option(s)/up gradation.
8. The equipment grant may be used to procure essential equipment needed for the proposed research work (as listed in the proposal).
9. The escalation, if any, in the cost of approved equipment may be met out of savings/re-appropriation from other heads after getting the prior approval of the ORIC
10. The equipment acquired by the Principal Investigator under this program must be returned to University at the end of the project and it would become as institutional property.

g)      Human Resource Management

Same as per Section7e.

h)     Monitoring and Evaluation

1. ORIC team shall visit the project site periodically and prepare the review report for the university authorities.
2. After completion of six months of the project (from the date of starting), a detailed Progress report of research project along with funds utilization report must be submitted to ORIC for internal audit
3. After completion of the project, a final progress report along with funds utilization report duly signed by the P.I must be submitted to ORIC for internal audit and endorsement of the Director, ORIC. The same shall be submitted to registrar office.