CoEB’s work rests on a simple conviction: this community does not require charity. It requires dignity, livelihood, and a structural place in the economic and civic life of the country.
The Bravehearts Research Fellowship extends this commitment into the domain of evidence. Much of what is known about India’s military families is anecdotal, and much of what is not known is consequential. The Fellowship exists to close that gap.
Policy in India is made on the basis of data. Where a category of citizens is un-counted and un-published, the state has limited obligation to respond to their condition.
India’s disabled soldiers and war widows live inside such an absence. There is no national study of the long-term health toll borne by those who have served in Siachen, on the Line of Control, in high-altitude areas, or through prolonged counter-insurgency postings ,the post-traumatic stress, the musculoskeletal damage, the cardiovascular and pulmonary conditions that extreme service exacts. There is no audit of how many eligible widows actually receive the entitlements they are promised. There is no evidence base for which livelihood interventions work, for whom, and why. CoEB invites researchers to build that evidence base.
The Fellowship is open to academics, independent researchers, doctoral candidates, public health professionals, clinicians, social scientists, and serious journalists with a demonstrated capacity for rigorous, ethical field research. Institutional affiliation is welcome but not required; independent scholars with strong track records are equally encouraged.
The CoEB Research Fellowship accepts applications on a rolling basis, reviewed by CoEB’s Board on a quarterly cycle. Applicants are encouraged to reach out informally before submitting a full proposal, to discuss fit and scope.
A complete proposal comprises the following sections, submitted as a single PDF:
Proposals are reviewed by CoEB’s Board, with external peer review from subject-matter experts drawn from CoEB’s Advisory Board and institutional partners. Shortlisted applicants will be invited for a discussion before a final decision.
Criteria include: methodological rigour, ethical soundness, feasibility, alignment with CoEB’s mission, and the researcher’s capacity to complete the study to a publishable standard.
Selected Fellows sign a Fellowship Agreement with CoEB covering scope, timeline, deliverables, ethics obligations, data ownership, and publication rights. In summary:
Proposals should be submitted by email to research@bravehearts.co.in, with the subject line: CoEB Research Fellowship Proposal ,[Study Title].
Informal enquiries are warmly welcomed.