Program for the Archiving of Science and Technology (PAST)
Call for Project Proposals
2025-26
Summary
The Archives at NCBS invites applications to enable digital access to collections that are rare, endangered and of archival value, and related to the history of science and technology in contemporary India (approximately between 1850 to 1995). The program is dedicated to documenting under-represented and marginalised histories in science-technology-engineering-mathematics/medicine (STEM) in India. Each project should typically outline names for three roles: an individual lead applicant who is an Indian citizen, a legally registered partner organisation in India that would also be the signing authority to receive the project funds, and an archival source for the material.
Budget: Rs 6,00,000 (six lakhs) to Rs 10,00,000 (ten lakhs)
Project time-line (up to 12 months between): 1 February, 2025 - 15 February, 2026
Applications open: 1 October, 2024
Application deadline: 15 November, 2024
Announcement of final grantees: 15 January, 2025
Online Information Sessions: 4:00 PM IST on 15 October, 2024; 29 October, 2024 and 11 November, 2024
Online meeting location: [NOTE NEW MEETING LINK!]
https://zoom.us/j/96198987165?pwd=KS2cgvGanxM8CkSvVQxkCQK6AzQFsF.1
Meeting ID: 961 9898 7165
Passcode: 1TaTSy
The Archives at NCBS is committed in engaging with ways to drive diversity, equity, and inclusion. We would be happy to provide information about the program in a language other than English. Please contact archives@ncbs.res.in if you need help translating the form or have an idea, but are uncertain whether it would fit. We are happy to help you out!
Full details on the call for proposals below
Questions: archives@ncbs.res.in
Submission form
https://bit.ly/archives-ncbs-past-grant-form
This program is thanks to generous funding from Arcadia, a charitable foundation that works to protect nature, preserve cultural heritage and promote open access to knowledge.
Document history (any updates on this page after initial call will be summarized here):
Rev 0: Original version (Tuesday, Oct 1, 2024)
Rev 1: Updated online information session meeting link (Tue, Oct 15, 2024)
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Children using solar filters made by Navnirmiti. Measuring the universe with a string and a stone - Transit of Venus Experiment, 2004.
MS-031-1-1-1-1, Navnirmiti Papers, Archives at NCBS.
Detailed Call for Project Proposals
Introduction
The Archives at NCBS invites applications for the program to enable digital access to rare, endangered and archivally relevant collections related to the history of science and technology in India. The program is dedicated to documenting under-represented and marginalised groups in science-technology-engineering-mathematics/medicine (STEM) in India. The program aims to document multiple narratives and perspectives that are at-risk and often overlooked from archival representation. The program provides funding for various aspects of enabling digital access for the public to diverse ways of understanding the culture of science and technology in contemporary India. The digital material will be part of the digital archive run by the Archives at NCBS.
The purpose of this funding program is to award projects across India that preserve material related to the history of science and technology in contemporary India, especially where resources and expertise may be limited. The program awards grants to identify and preserve scientifically vital archival records from historically under-represented groups in STEM. The original archival material will stay at its place of origin. Through regular, structured training meetings and reviews through the year of the grant, the program will aim to support various projects in local skill development, archival description in alignment with international and local archival standards, and enabling digital access and long-term preservation of digital items from each project for posterity.
This program is thanks to generous funding from Arcadia, a charitable foundation that works to protect nature, preserve cultural heritage and promote open access to knowledge. Since 2002, Arcadia has awarded more than $1 billion to organisations around the world.
About the Archives at NCBS
The Archives at NCBS (https://archives.ncbs.res.in) is a public collecting centre for the history of science in contemporary India. It has over 300,000 processed objects across over 50 collections in various forms, ranging from paper-based manuscripts to negatives to photographs, books, fine art, audio recordings, scientific equipment, letters, and field and lab notes. The 2000-square-foot state-of-the-art physical centre at NCBS includes space for research, processing, exhibitions, and recording and a leading-edge storage facility with monitors for temperature, light, humidity, air quality, water, fire, pests, and noise. The holdings include the papers of an environmental rights organisation in Wayanad, Kerala, Wayanad Prakriti Samrakshana Samithi Papers (https://catalogue.archives.ncbs.res.in/repositories/2/resources/31); Navnirmiti Papers (https://catalogue.archives.ncbs.res.in/repositories/2/resources/43), an organisation dedicated to science education in India; Small Donations - Ecology and Conservation (https://catalogue.archives.ncbs.res.in/repositories/2/resources/44), which contains papers related to local ecological and bird-watching communities in India, and the papers of artists and filmmakers who worked with science, such as Ashish Chandola (https://catalogue.archives.ncbs.res.in/repositories/2/resources/42) and Carl D’Silva (https://catalogue.archives.ncbs.res.in/repositories/2/resources/47).
