Admissions for session starting January 2026
The Department of Humanities and Social Sciences seeks applications for the PhD programme for session starting January 2026.
Only those faculty members whose names are given below will accept students through this round of PhD admissions. Therefore, before applying, applicants should check this carefully to ensure that areas of their interest are available for admissions in this round.
Bejoy K Thomas
Ecological Economics, Development Studies, or closely related areas
Pushkar Sohoni
History, History of Architecture, or closely related areas
Research areas are not restricted to any specific disciplinary background. Applicants are welcome to work across disciplines.
Eligibility Criteria:
1A. The applicant should have a minimum of 60% aggregate marks or CGPA of 6 on of a 10-point scale (55% or equivalent CGPA in aggregate for SC/ST and PD candidates) in their Master’s (MA/MSc/MPhil/BS-MS) Degree, in subjects including Sciences, Anthropology, Archaeology, Economics, History, Philosophy, Sociology, allied disciplines and interdisciplinary areas. Applicants from Architecture, Engineering/Technology, and Medicine are eligible after a Bachelor’s degree (minimum four years).
Additionally, the candidate MUST have qualified in any ONE of the following exams with any science or humanities/social sciences subject:
- National Eligibility Test (NET) with valid* CSIR-JRF / UGC-JRF or equivalent
- CSIR-UGC NET-LS NET-PhD Eligibility or equivalent (from examination conducted during the year 2023 and 2024)
- NBHM/GATE with a valid* score.
*The score/rank MUST be valid at least till January 01, 2026.
OR
1B. BS-MS/Masters students from any of the Institutes of National Importance with major in one of the subjects mentioned above with a CGPA 8 or above on a10-point scale are exempted from national-level test eligibility criteria
Candidates in the final year of qualifying degree are also eligible to apply. However, their final selection is subject to their successful completion of the qualifying degree with the above-mentioned requirements at the time of admission i.e. on January 01, 2026.
Selection procedure: Based on application form and the above listed criteria, applicants will be shortlisted for an interview. The shortlist will be based on a two-page research plan in addition to the above requirements. Candidates selected for the interview will receive a separate email to appear for the interview at the IISER Pune campus. Selection will be based on interviews of the short-listed candidates.
Note:
Only online applications are accepted. Incomplete applications will be rejected. Applying does not automatically guarantee that a candidate will be shortlisted for interview. The department may use additional criteria in order to shortlist candidates for interviews depending on the number of applications received.