Ph.D. Programme in Biology – August 2026
IISER Pune hosts a diverse group of researchers working in various areas. Research in Biology at IISER Pune currently encompasses both theoretical and experimental approaches. Fields of research open to application in this round of PhD selections are given below, along with names of faculty members working in the respective fields:
Ecology and Evolution: For students interested in ecology and evolution (both theoretical and empirical).
- Ashish Nerlekar
- Deepak Barua
- Sagar Pandit
- Sutirth Dey
- Ramana Athreya
Molecular Biology / Cell Biology / Biochemistry: For students interested in molecular biology, biochemistry, cell biology, cellular biophysics, developmental biology, microbiology, immunology, epigenetics, chromosome biology, cancer biology, and neurobiology.
- Amrita Hazra
- Ashish Kumar Singh
- Aurnab Ghose
- Gayathri Pananghat
- Girish Ratnaparkhi
- Krishanpal Karmodiya
- Kundan Sengupta
- Madhusudhan M.S.
- Nagaraj Balasubramanian
- Nishad Matange
- Nixon Abraham
- Raghav Rajan
- Siddhesh Kamat
- Sunish Kumar Radhakrishnan
- Thomas Pucadyil
Theoretical and Computational Biology: For students interested in any branch of theoretical biology including theoretical neuroscience, evolution, bioinformatics and computational cell biology.
- Chaitanya Athale
- Collins Assisi
- Madhusudhan M.S.
- Pranay Goel
- Ramana Athreya
- Suhita Nadkarni
Note: only those faculty members whose names are given above will accept students through this round of PhD admissions. Therefore, before applying, students should check this list carefully to ensure that labs of their interest are available for admissions in this round.
Application criteria:
All candidates who fulfil criteria A1 AND any one of the criteria mentioned in A2 are eligible to apply. Based on these applications, IISER Pune will create the list of students to be invited for the online interviews.
Eligibility Criteria:
A1. Masters' (or B.E., B.Tech., M.Tech., MBBS) degree holders in any branch of science including physics, chemistry, mathematics, biological sciences, ecology and environmental sciences, biodiversity, psychology or equivalent. Students who have completed the 4-year BS degree can also apply.
Applicants must have a minimum of 60% marks in aggregate (overall percentage and not just in majoring subject) or an equivalent CGPA in the General /OBC/EWS category or minimum 55% marks in aggregate (overall percentage and not just in majoring subject) or an equivalent CGPA in the SC,ST or PwD category.
Students whose final results in Masters or equivalent are yet to be declared can also apply. However, if selected, the offer for these students will be provisional, subject to their fulfilling the above criteria.
A2. Applicants must have any one of the following qualifications.
- Qualified a National Eligibility exam that provides a 5-year Ph.D. fellowship such as CSIR–JRF/ UGC–JRF/ DBT–JRF–A / ICMR–JRF / DBT–BINC–JRF/ Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship / Maulana Azad National Fellowship / National Fellowship for Scheduled Caste Students by CSIR-UGC / National Fellowship for Higher Education of ST Students / National Fellowship for OBC Candidates / National Fellowship for persons with disabilities (NFPWD). The fellowships must be valid on August 01, 2026.
- Qualified JEST* or GPAT or NBHM in the last two years.
- INSPIRE-PhD fellowship (should be in possession of provisional selection letter at the time of Interview).
- BS-MS/Masters students from any of the Institutes of National Importance with a CGPA 8 or above on a10-point scale are exempted from national-level test eligibility criteria.
- Qualified GATE exams (GATE Life Sciences, GATE Chemistry, GATE Eco-Evo, GATE Biotechnology, GATE Mathematics) in. The GATE score must be valid on August 01, 2026.
- Qualified JGEBILS (IISER Pune will shortlist based on the ranks of the students).
- For all the national eligibility examinations which provide a common rank / score, the cut-off rank / score for shortlisting for the Interviews for the reserved categories shall be lowered to 1.25 times the General category rank / score.
Shortlisting and Interview Process:
Meeting the above-mentioned criteria merely makes the candidate eligible for application. IISER Pune reserves the right to use other / more stringent criteria for the purpose of shortlisting for interviews. Specifically, the scores obtained in the “Research Question” and “Design a study” can be used for the purpose of shortlisting for interviews. Only shortlisted candidates will be informed. Therefore, all candidates are requested to check this page regularly for updates.
Link to Application form: Will be available on 02 March 2026.
One of the questions in the application form requires the applicant to describe a specific research question and design a short study around this question. As these questions are likely to require more time to be completed, we recommend candidates start the application process well in advance of the deadline. Please note that responses will be checked for plagiarism. The application will be rejected if plagiarism is detected.