Scope of the project
We encourage proposals that document the culture and practice of science and technology in India, primarily focusing on under-represented voices at the intersections of science and society in India.
The grant will be awarded to enable digital access for archival material related to contemporary India’s history of science and technology. The award funds can be deployed toward any or all of material survey, digitization, archival appraisal, cataloguing, description and arrangement, digital media transfer, physical conservation of select material to enable digital access, image processing, data storage, and more. The grant can be used toward both digitising and/or furthering already digitised material toward public access. Projects would survey and evaluate the archival material either before applying for a grant or in the first month after receiving the award. They will need to manage and catalogue the material per archival standards, create metadata (content descriptions for archival objects in the collection), and handle imaging and creation of the digital assets in the collection.The end goal is enabling free, public digital access for the project through the website of the Archives at NCBS. This material must be catalogued in our online digital archive in a standard archiving format (refer, for instance, to our featured collections, https://archives.ncbs.res.in/featured-collections). The material will be discoverable and viewable through the website of the Archives at NCBS.
Archival material could be rare printed material, unique and original material such as manuscripts, maps, ephemeral objects, and audio-visual material such as recordings, photographs, micro-film, film, and more. Collections could include digitised and born-digital data. It may include data stored in obsolete technology - such as video tapes, audio tapes, CDs, micro-film, and more.
We are interested in interdisciplinary collections that focus on fields and topics such as the history of science, technology, and medicine in contemporary India. These include material related to particular scientific disciplines and scientific research, scientific resources and artefacts, material created to promote awareness about science, science education and communication, and non-academic activities related to science such as art, film, journalism, literature, and activism. This also includes community-driven approaches that do not always fit within the framework of science as practised at research institutions, but are as relevant, if not more, a way to understand the culture of science and its practice in the country.
Grant amount and number of grants
The awards will range from Rs 6,00,000 (six lakhs) to Rs 10,00,000 (ten lakhs), which will be spent over a period of up to 12 months. The program will award between 8 to 12 projects. The grant award will be subject to a 10% tax deduction for grants made to individuals and non-governmental organisations. For details on use of funds, see the section on funding allocation.
Project Eligibility
Each project should outline names for three roles: a project lead applicant, who is an Indian citizen, and who will be the point of contact and be responsible for the execution of the project, including archival processing, financial management, completion of the project and delivery of digital assets, a legally registered organisation in India, which would be the signing authority to receive the project funds, and an archival source for the material. The project can include archival material from across South Asia, but must be based out of India, and funds will be disbursed in Indian rupees to an Indian bank account. In some cases, projects may have all three roles under one umbrella where a single organisation that also houses archival material, can identify an internal organisation member as the lead applicant. In some other cases, an independent individual with experience of working with a different community with archival material can identify a distinct organisation as the funding liaison, or identify the community itself if it is a legally registered organisation. In some exceptional cases, the lead applicant can receive funds directly, but the reasons for this would have to be outlined in the proposal. The project should illustrate the ability to look after the physical archival material that is sourced, ideally housed with the registered organisation. We encourage independent lead applicants to identify organisations that have access to or have archival material that relates to the history of science and technology in India from the past 200 years with an emphasis on underrepresented groups in STEM.
Material eligibility: Culture of science in India and under-represented histories
The archival material should be related to the culture and history of science and technology in contemporary India, between 1850 and 1995. It must be at-risk material of archival value that will benefit from open digital access.
