ERCHAPT

3 Integrated PhD Program

3.1 The Institute offers exciting opportunities to motivated and talented Bachelor’s degree holders with a
keen sense of scientific enquiry for pursuing advanced research in frontier areas of Biological,
Chemical, Physical and Mathematical Sciences leading to a Ph D degree. Experience shows that
students entering this program save nearly a year compared to those who go for a 2 years Master's
degree program elsewhere and then join the Institute for a Ph D program. Each year, the Institute
admits 42 students (12 in Biological Sciences, 12 in Chemical Sciences, 10 in Physical Sciences and 8
in Mathematical Sciences) under this program. The program consists of flexible course work, an
internship-type laboratory training (wherein ample opportunities exist for the candidate to acquire basic
experimental skills and familiarity with advanced techniques for research), a research project to
demonstrate attainment of a high degree of scientific ability followed by advanced research leading to a
Ph D thesis on a specific topic.

3.2 Eligibility

3.2.1 Candidates with a Bachelor’s degree in Biology/ Chemistry/ Physics/ Mathematics/ Pharmacy/
Veterinary Sciences/ Agriculture as applicable to individual discipline, under the 10+2+3/4 system, are
eligible to apply to this program. Candidates with BE/ B Tech degree are eligible to apply only to the
Mathematical Sciences discipline.

Bachelor’s degree holders in Physics/ Chemistry/ Mathematics/ Statistics/ Computer Science/

Electronics followed by qualifications obtained through an examination conducted by professional
societies recognized by UPSC/AICTE.

Refer to Section 3.3 for requirements for admission to individual disciplines.

3.2.2 Additional notes

(a) The minimum requirement for admission to the Integrated Ph D program is a FIRST CLASS or
equivalent Grade in the Bachelor’s degree (as declared by the University) as indicated against
each department. Refer to Section 3.3 for more details.

(b) The minimum requirement of FIRST CLASS in the qualifying examination is relaxed to PASS
CLASS for SC/ST candidates.

(c) Some departments have specific requirements of subjects at the Bachelor’s or 10+2 levels as
indicated in Section 3.3. Candidates have to ensure that they meet these requirements.

(d) Those in the final year of their qualifying examination and awaiting results are also eligible to
apply. However, they should have completed all the requirements for the award of the qualifying
degree, including all examinations, dissertation projects, viva-voce, etc., by the time of joining,
i.e., by the 29th of July 2011.

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3.3 Integrated Ph D PROGRAMS – The disciplines, minimum qualifications, ares of research are listed
in the table given below. Candidates can choose to apply for up to a maximum of 2 disciplines.

3.3.1 Discipline: Biological Sciences(BS)

Department/Centre/Unit Basic Qualification Areas of Research

Biochemistry, Centre for First Class in B Sc or an Biomembranes - Physical and Physiological Studies;
Ecological Sciences, equivalent degree in Physical, Structure-Function of Nucleic Acids; Gene Structure
Molecular Reproduction, Chemical or Biological and Function in Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes; Microbial
Development & Sciences (including and Human Genetics; Recombinant DNA Technology;
Genetics, Molecular Pharmaceutical, Veterinary Molecular Virology and Mechanisms of Disease
Biophysics, Microbiology Sciences and Agricultural Processes; Enzymology, Protein Chemistry and
& Cell Biology, and Sciences). Engineering; Cellular and Applied Immunology;
Centre for Neuroscience. Molecular Endocrinology and Reproductive Biology;
Conformation of Biomolecules and Biopolymers;
Protein and Virus Crystallography; Structural Biology;
Mathematical Ecology; Human Ecology; Behaviour
and Sociobiology; Conservation Ecology; Plant
Molecular Biology and Development, Imprinting,
Molecular Oncology, Cell Biology. Neurobiology of
diseases, Nervous System Development, Stem Cell
Biology, Cognitive Neuroscience and Computation in
visual and motor systems.

