NIT Rourkela PhD Admission 2026 (Jan)

30 October, 2025

Rourkela, Odisha

PhD

NIT Rourkela

NIT

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Full details for NIT Rourkela PhD Admission 2026 (Jan).

National Institute of Technology, Rourkela (NIT Rourkela) invites applications for PhD admission in Spring (January) Semester of the Academic Year 2025-26.

Vacancy

Indicative Broad Area of Research

  • Biotechnology and Medical Engineering (BM)
    • Biomechanics and Bio-transport, Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering, Medical Electronics and Instrumentation, Cell and Molecular Engineering, Bioprocess Engineering, Agricultural and Environmental Biotechnology, Energy and Environment, Medical Image and Signal Processing, AI/ML in Biomedical Engineering.
  • Civil Engineering (CE)
    • Structural Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering, Water Resources Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Construction Technology & Management, Transportation Engineering.
  • Chemical Engineering (CH)
    • Catalysis and Reaction Engineering, Energy Storage and Conversion Materials, Process Systems Engineering, Environment Engineering and Pollution Control, Computational Modeling and Simulation, Nanomaterials and Advanced Materials, Sustainable and Renewable Energy, Separation and Purification, Fluid Dynamics, Fluidization Engineering, Molecular Simulations, Targeted Drug Delivery Systems, Computation Fluid Dynamics, AI/ML in Chemical Engineering, Immunosensors Engineering, Microfluidics, Semiconductors Devices, Process Simulation and Modeling, Process Optimization/Intensification/ Design & Development, Hydrogen Energy, Carbon Capture & Utilization , Polymer Science & Engineering, Waste to Wealth, Waste water treatment, Life Cycle Assessment, Sustainable process design, Machine Learning.
  • Ceramic Engineering (CR)
    • Advanced materials for energy storage, Nanomaterials for hydrogen production and storage, Advanced biomimetic materials for high strength applications , Environmental Ceramics, Luminescent Nanomaterials, Advanced refractories for green steel, Structural Ceramics, Electroceramics , Glass, Bio-glass.
  • Computer Science & Engineering (CS)
    • ArtificiaI Intelligence & Machine Learning, Internet of Things (IoT) and Computer Network, Optical Network, Blockchain, Software Defined Networks, Cloud Computing, Software Engineering, Wireless adhoc networks, Cloud and Fog Computing, Wireless Sensor Network, VANET , Flying Adhoc Network, Computer Vision, AI for Digital Health Care , Signal and Image Processing, IoT & Cloud Computing, Healthcare System, Resource Optimization, Image Processing and ML, IoT based Healthcare, Intelligent Transportation system, WSN, IoT Authentication, Cloud Security, Cryptography, Low Power VLSI, Computer Architecture, Digital Microfluidics, Theoretical Computer Science, NLP, Quantum Computing, Hardware Security, Deep-Fake, Signal/Audio Processing, Deep Learning, Time-series Forecasting, Soft Computing, Computer Vision for Underwater Images, Biomedical Image Processing, Data Mining, Graph Clustering.
  • Chemistry (CY)
    • Organic Chemistry (Synthesis, Physical-organic, Supramolecular Chemistry, catalysis), Inorganic Chemistry ( Bioinorganic, Organometallic, Solid state), Material Chemistry (Nanomaterials, Catalysis), and Physical Chemistry (Biophysical, Computational and Theoretical Chemistry, Protein Chemistry, Fluorescence Spectroscopy, Supramolecular Chemistry).
  • Electronics & Communication Engineering (EC)
    • Communication, AI/ML, Computer Vision, Instrumentation, RF & MW System, VLSI, IoT, Signal and Image Processing, Brain Computer Interface, SIP, Radar Signal Processing, Semiconductor Device, Nano Electronics, Opto Electronics, Computer Vision, Deep Learning.
  • Electrical Engineering (EE)
    • Power Systems, High Voltage Engineering, Microgrid Control, Operation and Cybersecurity, Power Electronics and Drives, Active Power Filter, Renewable Energy & EV, Digital Signal/Image/Video Processing, Communication and Signal Processing, Control & Automation , Consensus control of Multiagent System, ML based Control Applications, Semiconductor Devices, Battery, Hydrogen Storage, Supercapacitor
  • Earth and Atmospheric Science (ER)
    • Geology, Applied Geology, Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Sciences, Physical Oceanography, Geophysics, Remote Sensing & GIS, Environmental Sciences, Equivalent Disciplines.
