The CDRI Fellowship Programme is an initiative by CDRI to promote research and development on real-world problems of building resilient infrastructure. In a year, CDRI offers up to 20 Fellowships and provides a one-time grant of up to US$ 15,000 per Fellowship. CDRI Fellowship is open to the citizens of CDRI Member Countries, without any constraints of educational qualification, affiliation or professional experience. To apply for the Fellowship, eligible candidates should submit their proposals through the online Fellowship application portal.

The CDRI Fellowship Programme aims to encourage the development of solutions for disaster resilience of infrastructure. The outcomes are expected to be practically implementable and should advance the knowledge on disaster resilient infrastructure. These solutions should focus on various aspects such as recovery and reconstruction, resilience planning, life cycle of project development, policy formulation and financing of resilience in infrastructure.

In addition to the Fellowship amount of up to US$15,000, CDRI Fellows will become part of CDRI's global network. They may be invited to present their project outcomes at the annual International Conference on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (ICDRI) hosted by CDRI. Fellows may also be sponsored to present their outcomes at other prestigious international conferences or seminars.

CDRI Fellowship is open to all nationals/citizens/passport-holders/permanent residents of CDRI Member Countries. The candidates can be students, scholars, faculty or researchers from academic institutes, practitioners from government agencies, service agencies, non-governmental organizations, private organizations and community workers. Fellowship applicants can only be part of up to two projects proposals submitted for consideration in a year. Educational qualification or professional experience is no bar. Notably, the applicants will have to submit a 'letter of endorsement' from a recognized academic or research institute/government organization.

National governments that have endorsed the CDRI Charter are CDRI Member Countries. The updated list is available at https://www.cdri.world/members

Eligible candidates can apply for the CDRI Fellowship Programme irrespective of their level of education, professional background or current occupation. However, the research topic must be relevant to disaster resilient infrastructure and applicants have to provide a letter of endorsement from a recognized academic or research institute/ government organization. It would be ideal for the applicants to be affiliated to the endorsing institute.

The CDRI Fellowship Programme does not intend to provide funding for Master’s/PhD courses. However, all eligible candidates, including Master’s and PhD students, can apply for the CDRI Fellowship. The Fellowship grant is intended to support only project-related activities and deliverables.   

The CDRI Fellowship Programme encourages the development scalable solutions across all aspects of building resilient infrastructure: life cycle of project development in the disaster context, policy and standard formulation, financing for disasters, inclusive people-centred infrastructure design, nature-based solutions, technological innovations for building back better. Holistic and future-focused approaches to design and development of infrastructure in the face of global transitions and climate change are relevant to the Fellowship.

For each accepted proposal, the CDRI Fellowship provides a one-time grant of up to US$15,000 (or equivalent) in two equal instalments. The first instalment will be granted after the final acceptance of the proposal by the International Jury. The second instalment will be disbursed on satisfactory performance in the second quarterly progress review. This amount is inclusive of all costs, overheads for the endorsing institute, taxes, duties, etc. The institute/organization which issues the Letter of Endorsement may be paid an administrative overhead of up to 15 percent of the Fellowship grant. This is included in the Fellowship grant.

CDRI will disburse the Fellowship grant to applicants in two instalments through online transaction to the Institute/Organization, which issues the Letter of Endorsement for the Fellowship application.

The projects under the CDRI Fellowship should be completed within 12 months from the start date of the Fellowship Cohort. Generally, no extension is permitted in the duration of the project; however, in extraordinary situations, CDRI may consider an extension of project duration for not more than six months. There shall be no increase in the Fellowship amount due to extension of the duration of the Fellowship.

The applicants are expected to appropriately acknowledge CDRI in the research publications arising out of the research conducted under the CDRI Fellowship Programme. In addition, the completion report submitted by the Fellows will be the intellectual property of CDRI.

An applicant can only be part of up to two proposals at any given time. An applicant cannot be part of a third proposal if previous two proposals are under review or already awarded and inprogress. A proposal will be treated as complete only if project closure report has been accepted by CDRI.

A proposal can have up to five team members. However, the amount of Fellowship will remain fixed at up to US$15,000 for each accepted proposal. The proposal must clearly describe contribution percentage and roles of each team member. A team will be represented by a Team Lead, who would be responsible for all communications with CDRI Secretariat regarding the project. Any change in the composition of the team during the fellowship tenure must have prior approval from the CDRI Secretariat.