Project collections would document under-representation in STEM in India along aspects of history, culture, politics and practice of science in India. They would feature material from marginalised groups in science, along one or more of the following categories that have been historically underrepresented in archives and repositories in India:
- focused on marginalised social groups and communities in science
- enables representation of genders and minority groups
- material in languages other than English
- material that highlights local histories of science in under-represented regions
- citizen and community engagement with science
- material from administrative, technical and support staff and scientific workers
- science related movements and groups
- material at the intersection of social change, social justice in science
- material relating to the social and ethical impact of science
- science communication and popularisation
Material older than 1850 can be considered if a justification is provided for how it extends our understanding of the culture of science in contemporary India. Material newer than 1995 can be considered under exceptional circumstances, only if its at-risk and archival value can be justified, along with the ability for all digital items to be made publicly accessible through our website. The collection should emphasise under-represented groups in STEM, ideally at the intersection of the history of science and society.
Type and format of material
The project collection may include written, audio or pictorial formats. It may consist of original manuscripts, correspondence including letters, telegrams and memos, administrative documents, research data such as lab data, maps and records, writing and talks, publicity and outreach material, including rare newsletters and periodicals, educational material and art, ephemeral objects and audio-visual material.
The material can be in various formats. It can include born-digital or pre-digitised material that will benefit from digital access with additional work, including audio, video, film, photographs, etc. All project material will be catalogued in alignment with a metadata and cataloguing template provided by the Archives at NCBS (see Grantee 2025 Schedule section for details). It will be digitised, and made accessible through the Archives at NCBS website. Our digitization standard is compliant with the three star rating of the Federal Agencies Digital Guideline Initiative (FADGI) protocol for Digitizing Cultural Heritage Material (https://www.digitizationguidelines.gov/).
Funding allocation
As stated earlier, the awards will range from Rs 6,00,000 (six lakhs) to Rs 10,00,000 (ten lakhs), which will be spent over a period of up to 12 months (subject to a 10% tax deduction for grants made to individuals and non-governmental organisations). The program can provide the funding necessary to support the staffing, consultants, travel, and other expenses related to the survey and evaluation of the archival material, classification and cataloguing of collections, creation of metadata following the metadata template provided by the Archives at NCBS, equipment including those for imaging and digitisation of the material on-site, digital media transfer, consultancy for archival processing, physical conservation of select material to enable digital access, and data storage. Projects can outline their budget in the submission form, with details about their anticipated unique needs toward enabling digital access. Grant awards for successful projects will try to align with the requested amount as much as possible, but they may vary prior to award based on consultations with the project team and an overall assessment of the project and its needs. The project partner organisation will be responsible for administering the grant funds. Project funds cannot be used to cover institutional overheads. Payments will be made in 3-4 instalments during the funding cycle. Awarded projects will be expected to provide a utilisation certificate through their project organisation.
Open Digital Access to Archival Material
The Archives at NCBS aims to be an open-access centre that provides public access to the digital items in their collections. A majority of our collections can be viewed online (see, for instance, our featured collections, https://archives.ncbs.res.in/featured-collections). The material appraised for submission in this program must be evaluated for open digital access and publication. The ownership of the physical material and copyright of the content will continue to reside with those who hold these rights at the time of application. The Archives at NCBS will not seek copyright to the material, nor will it have ownership of the physical material from the project.
However, the material appraised for submission in this program must be evaluated for open digital access and publication on the website of the Archives at NCBS, since this program is for open access to collected archival material. Grantees will have to ensure that the legal copyright holder(s) sign(s) the license agreement that grants NCBS a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license to any Intellectual Property Rights in the material, including the right to reproduce, make available, adapt, communicate to the public, translate the work. This agreement will be similar to existing Deed of Gift documents used by the Archives at NCBS for its work (see: https://archives.ncbs.res.in/sites/default/files/NI-007_0004-1_Deed-of-g...).
Applicants also ought to be cognizant of ethical and privacy concerns, and secure access for digital public access. They should secure permissions for access and publication of archival records with sensitive content such as images of violence, personal information, and harmful data. When submitting material for the project, they must abide by CARE principles (https://www.gida-global.org/care), including on-going consent, collective stewardship and collaboration while working with indigenous and at-risk communities.
We understand that some material with strong archival value may also carry various copyright, privacy, and ethical concerns. Please discuss these concerns in the submission form, which includes a section for such material.
Application Program 2025-26
This program has a single round for the application process for 2025-26. All interested applicants must submit their application through this online submission form (https://bit.ly/archives-ncbs-regrant-form).