  • Food Process Engineering (FP)
    • Post-Harvest Operations, Food Quality and Safety, Computer-aided and IoT-based Food Processing, AI and ML in Food Processing, Non-thermal Processing, Food Equipment and Process Design, Food Packaging & Storage Engineering, Health and Functional Food , Microwave Processing & Food Sterilisation, Extrusion Processing, Dairy Engineering and Technology, Product Development and Ingredients Innovation , Agricultural and Food Waste Valorisation.
  • Humanities & Social Sciences (HS)
    • Economics /English /Sociology/ Anthropology/ Population Studies/ Psychology.
  • Industrial Design (ID)
    • Product Design, Robotics, Smart Manufacturing. Human-Computer-Interaction, Virtual Reality, Safety by Design, Human Factors & Ergonomics, Acoustics, Underwater Glider, Underwater Acoustics, Computer Aided Design, User-Countered Design, Design Innovation, New product Development, Design for wellbeing, Emerging Technologies (AI,AR,VR etc). Mechanisms Design, Design of Spaceborne structures , Design of Deployable structures.
  • Life Science (LS)
    • Microbiology, Biofilm, Antimicrobial Resistance, Marine Biotechnology, Plant Microbe Interaction, Mangrove Ecology, Bioremediation, Waste water Treatment, Marine Bioprospecting, Blue Economy, Immunology, Cancer Biology, Nanobiotechnology, Tissue Engineering, Regenerative Medicine, Plant Biology, Drug Deliver, Bioactive Drug Molecule, Mycobacteria, Immunology, Bioinformatics, Human genetics, Computational Biology, Molecular Medicine, Any other field of Biology (For External Fellowship Candidates).
  • Mathematics (MA)
    • Numerical Analysis, Differential Equation, Function & Analysis, Computational Finance, Cryptography, Algebra, Probability and Statistics, Algebraic graph Theory.
  • Mechanical Engineering (ME)
    • Manufacturing, Machine Design, Thermal Engineering, Fluid Mechanics, Robotics, Dynamics & Control of UAV, Additive Manufacturing, Composites.
  • Metallurgical & Materials Engineering (MM)
    • AI-ML, Extractive, Welding, Computational and Process Metallurgy, Archeometallurgy and Conservation of Metallurgical Heritage in India, Computational Materials Science and Machine Learning: Mechanical Behaviour, Crystallographic Texture, Steel Metallurgy, Structure Property Relationship, Advanced Characterization, Tribological Studies, FEM analysis sign Ansys, Highentropy alloys, and additive Manufacturing, Mechanical Metallurgy, Nanomaterials, Nanocomposites, Composite Materials, Powder Metallurgy, Physical Metallurgy, Rare Earth alloys, Corrosion, Heat Treatment, Smart Materials (Sensor & Actuator Processing), Surface Engineering.
  • Mining Engineering (MN)
    • Rock Mechanics, Underground Coal Mining, Mine Environment & Safety, Strata/Ground control + Instruments, Mine Ventilation. Mine Environment & Surface, Waste Utilisation, Numerical Simulation, Remotes GIS, Mine Automation, Mine Planning, CBM, CO2, Storage, Underground Storage, Mine Environment & Study, UMM, Mine Safety, Ergonomics.
  • Planning and Architecture (PA)
    • Vernacular Architecture, Climate responsive building design, Urban heat Island, Urban Climate, Sustainable development, Urban morphology, Green Infrastructure, Environmental Planning, Landscape Design, Landscape Planning, Construction Management, Urban Planning, Urban Design, Housing, Neighbourhood Planning, Community Planning, Age Friendly neighbourhoods /cities, Urban amenities, Leisure amenities Urban Governance, Transportation Planning, Infrastructure Planning, Land use planning, Global cities, City-network, Contemporary Urbanization, Network analysis, Vulnerability assessment, Environmental Psychology, Blue-green Infrastructure, Creative cities, Cultural and creative Industrial clusters, Cultural Planning, Conservation area planning, Architectural design history.
  • Physics and Astronomy (PH)
    • Experimental Condensed matter Physics, Computational Soft matter Physics/Biophysics. Astrophysics. High Energy and string theory, Experimental soft matter physics, Astrophysics, Gravitational waves, Cosmology. Theoretical and experimental condensed matter physics. Computational and experimental soft matter physics, biophysics.
  • School of Management (SM)
    • Marketing Management, General Management, Entrepreneurship, Human Resource Management, Sustainability , Operations Management.

