PhD Program (Dec 2023)

Located on the lap of the lower Himalayas, near the beautiful hill town of Nainital, Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) is an autonomous research institute funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST). ARIES extends opportunity to all M. Sc. qualified students to pursue an exciting research career as a PhD student in Astronomy & Astrophysics and Atmospheric Sciences.

Astronomy & Astrophysics division of ARIES is engaged in cutting edge research in the fields of Solar Physics, Stellar physics, Interstellar Matter, Transients like Supernova and GRBs, AGN, Galaxy Morphology, Relativistic Astrophysics etc. The Atmospheric division specializes in atmospheric chemistry, trace gases, boundary layer meteorology, atmospheric dynamics, aerosols etc.

Every year, students with M.Sc Physics are invited to apply for Junior Research Fellowship programme of ARIES leading to PhD. Students admitted to the PhD programme are initially offered a Junior Research Fellowship (JRF). The JRF joins the PhD programme after successful completion of the course work. On completion of two years as a Junior Research Fellow, a student is offered a Senior Research Fellowship (SRF) after a rigorous assessment. The total tenure of the fellowship may not ordinarily exceed five years, inclusive of the course work.

PhD Admission under Projects (Dec 2023) in ARIES (coordinated jointly by ARIES, Nainital and IIT, Roorkee)

In this round, students with M.Sc Physics/Astrophysics are invited to apply for Junior Research Fellowship programme of ARIES leading to PhD under the following projects:

Probing wave energy transport in the Solar Atmosphere (PI: Dr. Vaibhav Pant) - 01 position
Exploration of solar coronal jets and associated small scale flaring processes during solar cycle 24 and 25 (PI: Dr. Vaibhav Pant) - 01 position
Wave dissipation in the magnetized solar atmosphere: Implications on heating and seismology (PI: Dr. S. Krishna Prasad) - 01 position
Constraining the nature of multi-messenger transients with coordinated multi-wavelength observations (PI: Dr. Kuntal Mishra) - 02 positions

This PhD programme will be jointly coordinated by ARIES, Nainital and IIT, Roorkee (Physics Department). Students admitted to the Ph.D. programme are initially offered a Junior Research Fellowship (JRF). Successful completion of the course work is mandatory for all the JRFs. On completion of two years as a Junior Research Fellow, a student is offered a Senior Research Fellowship (SRF) after an assessment. The total tenure of the fellowship will not exceed five years, inclusive of the course work. Shortlisted candidates names will be posted on ARIES website. The interview will be conducted in-person at ARIES, Manora Peak, Nainital.

Fellowship: Rs 37000/- per month (JRF); Rs 42000/- per month (SRF).

Minimum Qualification for PhD interviews at ARIES

M.Sc. Physics/Astrophysics with minimum 55% marks for General/OBC and 50% for SC/ST. Post graduation degree should be from UGC recognized college/University.
The candidate should have passed M.Sc. on or after July 1, 2022.
Age limit: 28 years as on December 31, 2023. Upper age limit for reserved categories may be relaxed as per the UGC rules.
Applicants should have valid CSIR/UGC-NET (JRF/LS) qualified in Physical Sciences -OR- valid GATE qualified in Physics -OR - valid JEST qualified in Physics.
All the applications will be further screened by taking into account marks/ranks in GATE/CSIR,UGC-NET/JEST and M.Sc. and other guidelines decided by ARIES. Fulfilling minimum qualification does not guarantee a call for the interview.

Application Process

Online application is mandatory for the PhD applicants. Final selection will be made on the basis of an in-person (OFFLINE) interview to be held at ARIES, Manora Peak, Nainital.

ONLINE APPLICATION (Closed)

Deadline for online application submission: 23:00 Hrs, 29th November, 2023
Announcement of shortlisted candidates for Interview: 1 December 2023 (tentative)
List of shortlisted candidates for interview.
Date of Interview (OFFLINE): 11-12 December, 2023 at ARIES, Manora Peak.
Announcement of Final list of selected candidates: 13 December, 2023 (Please click here to see the results)
Date of Academic Registration: 26th December, 2023 (at IIT Roorkee, in-person)

Contact

The Chairman
Academic Committee
Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES)
Manora Peak, Tallital Sub PO,
Nainital -263 002 Uttarakhand
E-mail: indra[at]aries[dot]res[dot]in

For further Queries related to individual projects, respective PI's may be contacted.

E-mail of the PI's: Dr. Vaibhav Pant (vaibhav.pant[at]aries[dot]res[dot]in), Dr. S. Krishna Prasad (krishna.prasad[at]aries[dot]res[dot]in), Dr. Kuntal Mishra (kuntal[at]aries[dot]res[dot]in)