- Applications open: 1 October, 2024
- Online Information Sessions: 4:00 PM IST on 15 October, 2024; 29 October, 2024 and 11 November, 2024
Online meeting location: https://bit.ly/archives-ncbs-past-grant-meeting
Meeting ID: 945 4064 6607
Passcode: 230626
- Application deadline: 15 November, 2024
- Announcement of final grantees: 15 January, 2025
- Project time-line (up to 12 months between): 1 February, 2025 - 15 February, 2026
Granted Project Schedule
All selected projects will work with the program coordinator at the Archives at NCBS. At the first grantee meeting in February 2025, the grantees will be informed about due procedures including payment schedules and the nature of deliverables specific to each project. They will be provided with guidelines for archival processing, metadata creation, and digitisation and made aware of requirements and standards to be followed. There will be monthly check-ins with each grantee, and quarterly evaluation and reporting of work to the Archives at NCBS. Meetings can be in a group (along with other grantees so that projects can learn from each other, or individually if there are specific queries to address). Grantees will need to abide by project milestones and delivery of digital assets. Where necessary, the Archives at NCBS will provide training and skill development, including for handling and preservation, archival processing and metadata descriptions, imaging and digitisation, in the form of online workshops, and learning resources and guidelines.
Grantee 2025 - Program Schedule
- February 2025: First grantee meeting
- February 2025: Guidelines for handling and basic preservation
- March 2025: Guidelines for archival processing and standards for metadata
- April 2025: Workshop on handling and preservation
- 1 May, 2025: Quarterly report due - focussed on survey and evaluation of archival records
- June 2025: Workshop on archival processing
- July 2025: Guidelines and standards for digitizaton
- 1 August, 2025: Quarterly report due - progress report on cataloguing and finding aid
- August 2025: Workshop on digitisation
- 1 October, 2025: Quarterly report due - digitisation progress report
- December 2025: Delivery of preliminary catalogue and digital assets
- 1 January, 2026: Delivery of final catalogue and digital assets
- On or before 15 February 2026: Final report due
Evaluation process
Projects that emphasise the voices and document the history of underrepresented groups in sciences are especially encouraged. The applications will also be evaluated using the measure of the archival material based on content, age, fragility, uniqueness and archival value. At-risk, vulnerable material that would benefit from digital access would be prioritised. Applications will be evaluated using other criteria, including viability for open access, project feasibility as per time, resources, plans for preservation and storage of physical material, experience of applicants, planning and commitment to create archival metadata and digitisation.
The Archives at NCBS will first collate all complete applications. Depending on the number of applications received, a shortlist (prepared by the Archives at NCBS) or the full list of complete applications submitted via the online submission form will be evaluated by the review committee composed of the Archives at NCBS (one consensus vote), AR Vasavi (Social Anthropologist and Member, Punarchith Collective), Arthur Dudney (Director of Culture at Arcadia – non-voting member of committee), John Mathew (Associate Professor of History of Science, Krea University), Prachi Deshpande (Associate Professor in History, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta), Shashi Thuttupalli (faculty member at NCBS and member, Archives Review Committee), Shubha Chaudhuri (senior archivist and head, The Archives and Research Center for Ethnomusicology (ARCE), American Institute of Indian Studies), Taylor Sherman (Professor and Head of the School of Humanities and Languages, University of New South Wales), and Urvashi Butalia (Feminist scholar and Founder, Zubaan Books). The selection committee may request for consent to speak to referees from shortlisted applicants and/or hold interviews with shortlisted applicants, where they may be asked to make a short presentation outlining the scope and workflow of the project. Awarded projects will be expected to provide written acceptance of the grant before the start of the project as outlined below. All applicants will be notified of the results on or before 15 January, 2025.
Final agreement with grantees
Awarded projects will be expected to sign a Memorandum of Understanding / Grant Agreement document with NCBS prior to the start of the project. In addition to the project overview, this document will include expected deliverables, legal agreement to the schedule outlined above and open digital access for archival objects from the project, and timeline of payments, with the last payment after handover of deliverables. Grantees will be expected to provide a utilisation certificate.
Contact
Do join us for our online information sessions about the program. In addition, you can write to archives@ncbs.res.in for all inquiries about application procedures or any other aspect of the program.
Submission form
https://bit.ly/archives-ncbs-past-grant-form