The Fellowship is open to candidates from CDRI Member Countries, and CDRI may collaborate with institute/organizations to facilitate smooth execution of the Fellowship Programme, including due diligence of applicants, transfer of grants, provision of research facilities, review of ongoing project, testing of prototypes or field testing, as required. In the long term, CDRI may also intend to collaborate with these organizations for capacity building in disaster resilient infrastructure.

Applicants are required to propose a mentor(s) for their project, who should have demonstrated expertise and reputation in the relevant domain(s). Mentors are expected to provide regular feedback and guidance to the Fellows. Mentor(s) may or may not be affiliated to the endorsing institute/organization. Mentor(s) are also encouraged to attend project-related meetings organized by CDRI Secretariat with the Fellows.  

The Endorsing Officer mentioned in the Letter of Endorsement will be the point of contact at the endorsing institute for CDRI Secretariat.

Interested applicants should consider the following criteria while approaching an institute or organization for a Letter of Endorsement. The institute/organization should be a recognized/accredited academic/research institute/ not-for-profit organization/ government organization/ non-governmental organization situated in a CDRI Member Country. The institute/organization may have relevant departments, faculty and infrastructure to support/review the proposed research. The institute/organization will support in transfer of Fellowship grants from CDRI to the applicants in an effective manner.

CDRI Fellowship does not provide grants exclusively for attending conferences or travel. However, Fellows can utilize a part of the grant for project-related travel including participation in conferences with prior indication of the same in the proposed project budget. Applicants are encouraged to showcase the outcomes from the CDRI Fellowship at suitable platforms with due credit given to CDRI as a funding organization. However, for selected high-quality research produced under the CDRI Fellowship Programme, CDRI may, at its discretion, invite Fellows to present their research at certain platforms. CDRI may sponsor applicants for such invitations.

The CDRI Fellowship Programme encourages collaborative multi-country research and technology transfer across institutes, organizations or countries. However, individual candidates must fulfil the eligibility criteria mentioned above.

Eligible and Ineligible Costs Guidelines

The grant funds may only be used for expenses directly related to the proposed research project. Below is a breakdown of eligible and ineligible costs:

Personnel Costs:

Eligible:

• Funds may be used to compensate part-time staff, office staff, students, interns  and other personnel directly supporting the project

Ineligible:

• Funds may NOT be used to supplement the salaries of full-time scientists, administrators, or administrative staff not directly engaged in the project

Data Collection & Analysis:

Eligible:

• Survey or interview costs, including participant incentives
• Leasing or renting equipment for the duration of the project
• Purchase of equipment that remains in the department to enhance long-term research capacity
• Software or tools needed for data collection, analysis, and conducting the research

Ineligible:

• Costs for data collection unrelated to the project or non-essential software
• Equipment or software that will become the personal property of an individual researcher after the project’s completion

Travel:

Eligible:

• Travel & accommodation essential to the project

Ineligible:

• Personal and unrelated travel

Other Expenses:

Eligible:

• Costs for printing, copying, communication and rental of meeting rooms for project-related activities

Ineligible:

• Any hospitality or social event costs unrelated to research dissemination

The budget proposal for the research project should be in US dollars and should include a breakdown of expenses such as (but not limited to) equipment, manpower, consumables, software and travel (only up to 30 percent of total grant amount).

The use of Generative AI is discouraged; the applicants are solely responsible for the accuracy and authenticity of their work. Generative AI tools may pose risks such as fabrication, falsification or plagiarism, so applicants must ensure the integrity of their proposals. All submissions will be screened for AI-generated content. CDRI requires applicants to disclose any use of Generative AI in preparing their proposals and to specify the extent and manner of its application.

Yes, researchers are encouraged to disseminate their project outcomes through academic journals or conferences. Publishing your findings in reputable journals or presenting them at conferences can contribute to the expansion of the evidence base and knowledge in the field. However, it is important to ensure that any publication or presentation acknowledges the support received from CDRI.

It is important for researchers to ensure that their studies adhere to ethical principles. This includes obtaining informed consent from participants, protecting their privacy and confidentiality, and minimizing any potential harm or risks associated with the research. Researchers should also consider the ethical implications of their research on the communities and ensure that their work promotes inclusivity and respect.

The Programme welcomes both completely new projects and extensions/parts of ongoing studies. However, if it is an extension of a previous study, the proposal should clearly outline how the new project builds upon and expands the existing work.