The Inlaks Fellowship for Social Engagement 2026

The Inlaks Fellowship for Social Engagement 

The norm in India is for young graduates to join the workforce immediately, which inhibits sufficient self-exploration and often leaves young people with little space to develop critical thinking and a broader view of the world. This impedes many talented individuals from engaging with society in a meaningful way. 

The Inlaks Shivdasani Fellowship for Social Engagement gives graduates and early to midcareer professionals the confidence and security to explore alternatives and make independent choices about their lives while contributing to social change. The fellowship aims to increase participation in public life among young people while encouraging them to challenge the status quo. 

The fellowship gives young people the opportunity to learn from a mentor of their choice and involve themselves in a process where knowledge drives social change. The fellowship will give participants the chance to build a diverse worldview and establish long-lasting connections to issues of public importance. 

The fellowship project pursued may take many forms, including action-oriented research, cause lawyering, grassroots journalism, ecological efforts, community rights, public health, archiving, reviving, or reporting on dying arts, culture, language etc. (Applicants proposing to work on art installations, photo books etc. are not eligible to apply for this fellowship. They are encouraged to apply for the Inlaks Fine Arts Award for which more details can be found HERE). 

The fellowship is committed to supporting equality of opportunity, social inclusion, freedom of expression, and respect for individual and constitutional rights.

The fellowship is only to support individual learning and not for any organizational work. In pursuance towards this learning, fellows must attend three workshops hosted by the foundation at regular intervals.

Duration and Value 

1.  The Fellowship is for two years, subject to the satisfactory completion of a probation period and a quarterly and annual review of the Fellow’s work. The probation period will be for the first six months of the Fellowship.
2. Depending on the geographical location of the fellow, the Fellowship stipend* will be as follows:

•  INR 45,000 per month if the fellow is living and working in a “X” category area.
• INR 35,000 per month if the fellow is living and working in a “Y” category area.
• INR 25,000 per month if the fellow is living and working in a “Z” category area.

*Please note that the final stipend amount is at the Foundation’s discretion. The definition of the categories is available HERE.

Eligibility Criteria

1.  The applicant must be an Indian citizen currently residing in India.
2. The applicant must be born on or after 1st January 1990.
3. The applicant must be a graduate (hold a Bachelor's degree) from a recognised institute/university in India.
4. In the absence of a Bachelor's degree, they must carry at least three years of relevant work experience.

Exclusions

 Those enrolled in academic studies/PhD for the duration of the fellowship are not eligible to apply. 

Application Instructions & Process

The application process is designed to facilitate an easy understanding of your candidature and to assess whether your vision is aligned with the fellowship. Click on the ‘Apply Now’ button on the website to access our Online Application System (OAS). 

Click HERE to access the video on how to fill an application form on our online application system. 

Please answer all the questions on the OAS by following the guidelines below:

1.  Enter your Name, address, latest contact information and other details correctly.
2. For the Date of Birth field, you may scroll through the calendar or manually enter the same as per the proof of age and citizenship that you upload.
3. For the field ‘Topic of your project’, please describe your fellowship activity in a few lines. Eg: Documenting the effects of mining on indigenous populations or research on the socio-economic status of De-notified Tribes etc. Please make sure this correctly represents the nature of your project.
4. For your statement of purpose and work plan, please click HERE to download the format. Fill it and upload it as a PDF format only by following the guidelines below:

a. Your Statement of purpose and work plan must not exceed 1000 words each.

 i. Your statement of purpose must outline the following:

• Your own personal and professional trajectory very briefly.  
• Also outline the motivation to take up the project and how it contributes to social change.

b. Your work plan which must include: 

•  A title of the proposed work along with a concise description of the work or research you plan to undertake during the fellowship period. 
• The expected outcomes of the work or research. 
• In addition please mention in detail the manner in which you will undertake this project with a clear timeline of the project for 2 years.

5. About Mentor endorsement letter and Recommendation letter:

a. Your application requires two letters to support your application 

•  Mentor endorsement letter
•  Recommendation letter.

 Letter of endorsement from the Mentor must include: 

• A brief description of the mentor’s work experience.
• Mentor’s contact details (email and official address). 
• A statement by the mentor as to why they endorse the applicant’s work plan. 
• The mentor must also state that they agree to supervise the applicant’s work during the fellowship period, as well as indicate their willingness to review and comment upon the applicant’s quarterly and annual progress reports.

The mentor must also state that they are willing to have periodic meetings with the foundation for the foundation to assess the fellow’s progress.

Once the applicant enters the Mentor’s email address in the appropriate field of the application form and submits the application, a link will be shared with the Mentor on their email address along with the format to upload their Letter of Endorsement. 

Note: The subtext in the field will show “Enter the email address of the person you’d like to serve as a reference” by default even in the Mentor Endorsement section. The applicant must ensure to enter their Mentor’s email address. (Refer image below)

Letter of Recommendation must include:

• Nature of engagement with the applicant where they must elaborate in what capacity they have engaged with the applicant.
• The reason why they would like to recommend the applicant and their work plan to be supported under the Inlaks Fellowship for Social Engagement

Once the applicant enters the Referee’s email address in the appropriate field of the application form and submits the application, a link will be shared with their Referee on their email address along with the format to upload their Letter of Recommendation.

Note: 

• This letter must be from a person who has supervised the applicant’s work for at least 6 months. This cannot be the same person as your mentor. For fresh graduates, an academic letter of recommendation is acceptable. 
• The mentor or referee also cannot be someone who is currently an Inlaks Fellow or currently being supported by Inlaks under any other opportunity.

 *Please ensure that both the Mentor and Referee letter are also submitted by 31st December 2025, 11:59pm. Please note that you can send a request to your mentor and referee to upload their letters even before you make a final submission.

Application Timeline

• Applications for the fellowship can be submitted latest by 31st December 2025 by 11.59 PM IST.  Please do not wait till the end to apply and it is recommended that your supporting letters be uploaded a few days before the deadline.
• Shortlisted candidates will be announced by the last week of February 2026, following which they will be invited for a final interview by a selection committee within a fortnight. 
• The final fellows will be announced by the last week of March. Fellows will be expected to begin work from 1st May, 2026. 
• To Apply, Click on the 'Apply Now' button on the website. 
• For any further questions, please reach out to fellowships@inlaksfoundation.org. 
• Please note that we will be unable to respond to individual queries regarding the status of your application.

Selection Procedure

The selection procedure will comprise of two rounds - A desk-review of applications following an online interview of the short-listed applicants.