Admission Details:
Applications are invited from highly motivated students for admission to the Ph.D. Programme of Indian Institute of Science Education and Research – Thiruvananthapuram (IISER-TVM), starting January 2018.
Biological Sciences:
Applicants must satisfy the following criteria.
- Master’s degree (A five-year degree after +2 level) in Biological Sciences/Chemical Sciences/Physical Sciences/ Mathematics/ Bioinformatics/ Agricultural Sciences/ Veterinary Sciences or a Bachelor Degree in Medicine (MBBS). The qualifying degree should have been obtained within 5 years as on January 1st, 2018.
- The applicant must have a minimum of 60% marks or CGPA 6.5 on a scale of 10, or equivalent. According to your mark list if your CGPA is not calculated on a scale of 10, please convert the CGPA to a scale of 10 and enter in the space provided. Please mention this in the remarks column [See point-1 under the heading "Important Points" below for relaxation in the eligibility criteria].
- Qualification in one of the following national level tests, with validity as on 1st January 2018: CSIR-UGC-JRF/ DBT-JRF (Category I)*/ ICMR-JRF*/ Ranks 1 to 90 in GATE (Ecology and Evolution)** /JGEEBILS (GS-2017)***. Or the candidate should be eligible for DST-Inspire PhD Fellowship [See point-2 under the heading "Important Points" below for INSPIRE Ph. D Fellowship].
* Only candidates whose ranks make them eligible to avail Category 1 DBT-Junior Research Fellowships tenable at any university/institution in India. Fellowships restricted to join DBT or ICMR sponsored projects are not eligible.
** GATE (EY) qualified candidates are eligible only for Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour. GATE exam scores for other subjects will not be considered for PhD admissions to IISER-TVM.
*** Candidates who appeared for the JGEEBILS 2017 test are eligible to apply. JGEEBILS candidates will be shortlisted based on the marks provided by the JGEEBILS examination organizers.
It is mandatory for all the candidates to submit a short research proposal of 300-400 words, which should clearly state a research problem you find interesting to address and how you approach towards solving this. While applying online, please upload this proposal under the section "Statement of Purpose". Please note: This proposal does not need to be related to the research ongoing at the School of Biology IISER-TVM. The proposal will be used to evaluate your scientific aptitude and will be a major criterion for short-listing candidates for the interview. Your application will be treated as incomplete if you do not submit the short research proposal.
Short-listed candidates will have to appear for interviews conducted at IISER-TVM. There will be two rounds of interviews, conducted over three days. In case of a high turnout of candidates (more than 75), an entrance exam will be conducted (based on Master’s level Biology questions for 70% marks and 12th level Physics, Math, Chemistry questions-together 30%) on the first day of interviews. Hence, all the short-listed candidates must report at IISER-TVM on the first day of the interviews. The final selection of candidates will solely be based on your performance during the interviews.
Research Areas in School of Biology open for PhD students in this round of selection:
Chemical Sciences:
Applicants must satisfy the following criteria.
- The candidate must have a Master’s degree in Chemical Sciences with 60% marks or equivalent [See point-1 under the heading "Important Points" below for relaxation in the eligibility criteria].
- The candidate must have qualified CSIR-UGC-JRF/GATE examinations valid as on 1st January 2018 or DST INSPIRE Ph. D. fellowship [See point-2 under the heading "Important Points" below for INSPIRE Ph. D Fellowship].
Selection procedure:
The shortlisted applicants will be invited to attend an interview at IISER-TVM. The selection of the candidate will be based on the performance in the interview. Research Areas:
- Inorganic and organometallic chemistry
- Organic synthesis, Medicinal chemistry, Carbohydrate chemistry, Chemical Biology
- Organic Synthesis/DNA Nanotechnology/Supramolecular Chemistry
- Solution and solid-state NMR spectroscopy
- Inorganic & Materials Chemistry
- Development of new synthetic strategies, C–H activations and Asymmetric catalysis
- Planar pi-conjugated and extended macrocyclic systems
- Photochemistry, Photophysics, Nanomaterials, Nanoclusters
- Biomass conversion
- Hybrid inorganic-organic materials chemistry
- Theoretical Chemistry
- Ultrafast Spectroscopy
- Asymmetric synthesis and Catalysis
- Bio inspired coordination chemistry
- Fuel cells and electro-catalysis
Physical Sciences:
Applicants must satisfy the following criteria
- Master’s degree in Physics, Materials Science, Engineering (Biomedical, Instrumentation, Electrical, Electronic, and Communication Engineering), in areas closely related to the interests of the physics faculty at IISER TVM. 60% marks or equivalent is mandatory.
- Qualifying in one of the following national level examination with validity as on 1st January 2018: GATE#/CSIR-UGC-JRF/JEST-2017/INSPIRE Ph.D. Fellowship.
# Applicants with M. Tech need a GATE score valid as of 1st January 2017.
Research Areas:
- FET based biological neural activity mimicking and 2D Nanohybrids Design
- Biomedical instrumentation and imaging: photoacoustic microscopy and tomography
- Multifunctional nanostructured materials and energy applications
- 2-Dimensional layered nanomaterials
- Engineering electron flow in two-dimensional systems
- Transport in nanoscale devices
- Random lasers, PT symmetric Optics and Photonic crystals
- Power electronics materials and devices, High-throughput materials informatics
Important Points
- Normal relaxation to the eligibility criteria will be applicable as per government of India guidelines.
- Candidates who meet the minimum eligibility criteria for obtaining INSPIRE PhD Fellowship as per the DST guidelines can also apply. In the event of shortlisting and successful clearing of interview, the candidate shall be provisionally admitted for the PhD program. The admission shall be cancelled, if the candidate is unable to provide evidence for INSPIRE PhD Fellowship at the time of registration.
Application Procedure
- Applicants should complete the online application form in the url http://appserv.iisertvm.ac.in/phd
[Only Properly submitted applications would be considered. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Do not forget to click the "submit" button after completing your application]
- Applicants will also be prompted to upload all the supporting documents, like photograph, signature, community certificate and national level examination (CSIR/NBHM/Inspire etc.) online. Before proceeding with the application please go through the required documents list which is to be made ready.
- Applicants should provide Name/Affiliation/Contact number and Email address of two referees in the application form.
- GE/OBC applicants are required to make a payment of Rs. 200/- and SC/ST/PH candidates need to pay Rs. 100/- as processing fee through the Powerjyoti Account.
- On submission of the online application form, the applicants will receive an acknowledgment email with a unique application number.
- Applicants are NOT required to post hard copy of the application to IISER-TVM.
- In case of any application related queries, please contact by email, addressed to the PhD coordinator
[phdprogramme@iisertvm.ac.in]. Any other mode of communication will not be entertained.
- Mere fulfilling the eligibility criterion does not entitle a candidate to be called for the test and interview.
Important Dates
| Online Application will be available at http://appserv.iisertvm.ac.in/phd from |
9th September 2017 |
| Last date of receipt of the application form |
10th October 2017 |
| Announcement of shortlisted candidates on the Institute’s website http://www.iisertvm.ac.in |
20th October 2017 |
| Interview for the short-listed candidates in Biological Sciences/Chemical Sciences/Physical Sciences |
20– 24th November 2017 |
