Ph.D.
The Centre offers a doctoral degree program that involves rigorous course work followed by thesis research in the various research fields in the centre. For conducting their research, the PhD scholars have access to some of the best resources in the nation.
The duration of PhD completion varies between 4 and 6 years, with an average of 4.5 years for students joining after a Masters. There have been exceptional instances where the Ph.D thesis have been successfully defended in 2.5 years.
An undergraduate student with a high GPA from a Centrally Funded Technical Institute (CFTI) can have direct entry to the PhD program at CeNSE through an initiative by IISc.
Eligibility for the PhD programs:
• M.E./M.Tech. or equivalent in any discipline.
• B.E. / B.Tech. or equivalent in any Engineering discipline with a valid score in a recommended GATE paper (See list of papers for M.Tech)
• M.Sc. or equivalent in any Science discipline with a valid score in a recommended GATE paper (See list of papers for M.Tech)
• Qualification in one of the following national exams: INSPIRE, Joint CSIR UGC NET for JRF, DBT JRF, UGC NET for JRF and JEST.
Duration
Variable (typically four to six years) although there have been exceptional instances where PhD thesis have been successfully defended under 2.5 years
How to Apply
Ph. D program: Admissions to the PhD program is typically done for the July session. However, a limited number of topic/field specific admissions may be made for the January session as well.
The admission process starts with filing the online applications at the IISc admissions website. Candidates are shortlisted for interview based on either the scores in one of the national exams or qualification. The detailed eligibility criteria can be found here. The background of students admitted to CeNSE in the past have been mostly from ECE, Physics, Mechanical, Materials disciplines, although there are students pursuing PhD/ MTech at CeNSe whose undergraduate degrees are in areas as diverse as biotechnology or biomedical instrumentation. Shortlisted candidates have to appear for an interview at CeNSE for selection. The interview typically consists of two to three sections, namely math and analytical questions such as plotting functions, basic calculus, differential equations etc, questions related to courses taken during their UG and PG degrees, and questions probing their research aptitude. Admission is based primarily on the performance in the interview and the results are generally announced 2-3 weeks after the interview.
Post Admission Ph.D
The most important activity after joining the Ph. D program is the selection of your research advisor. At CeNSE we give absolute freedom to choose a research advisor based on the mutual interest of the student and the faculty member. In order to make a well thought out choice of research advisor, you are encouraged to talk to the faculty members whose work interest you and spend some time in their labs and attend the group meetings to get a good idea of what research in the group involves. Students typically take between 4-8 courses depending on the prior preparation to gain a solid background in their topic of research. They should maintain a minimum CGPA of 7 throughout the course program. A major step towards the completion of a successful PhD is to pass the comprehensive exam which is held before completing two years in the PhD program. The comprehensive exam is evaluated by a committee of examiners from inside and outside the department. The committee evaluates if sufficient progress has been made towards the research goal. The exam also tests your grasp of the material discussed in your course work. After successfully passing the comprehensive exams, students focus on the research problem intensively leading to the successful defense of the PhD thesis typically within 5 years of joining the program.