The Science & Engineering Research Board (SERB)
To position science and technology as the fulcrum for social and economic change by supporting relevant, competitive and quality scientific research and development
The Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) is a statutory body with primary and distinctive mandate to support basic research in emerging areas of Science & Engineering. As the premier national research funding agency, raise the quality and footprint of Indian science and engineering to the highest global levels in an accelerated mode, through calibrated support for research and development. The SERB stimulates the search for new knowledge and encouraging invention, discovery, innovation and development by supporting bottom-up research competitively at all levels of research ecosystem.
Other major objectives of SERB include:
- To support conceptually new directions having the potential for non-incremental and transformative success. Strengthen deep-expertise in specific domains and link them through inter-disciplinary and multi-institutional ‘top-down’ programmes that address challenging national problems.
- Develop funding programmes which connect with needs of our society and identify key scientific questions, both basic-science and application that have concrete societal value.
- Launch and strengthen programmes to bring in researchers from under represented regions, weaker and marginalized segments of the society.
- Realising the importance of gender parity, ensure that appropriate programmes pro-actively have mechanism to encourage enhanced and equitable representation of woman scientists.
- Initiate and strengthen schemes that link teachers in colleges and resource-poor universities with opportunities in active research to expand the footprint of quality science.
- To promote global bilateral and multilateral partnerships support collaborative high quality research in cutting-edge areas to ensure the speedy growth of quality science in India.
- Furthermore, board scout, mentor, incentivize and reward exceptional performers, teams and institutions. Board also facilitates the development of quality, well-trained researchers; initiate and strengthen programmes of identifying research potential, mentoring, training and hands-on workshops, on a broad-based national scale.
- Make SERB the vehicle of choice for all R&D funding agencies for their core programmes by developing inclusive processes and proactively synergizing with them for the requisite integration and consolidation of the research effort in Science and Engineering in the country.
Mandate:
The SERB is a statutory body established through an Act of Parliament, 2008. The mandate is to supports basic research in emerging areas of Science & Engineering.