SAHAPEDIA-UNESCO FELLOWSHIP 2019

Call for Applications

Closing on 30 June 2019

Are you an enthusiast, student or scholar? Are you ready to explore and research India’s rich cultural heritage? Here is an opportunity to engage with our cultural legacy. Apply now.

About the Fellowship

To provide enthusiasts, students and scholars an opportunity to engage with and explore India’s rich cultural heritage, Sahapedia is pleased to announce the third edition of its Fellowship programme.

UNESCO’s Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage 2003 (referred to as UNESCO 2003 Convention hereafter), refers to “the importance of the intangible cultural heritage as a mainspring of cultural diversity and a guarantee of sustainable development.” The Sahapedia–UNESCO Fellowship is part of our efforts to raise awareness – at local, national and international levels – of the importance of intangible heritage, and increase access to communities, groups and individuals. The Sahapedia–UNESCO Fellowship 2019 is supported by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India.

Through this initiative, Fellows will be encouraged to conduct documentation and critical research in diverse areas of cultural knowledge, while interacting with and enhancing networks that contribute to their creation. This research and documentation carried out by the Fellows will be published on the Sahapedia’s web portal.

Languages

Fellowship is available in the following languages this year – English, Hindi, Bangla, Tamil, and Malayalam.

Eligibility

Fellowship is available to post-graduates and above qualified in the disciplines of the Humanities and Social Sciences in the broadest sense, or those with equivalent experience. Candidates with prior professional or academic familiarity with the subject under application may be given preference. The Fellowship is available to only those candidates holding an Indian bank account. Candidates who were awarded the Sahapedia-UNESCO Fellowship previously are not eligible to apply.

Duration

Fellowship has to be completed in the time-frame of twenty-eight (28) weeks between 1 September 2019 and 15 March 2020. Failure to submit the Fellowship requirements within the stipulated timeframe will result in the cancelation of that Fellowship. Candidates are advised to refer to the timeline outlined in Annexure III and terms and conditions in Annexure V.

Categories

Fellowships are divided into research, documentation, or a combination of the two categories. Depending on their selection of category, candidates may select their deliverables from the list given below. Every deliverable must be supported with a list of resources. Candidates may also refer to the guidelines for content creation in Annexure IV along with terms and conditions in Annexure V.

Deliverables

Each Fellowship consists of three elective deliverables. The candidate may identify, during the time of application, three types of deliverables. The options for the three deliverables are as follows. Refer to Annexure I and IV.

Options for Deliverable I: Choose any one (1)
Illustrated overview/Introductory article (3000 words with 5–10 images), or
Short documentary film (15–20 minutes with English subtitles, along with a synopsis of approx. 500 words)

Options for Deliverable II and III: Choose any two (2)
Allied article (1500 words with 3–5 images)
Image gallery (30–50 images with captions), or Photo Essay (20 images with 500-800 words to complement the visual narrative)
Text interview with an expert/scholar/practitioner (1500 words, with minimum 10 Q&As)

In addition, selected candidates working in regional languages will be required to provide content translated in English.

Funding

Selected candidates will be granted an award of ₹44,445. Applicable Income Tax will be deducted at source as per the provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961.Thus, the award will amount to ₹40,000which will be released in three installments, based on the completion of specific deliverables.

Selected candidates working in regional languages will receive an additional sum of up to ₹10,000 for translation.

Application Guidelines

The following materials are to be submitted as a part of the application:

1.    Resume

2.    A proposal of approximately 1000 words, along with an abstract of about 250 words.

The proposal should indicate scope of work, including selection of deliverables, methodology, timeframe and familiarity with existing literature/work on the subject. The proposal should be relevant to the field of work conducted by Sahapedia https://www.sahapedia.org/

3.    A writing sample (previously written essay) of at least 1500 words (for Research), or

URL link of a 5–10 minute long video clip indicating the candidates’ skills in filmmaking/videography (for documentation), or both, depending on the selection of deliverables

4.   Bibliography/list of existing literature or work on the topic with no more than 15 items/titles.

Candidates are advised to refer to the following annexures for further information:
Annexure I – Brief description of the Fellowship
Annexure II –  Selection Criteria
Annexure III –Timeline
Annexure IV – Guidelines for content creation
Annexure V  Terms and Conditions