Invites Applications for Ph.D. Programme of AcSIR January 2026 Session

CSIR-IHBT, a premier research institute of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), invites applications for PhD Programme under Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR) from eligible candidates.

Invites Applications for Ph.D. Programme of Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR) January 2026 Session

Eligibility Criteria : Master’s degree in science with minimum 55% marks (without rounding off) or equivalent grade for General (UR)/General-EWS and minimum 50% marks (without rounding off) or equivalent grade for OBC (NCL)/SC/ST, Third gender and Persons with Disability (PwD). OR 4-year/8-semester bachelor’s degree programme with minimum 75% marks (without rounding off) or equivalent grade for General (UR)/General-EWS and minimum 70% marks (without rounding off) or equivalent grade for OBC (NCL)/SC/ST, third gender and Persons with Disability (PwD) from the recognized University. National-level fellowship: The applicant should have a valid National-level Fellowship (JRF/ SRF of any funding agency, e.g. CSIR, ICMR, UGC, DBT, DST, etc.) or any other equivalent fellowship like DBT-BET, INSPIRE, RGNF, G-PAT, GATE etc.

Biological Sciences : Master’s degree in Agriculture Sciences/ Agronomy/ Soil Science/ Biochemistry/ Biotechnology/ Microbial Biotechnology/ Fermentation Technology/ Bioinformatics/ Computer Science/ Data Science/ Scientific Computing/ Artificial Intelligence/ Human Genomics/ Plant Genomics/ Botany/ Entomology/ Forestry and Environmental Sciences/ Food Science/ Food Technology/ Floriculture/ Genetics and Plant Breeding/ Microbiology/ Industrial Microbiology/ Medical Microbiology/ Molecular Microbiology/ Molecular Biology/ Plant Molecular Biology/ Nanotechnology/ Nano biosciences/ Plant Pathology/ Plant Science/ Plant Physiology/ Pharmaceutical/ Zoology/ Human Genetics/ Virology/ Traditional Medicine/ Natural Resource Management/ Statistics/ Remote Sensing/Geographic Information System/Geoinformatics.

Chemical Sciences : Master’s degree in Organic Chemistry/ Analytical Chemistry/ Inorganic Chemistry/ Physical Chemistry/ Chemistry/ Pharmaceutical Chemistry/ Medicinal Chemistry/ Natural Product Chemistry.

Eligibility criteria for Project Assistants/ Associates :
• Only those exceptionally bright Project Assistants/ Associates working at CSIR-IHBT may be considered for admission to AcSIR PhD program who have been in temporary employment as a Project Assistant/ Associate in a sanctioned R&D project for at least one year (one year will be determined as on the last date of admission confirmation by payment of fees, as notified by AcSIR for each Academic Session in which the Project Assistant/ Associate intends to seek admission for PhD), and can only apply with the prior permission of the PI of the project in which the applicant is working and concurrence of the Director of the Institute.
• Project Assistants/ Associates who have not qualified any National Level Examination, will need to have at least one publication in a SCI journal with substantial research contribution atleast as a co-author by the day of application.
• Project Assistants/ Associates who have qualified any PhD qualifying National Level Examination (NETLS, GATE, BET, JEST, etc.), even without eligible fellowship, will be exempted from the eligibility criteria of having one publication.
• On completion of their tenure of the R&D project from which the student was drawing his/her fellowship, the student may be given an option to continue in the PhD program without a fellowship, with approval of the Director of the concerned Institute, failing which their admission in the PhD program will stand cancelled.

CSIR Group III/ IV staff who fulfil the educational qualifications as above are also eligible to apply for Ph.D with the approval of the Lab Director and NOC from the current employer.