3.3.2 Discipline: Chemical Sciences(CS)

Department/Centre/Unit Basic Qualification Areas of Research
Organic Chemistry, First Class in B Sc or an Ultrafast Chemical Dynamics; Theoretical Chemistry;
Inorganic & Physical equivalent degree with Surface Chemistry and Catalysis; Solid State
Chemistry, Solid State & Chemistry as one of the main Chemistry; Amorphous Materials; Ceramics, Thin
Structural Chemistry Unit subjects with Mathematics at Films; Chemistry of Super-Conductors; Synthetic
and Materials Research the PUC or Plus 2 level. Organic, Physical Organic and Organometallic
Centre. Chemistry; Chemistry of Transition & Non-Transition
Metals; Bioinorganic Chemistry; Chemistry of
Polymers; Electrochemistry and Molecular
Spectroscopy of Molecular and Vander Walls
Complexes; Chemical Kinetics, Development of NMR
Methodologies and Applications.

3.3.3 Discipline: Physical Sciences(PS)

Department/Centre/Unit Basic Qualification Areas of Research
Physics and First Class in B Sc or an (A) Experimental Studies: (I) Condensed Matter
Centre for High Energy equivalent degree with Physics Physics (Ii) Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics, and
Physics. as one of the main subjects. (Iii) X-Ray Crystallography of Bio-Molecular Structures.
Specific Areas Include: Raman and Other
Spectroscopies; Fast Ionic Conductivity; Manipulation
of Matter By Light, Laser Cooling and Trapping of
Atoms, Ion Trapping, Precision Laser Spectroscopy;
Magnetism, Spintronics, Magnetic Thin Films,
Magnetotransport; Quantum Transport in Low-
Dimensional and Disordered Materials, The Metal-
Insulator Transition; Magnetic Resonance
Phenomena; NMR Spectroscopy; Nanoscience and
Nanomaterials; Superconductivity in Bulk as well as
Thin Films; Semiconductors; Ferroelectricity, Crystal
Growth Studies, Nonlinear Optical Materials,
Multiferroics; Phase Transition Studies, High Pressure
and Low Temperature Studies, Study of Low
Dimensional Materials, Amorphous Materials, Novel
Glasses and Nanocomposites; Soft Condensed Matter:
Colloids, Surfactants and Biological Material;

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 Department Basic Qualification Areas of Research
Continued… Peptide and Protein Crystallography, Complexation
Studies and Drug-Nucleic Acid Interactions, Molecular
Modeling, Database Analysis; Polymer Physics,
Surface X-Ray Scattering, Surface Phase Transitions.
(B)Theoretical Studies On a Variety of Aspects of
Condensed Matter Physics, in Particular: Strongly
Correlated Systems, Quantum Many-Body Theory and
Magnetism, Exotic Order and Quantum Criticality;
Phase Transitions, Equilibrium and Non-Equilibrium
Statistical Physics; Disordered and Amorphous
Systems, The Glass Transition, Neural Networks;
Spatiotemporal Chaos and Turbulence in Fluids,
Plasmas and Cardiac Tissue; Soft Condensed Matter:
Colloids, Surfactants, Membranes, Liquid Crystals,
Vortex Lattices; Biological Physics: The Mechanics of
Living Matter; Molecular Modeling of Soft and Bio-
Materials.
(C) High Energy Physics: Quantum Field Theory,
The Standard Model of Particle Physics and Beyond,
Physics of and At High Energy Particle Colliders, Field
Theory in Non-Commutative Space Time, Quantum
Computation, Applications of Quantum Field Theory To
Condensed Matter Systems, String Theory.
(D) Theoretical Astrophysics: Cosmology, Dark
Energy. Physics Around Black Holes, Nuclear
Astrophysics, Galactic Astronomy, Interstellar Matter.
Plasma Astrophysics, Solar Physics.

3.3.4 Discipline: Mathematical Sciences(MS)

Department Basic Qualification Areas of Research

Mathematics First Class in B Sc or Numerical Analysis, Partial Differential Equations,
equivalent degree with Controllability, Nonlinear Waves, Nonlinear Dynamics
Mathematics as one of the and Chaos, Applied Probability and Stochastic
subjects or Processes, Stochastic Control, Stochastic Dynamic
BE/ B Tech or equivalent Games, Random Graphs, Random Matrix, Random
degree. Analytic Functions, Time Series Analysis with
Applications To Neuroscience, Mathematical Finance,
Functional Analysis, Harmonic Analysis, Several
Complex Variables, Operator Theory, Algebraic
Topology, Differential Topology, Combinatorial
Topology, Commutative Algebra, Algebraic Geometry,
Differential Geometry, Statistics.

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