The Ministry of Education, Research and Innovation Division, Government of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India renewed the Programme of Cooperation (PoC) in Science and Technology, on August 14^th 2022. In terms of the PoC, funding can be made available for selected Joint S&T workshop proposals in bilateral mode involving scientist & technologists from India and Sri Lanka, in the following areas:

1. Food Technology
2. Plant base medicines
3. Robotics & Automation
4. Renewable Energy
5. Waste Management
6. Information and Communication Technology
7. Sustainable Agriculture
8. Aerospace Engineering
9. Big data analysis
10. Artificial intelligence
11. Any other area of S&T with national relevance (with Justifications)

The Ministry of Education, Research and Innovation Division and DST (hereinafter referred to as the “Implementing Agencies”) hereby invite Indian and Sri Lankan scientists/researchers to submit proposals for Bilateral Workshops in any of the above areas in terms of the provisions herein set out.

1. APPLICATIONS

a. An Application shall –

1. be for a Joint S&T Workshop as herein provided
2. be made simultaneously by a counterpart Team in each country as hereinafter provided
3. be made by the Leader of a team of scientists in each country (Team Leader), to the respective Implementing Agency of his/her country, simultaneously. Both Applications shall be identical. Since all proposals are joint proposals, it is expected that consultations would have been held between relevant counterpart Institutions in the other country prior to the submission of an Application
4. be in English and shall be in the Form prescribed by the relevant Implementing Agency
5. be required to be submitted by the dates set out below

b. Important dates:

Starting date of Call: 01 September 2024 (IST)

Closing date of Call: 15 October 2024, 5:30 PM (IST)

c. How to Apply:

1. For Sri Lanka applicants
   • The completed Application Form and all relevant, clearly labeled attachments should be forwarded to motrird[at]gmail[dot]com in a single email by 15 October 2024.
   • Two (02) hard copies should be forwarded to the relevant Implementing Agency by 15 October 2024.
   • Only applications endorsed by the competent authority will be accepted.

ii. For India Applicants

          Interested Indian applicants should:

• Submit their proposals on format available at www.onlinedst.gov.in by 5:30 PM IST on 15 October 2024. After registration, they should move to scheme and format section where details about this call would be available in the International Cooperation (bilateral).
• Applicants should ensure that their applications with identical titles has been submitted by their Sri Lanka partners to the Ministry of Education, Research & Innovation Division by due date.
• Only applications endorsed by the competent authority will be accepted.
• Applications which are not submitted on online e-PMS portal will not be accepted. There is no need to submit any hard copies to DST.

d. An Application shall be rejected if –

1. the Application required to be submitted by email and the hard copies thereof are not received by the respective Implementing Agency by the dates mentioned above.
2. It is not in the Format prescribed by the relevant implementing Agency
3. It is incomplete and does not contain the information required to be submitted in terms of the prescribed Form to enable an assessment to be conducted.
4. If applicants submit multiple applications against this call.

2. BI- LATERAL WORKSHOPS

a. Requirements of Workshops

A Bilateral Workshop Shall –

• be on a theme which falls within any of the above area
• should have a co- organizer from India and Sri Lanka
• should be for participants from both countries. It is expected that the host country will have a large number of participants than from the visiting country.
• There shall be only one Co-PI and that should be from the Institution of PI. The Co-PI is compulsory for each side. In case, PI is unable to organize the workshop then the Co-PI of the same Institution shall organize it within the given time frame.
• PI needs to submit the tentative schedule and list of speakers (PAN India) along with the proposal. It shall be helpful for the committee to take their decision.
• If the proposal gets recommended, PI needs to submit the required documents to their respective funding agencies within 3 months. After receiving the funds, PI shall not take more than 12 months to organize the workshop otherwise his candidature shall be cancelled.

b. Financial support available

Funding will cover the following expenses –

1. International return economy airfare for participants will be met by the sending country.
2. The medical and travel insurance of the visiting participants will be met by the sending country
3. Local hospitalities including accommodation, local transport and per diem etc. for visiting scientists will be met by the host country
4. Local Organizational expenses (as per recommendation of assessment committee) will be met by the host country
5. Maximum budget per project may be up to INR 7 Lakhs for Indian Side and 2.5 Million Sri Lankan Rupees for Sri Lankan side.

*“Host Country” is the country in which the workshop will be held.

**“sending country” is the country from which participants will be sent to attend the workshop.

3. ASSESSMENT OF APPLICATIONS

The following procedure will be followed in assessing valid Applications-

1. All valid Applications will be submitted for peer review process and shall be referred to an independent Advisory Panel thereafter for rating in terms of the criteria set out in paragraph (e) below.
2. Applications that attain a positive rating will be eligible to be considered for funding
3. A Joint Committee comprising representative of the implementing Agencies will, upon a consideration of the rating, determine which proposals will receive funding. Such a decision will subject to availability of funds.
4. Decisions made by the Joint Committee shall be final.
5. The criteria that will be taken into consideration for rating are the following-

1. Conformity of the project objectives with national policy
2. State of scientific capacity
3. Rationale for cooperation
4. Novelty of scientific
5. Benefits of project including:
   
   1. Industrial development
   2. Technology capacity building
   3. Science and technology human resource development
6. Budget requested
7. Approval and support by host institutions
8. Feasibility of proposal; and
9. Profile of Team Leaders/PIs

4. When an Application is selected for funding support, the respective Implementing Agencies will notify the Team Leader of the project, accordingly.

5. DOCUMENTS TO BE SUBMITTED ARE AS FOLLOWS:

• Undertaking by the Heads of the collaborating Institutions (As per given format, Annexure-I)
• CV of the Indian PI and Co-PI (as per the given format, Annexure-II)
• CV of the Sri Lankan PI and Co-PI (as per the given format, Annexure-II)
• Proposed Schedule of workshop and list of speakers

6. Contact Details: The following may be connected for further details and clarifications, if any-