CSIR-NATIONAL CHEMICAL LABORATORY
(Council of Scientific & Industrial Research)
PUNE 411 008
Ph.D. Programme, January 2012
CSIR-NATIONAL CHEMICAL LABORATORY (CSIR-NCL):
CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (CSIR-NCL), a premier research laboratory under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is engaged in world class research in chemical and related sciences. CSIR-NCL (http://www.ncl-india.org, http://www.ncl.org.in) is a major knowledge based laboratory devoted to research.
National Chemical Laboratory trains a large number of PhD students in the chemical/physical/biological and allied disciplines. CSIR-NCL provides a vibrant academic atmosphere enabling inter-disciplinary and cross-disciplinary areas of research to flourish. Opportunities are available to do research in Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, Physical Chemistry, Materials Chemistry and Physics, Advanced Functional Materials, Materials for Solar Energy, Nanomaterials, Polymer Science & Engineering, Green Chemistry, Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Catalysis, Biochemistry, Molecular biology, Structural biology, Proteomics, Plant Tissue Culture, Organic Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, etc. CSIR-NCL has excellent facilities and equipments for carrying out research in the above areas. CSIR-NCL also subscribes to print and online versions of most of the important scientific journals. Students will have ample opportunities to attend conferences and present their work. CSIR-NCL have many reputed scientists including Nobel Laureates as guests round the year and have talks and discussions by them.
ACADEMY OF SCIENTIFIC AND INNOVATIVE RESEARCH (AcSIR):
The Academy of Scientific & Innovative Research (AcSIR) is established with a view to maximize the number of qualified researchers and professionals in the domain of science & engineering, who will be equipped with the skills of innovation and interdisciplinary integration. AcSIR is envisaged to emerge as a world class institution of national importance. The AcSIR would impart course instructions and award degrees in frontier areas of science and technology. The Academy will use the infrastructure facilities, scientific manpower and other resources of CSIR for teaching and research. Taking advantage of CSIR’s state of the art infrastructure and unique human resource, the AcSIR would work towards bridging the gap that exists today between academics and societal applications.
As part of the academic programme of AcSIR, students are required to undertake a project for 6-8 weeks, related to rural areas and the theme of the project should be related to the CSIR-800 programme. The aim of the project is to interact with people from rural areas, understand their problems and suggest ways for improvements in the areas of energy, education, environment, agriculture, health, food, water, etc. In addition, two project proposals to be prepared by selecting topics of high relevance and novelty, and will have state-of-the art review, methodologies, recommendations etc. One of the proposals can be related to a research topic leading to PhD and the second proposal in related areas. Students must pass a comprehensive examination designed to test the overall comprehension of the student in the various subjects.
RESEARCH AREAS AT CSIR-NCL:
- Advanced Functional Materials
- Agricultural Biotechnology
- Artificial Intelligence
- Bioorganic Chemistry
- Catalysis (Homogeneous and Heterogeneous)
- Chaos Theory and Turbulence
- Complex Fluids and Polymer Engineering
- Electrochemical Power Sources and Energy Technology
- Fluid Modelling and Computational Fluid Dynamics
- Green Chemistry
- Materials for Solar Energy
- Mathematical & System Biology
- Microbial and Mammalian Cell Culture
- Molecular Host-pathogen Interactions
- Molecular Marker Technology
- Nanostructured Materials
- Nonlinear Dynamics
- Organic Chemistry
- Plant Tissue Culture
- Polymer Science
- Process Design Modelling and Simulation
- Reaction Engineering
- Separation Science
- Solid State NMR of Materials
- Structure-function and Crystallography of Biomolecules
- Structure-Property-Processing Correlation Studies
- Theoretical Chemistry and Computational Science
CSIR-NCL has an active research program leading to Ph.D. degree in all the above mentioned areas. It provides a stimulating atmosphere, which fosters creativity and encourages innovative thinking and research. The research groups in CSIR-NCL are supported by several high quality resource centres e.g. High Performance Computing facilities, Centre for Materials Characterization, Central NMR facility, Catalyst Pilot Plant, Combi-chem-bio Resource Centre and Digital Information Resource Centre.
The PhD program consists of flexible course work, laboratory training, research project to demonstrate attainment of a high degree of scientific ability which is followed by advanced research leading to a PhD thesis on a specific topic. The PhD program is normally completed in 4-5 years. During the first year, the students have to go through a course work covering basic and advanced topics. The students are encouraged to take courses in inter-disciplinary areas. Apart from the subject courses, short courses in scientific communication and laboratory safety are mandatory for all the students. As part of the PhD program, the PhD student is expected to give at least two seminars.
Various awards, for best research work, best publication, travel grant to attend conferences abroad, etc are provided to Ph.D. students. Additional incentives will be available for interdisciplinary research. Hostel facilities are available for regular CSIR-NCL students. More hostel and student recreation facilities will be coming up for the benefit of research students.
Next admission for the PhD program in science and engineering will be done in the month of November-December, 2011. The admission requirement for the PhD program in the science stream is MSc in any branch of science and a Masters degree in Chemical Engineering/Technology or related discipline for the PhD Programme in Engineering. Applicants should have qualified for a UGC/CSIR/DBT/ICMR/BINC/DST-INSPIRE JRF or any other research fellowship programme. Admission is through an initial screening of the applications followed by personal interview.
The number of students to be selected in the areas of Physical, Chemical, Biological, and Engineering sciences will depend on the vacancies that will exist for each of the disciplines. The selected JRFs will be eligible for a fellowship and House Rent Allowance (HRA) as admissible under rules and a Contingency grant. On completion of two years, JRFs could be upgraded to Senior Research Fellowship (SRF) based on an assessment. The total tenure including the fellowship period shall not exceed 5 years.
APPLICATION PROCEDURE AND INTERVIEW SCHEDULE:
Candidates applying to the PhD program who fulfil the requirements may be asked to submit their application by email/hardcopy or apply online at the CSIR-NCL/AcSIR website. The list of candidates eligible for appearing interviews, after initial screening will be uploaded on the CSIR-NCL/AcSIR website. The interviews will be held in the last week of November 2011 at CSIR-NCL. List of selected candidates under different disciplines will be announced after the interviews. Students may consider staying back in Pune for two to three days more after the interviews, so that in the event of their selection, they may complete the counselling and selection of research guides. Counselling will be held on the next day after the interviews. Details of counselling will be announced at the time of the interviews. The selected candidates are required to join for research on or before January 02, 2012. No TA/DA will be paid for attending the interview.
TENTATIVE DATES:
Last date for submitting applications: October 30, 2011
Publication of the list of candidates called for interviews: November 10, 2011
Dates of Interview at CSIR-NCL: November 28-29, 2011
Counselling: November 30, 2011
Last date for joining for PhD: Monday, January 02, 2012
Commencement of session: Monday, January 02, 2012
CONTACT:
Student Academic Office
National Chemical Laboratory
Pune 411008
FOR DETAILS, PLEASE REFER
