The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has opened applications for the latest batch of its International Research Support Initiative Program (IRSIP) — Batch 60 — a fellowship that sends Pakistani PhD scholars abroad for six months of research at a foreign university, with a living allowance of up to $1,500 per month for scholars placed in the United States and up to £750 per month for those placed in the United Kingdom. Applications close on 30 October 2026, giving eligible students almost a month to prepare a competitive application.

What IRSIP actually offers

Unlike a full scholarship that funds an entire degree abroad, IRSIP is designed as a mid-PhD research placement: six months at a partner university overseas, intended to give scholars access to labs, supervisors, datasets or specialised equipment not available at their home institution in Pakistan. The monthly living allowance is the headline benefit, and it varies by destination country — scholars should check HEC's official notification for the specific allowance tied to their intended host country, since the US and UK figures quoted above are illustrative examples from the current announcement rather than a universal rate across every destination.

Who is eligible

Eligibility is specific and worth checking carefully before you invest time in an application. Applicants must be Pakistani or Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) nationals, and must be enrolled as full-time PhD students at a university recognised by HEC — part-time or self-funded PhD tracks at non-recognised institutions do not qualify.

On the academic side, candidates need to have completed at least 18 credit hours of PhD coursework, and must have been enrolled in their PhD programme for at least 18 months but no more than 3.5 years at the time of application. For the current Batch 60 cycle specifically, this translates to scholars who began their PhD somewhere between Spring 2023 and Spring 2025 — if your enrolment falls outside that window, this particular batch is not open to you, though a future batch may be.

There is one more non-negotiable requirement: your PhD research topic and synopsis must already have formal approval from your university's relevant academic authority before you apply. HEC is not looking for scholars who are still finalising their research direction — the fellowship assumes you already have an approved project that a six-month overseas placement would meaningfully advance.

Why this fellowship is worth the effort

For PhD students in Pakistan, access to specialised labs, advanced instrumentation, large datasets or specific faculty expertise is often the single biggest bottleneck to finishing a strong thesis. IRSIP is one of the more direct ways to close that gap without needing to transfer your entire degree abroad or find independent funding for an overseas visit. A monthly living allowance in the hundreds to low thousands of dollars or pounds, depending on destination, also meaningfully offsets what would otherwise be a significant financial barrier to a research stay abroad.

Because the fellowship is tied to an already-approved thesis topic, scholars who apply tend to have a very concrete research question to point to — which also tends to make for a stronger funding application than one built around a vague interest in "gaining international exposure."

What to do before 30 October

Start by confirming the three eligibility pillars: nationality, enrolment status and duration, and coursework completion. Then make sure your thesis synopsis has been formally approved by your university — if it hasn't, resolve that first, since it is a prerequisite rather than something you can submit alongside your IRSIP application. Finally, identify a potential host university and supervisor overseas whose work aligns with your approved research topic; a credible host-institution fit is typically central to how these placements are evaluated.

With a hard deadline of 30 October 2026, scholars who wait until the final week risk not having time to secure a host-supervisor confirmation, which many overseas universities take days or weeks to arrange. Beyond Taleem recommends starting that outreach now, in parallel with preparing the rest of your application.