1.Introduction

The Indian Space programme has the primary objective of developing space technology and application programmes to meet the developmental needs of the country. This involves development of various technologies, realization of new designs, development through extensive analysis and validation of the designs through experimental, computational set-ups and qualifying such designs for space applications. Apart from developing technologies in high technology areas using in-house resources, ISRO also utilizes the intellectual base available in the Indian industries, academia and autonomous research establishment.

ISRO has a long standing association with academia in the ongoing activities and it is essential to strengthen the existing association with academia and also to expand the foot print of space activities in the country. Accordingly, ISRO is in the process of setting up of six ISRO Chairs at Academia to cater to the emerging technology development needs.

ISRO solicits proposal from the Academic Institutes to set up ISRO Chair in response to this Announcement of Opportunity call for establishment of the ISRO Chairs.

2.Objectives of the AO

This Announcement of Opportunity (AO) is for the establishment of ISRO Research Chairs at Academia. The proposals are solicited from the Academic Institutes to set up ISRO Chair in response to this Announcement of Opportunity call for establishment of the ISRO Chair.

3. Selection of the Institute for establishing ISRO Research Chair

• It is planned to establish six ISRO Research Chairs, one each in the six geographically distributed zones of India namely North, South, East, West, Central India and North East regions of the country.
• The institutes interested in the establishment of ISRO Chair should have excellent record in academic programmes and research activities. The institute should be capable to conduct research and educational activities covering the broader areas of space sciences, engineering systems, space applications and space technology.
• ISRO has established ISRO Centres in various parts of the country. ISRO is also in the process of setting up of six Regional Academic Centre for Space (RAC-S) at Kurukshetra, Jaipur, Kanyakumari, Patna, Guwahati and Varanasi and Space technology Incubation Centres (S-TIC) at Jalandhar, Indore, Nagpur, Tiruchirapalli, Bhubaneswar and Agartala in the country to cater to the emerging technology development needs. In order to provide a pan India coverage of space activities, the institute for the establishment of ISRO Chair would be preferably selected from a State/Union Territory, where currently there is no presence of space related activity/Centre or from Tier-II cities where there is no major ISRO/DOS centre is located.

4. Selection of ISRO Chair Professor

• Once an academic institute is selected to set up the ISRO research Chair, an annual grant of Rs 12.00 lakhs will be provided to the institute towards the honorarium of the ISRO Research Chair Professor and other associated activities.
• The Research Chair professor will be selected by a committee constituted for the same. The position of the Chair Professor is open to outstanding Scientist/Engineers/Academicians who have superannuated from regular service/serving with an excellent track record and a good understanding in research and development activities in Space Science, Space technology and Space Applications.
• A committee with Vice Chancellor/Director of the Institute as Chairman and Co-chaired by Director, CBPO, ISRO HQ; two members drawn from ISRO and the respective Institute and two external experts as members shall review the merits of applications and recommend a most suitable candidate.
• The tenure of a Chair Professor will be for a maximum period of five years but the actual tenure of the Chair Professor will be decided based on the recommendations of the selection committee. The maximum permitted age limit for applying for the post of Chair Professor is 65 (sixty five) years or below. The maximum age of Chair Professor can continue in the post is 70 years.
• The Chair professor has to undertake a yearly review and submit the annual report mentioning the activities carried under his professorship during the year.
• The Chair Professor will be available on all the working days and will be governed by the general rules of the University.

5.Responsibilities of Chair Professor

• The responsibilities of Chair professor would be to get involved in research in any discipline (s) of Space Science, Space Technology and Space Applications
• To create awareness about ISRO Programmes amongst the students /research scholars about Indian Space Research Activities through seminars and workshops.
• To create awareness and build up specialized knowledge base amongst the academicians, students, research scholars with special emphasis to Space Programme.
• To take lectures for the post graduation courses and guide the PhD projects.

6.Funding Model

An annual grants of ₹12.00 Lakhs will be provided to the Institute which includes consolidated honorarium of ₹70,000/month, contingency grant of ₹60,000/year, Travel grant of ₹1.00 Lakh /year, others (towards conduct of seminars , symposia, workshops and supporting activities) ₹2.00 Lakhs/year. Utilisation certificate shall be given to ISRO on annual basis.

7.Proposal Submission

Two copies of the Proposal to set up the ISRO Research Chair in the specified format (Annexure 1) are to be submitted by the Head of Institution to

Director,

Capacity Building Programme Office,

ISRO HQ, Antariksh Bhavan,

New BEL Road,

(send the advance signed pdf copy by Email to:dir[dot]cbpo[at]isro[dot]gov[dot]in)

The last date for receiving the proposal by post (setting up of ISRO Research Chair) through proper channel with the following details (see the format) is  March 08,2019

8. Selection process:

Proposers who satisfy the eligibility criteria for the establishment of ISRO Chair will be evaluated by the ISRO Selection Committee and the recommended institutes will be contacted for further consideration by Capacity Building Programme Office, ISRO HQ. An MoU have to be entered into between ISRO and the academic institution after the final selection of the Institute for the establishment of ISRO Research Chair.

The format for preparation of proposal is given in Annexure-1

Format for Submitting the Proposal

Annexure 1

1	Name of the Institute
2	Institutional Address for Correspondence              Postal Address        District        State/ Union territory        Email ID        Phone Number        Website
3	Whether the Institution/University is a Government Institution or a Non-Government Institution?
4	Board of Governors
5	Strength of the Institute No. of Faculty Members        Teaching        Non Teaching No. of Students
6	Departments/Details of the Educational Programs:        Graduate        Post Graduate        Doctoral        Post Doctoral        Inter-disciplinary courses
7	Details of the Infrastructure / Facilities /Labs at the Institute
8	List of the sponsored projects carried out/ being carried out by the Institute Under: ISRO and other funding agency (Attach separate list if necessary)
9	Whether the institute hosts any Chairs in any discipline for any of the Departments? (If so, please provide the details)
10	Brief write up about the Institute (500 words)
11	I/We have carefully read the terms and conditions for setting up of ISRO Research Chair and agree to abide by it. It is certified that if the Institute is selected for Establishment of ISRO Research Chair, all the basic facilities including administrative support, required infrastructure and other amenities available at our Institution will be extended to the Chair

Name	Designation	Signature
Name of the Applicant Institute
Head of the Institution