Eligibility Criteria

The minimum qualification required for admission to PhD programs in Engineering, Science, Planning & Architecture, Management, and Humanities & Social Sciences is one of the following:

  • ME/M.Tech/M.Sc Engg./M.Pharm/M.Arch/M.Plan/M.Des in relevant discipline with at least 6.5 CGPA or 60% marks or 1st class in both BE/B.Tech/BScEngg/MSc/BPharm/MCA/BArch/BDes or equivalent, and ME/MTech/MScEngg/MPharm/MArch/MPlan/MDes from a recognized Technical Institute or University.
  • BE/BTech/BScEngg/MSc/BPharm/MCA/BArch/BDes or equivalent in relevant discipline with CGPA of 7.0 or 65% marks.
  • M.Sc. in Basic Sciences with CGPA 7.0 or 65% marks in relevant disciplines. For applicants with valid GATE/NET/GPAT or equivalent score, requirement may be relaxed by maximum 0.5 CGPA or 5% marks.
  • MBBS/BVSc with CGPA 6.5 or 60% marks or 1st class.

Further, candidates having the following qualification can also apply for PhD in Management and Humanities & Social Sciences:

  • M.Com/MBA/M.Sc/MA in Humanities and Social Sciences/Management/B.Tech with 6.5 CGPA or 60% marks or 1st class for PhD in Management and Humanities and Social Sciences only.

In addition to the above eligibility criteria (based on B.Tech, B.Arch, M.Sc., MBA, MA, M.Com, M.Tech, M.Arch, M.Plan, M.Des, and M.Pharm, etc. examinations), the following additional criteria will also be applicable:

  • A candidate should score a minimum of 6.5 CGPA or 60% marks or 1st class throughout their career to be eligible for admission to the PhD programme. The Departmental Research Committee (DRC), however, may make an exception (marks < 60% or CGPA < 6.5) at its discretion in only one among the results of 10th, +2, BA, BSc, BCom, Diploma, etc. (except the qualifying degree) if the candidate has qualified in GATE/NET/GPAT or other national-level fellowship tests like DST-INSPIRE, etc., or joined as JRF/SRF in any research project.
  • Candidates belonging to the Reserved Category (PWD/SC/ST) may be granted a relaxation of 0.5 CGPA or 5% at the +2 level.
  • For admission to Engineering and Science disciplines (except Life Science), a candidate should have passed Mathematics in +2 Science or Diploma.
  • Science students admitted to the PhD programme in Engineering/Physics/Mathematics must have passed Mathematics at the +3 level. Students without Mathematics at the +3 level may be admitted under the condition that they will have to register for 12 credits of 3000 level Mathematics and 2000/3000 level Computer Science courses (Theory and Practical) in addition to their normal course requirement and secure at least a C grade in each course.
  • A student should have passed Life Science or Biological Science either at the +2 or +3 level for admission to PhD in the Life Science department.
  • Students without a qualifying degree in the primary discipline will be required to take up additional coursework of 6 credits to gain adequate knowledge of the subject to be considered qualified along with students with specialization in a primary discipline, unless explicitly exempted by the Senate. The list of primary disciplines for specializations under various departments is given in Clause “D” below.

However, a higher shortlisting criterion (possibly different for different departments and for different categories of students) may be set by the Department during the scrutiny of applications depending on departmental requirements, the number, and the quality of applicants. Therefore, merely satisfying the minimum eligibility criteria does not guarantee a candidate will be called for an interview, and also merely attending an interview does not guarantee admission.

Applicants Awaiting Results

  • For thesis-based Postgraduate degrees [(M. Tech. (Research), MS, or equivalent)], a student is permitted to submit the final result within one year from the date of thesis submission. However, one piece of documentary evidence (proof of thesis submission) from the candidate’s Institute/University is required to be submitted at the time of admission.
  • For all course-based degrees [B. Tech., M. Sc., MA, M.Com, MBA, M. Tech. (Regular), etc.], results need to have been published before admission is granted. In exceptional cases when a university will not be in a position to publish results by the time of admission, submission of the qualifying degree result may be permitted tiil 31st January, 2026, but not beyond.

Academic Eligibility / Primary Disciplines

  • Biotechnology and Medical Engineering (BM): A Master’s degree in Engineering (any branch)/Medicine/Dental / Pharmacy/Veterinary OR a bachelor’s degree in Engineering (any branch) / Medicine /Dental / Pharmacy / Veterinary with valid GATE/NET/BET/GPAT score OR a MSc degree in Biotechnology / Life Sciences/Physics/ Chemistry / Allied Sciences with 1st class in UG and PG degree with a valid GATE/NET/BET /GPAT score or any National level eligibility test.
  • Civil Engineering (CE): B. Tech in Civil Engineering (with GATE Qualified) or B. Tech in Civil Engineering with M. Tech in relevant specialization.
  • Chemical Engineering (CH): B Tech or equivalent/M Tech or equivalent in Chemical Engineering/Chemical Technology/Biotechnology/ Petrochemical Engineering/ Petroleum Technology/Process Control and Instrumentation/Polymer Technology Biochemical Engineering/ Energy Engineering/Nanotechnology/ Environmental Engineering and allied branches OR M.Sc in Chemistry/Physics/Maths/Environment/Polymer/ Nanoscience and allied discipline with Mathematics in +2 level. (For Fellowship category, valid GATE score is mandatory for B Tech & M Sc qualifications).
  • Ceramic Engineering (CR): BTech (with GATE)/MTech in Ceramic/Metallurgical and Materials / Chemical / Mechanical Engg./Biomedical Engg/Nanotechnology/Biotechnology OR MSc (with GATE) in Physics / Chemistry/Materials Science / Nano Science.
  • Computer Science & Engineering (CS): BTech (with GATE/Any National Level fellowship)/MTech in Computer Science and Engineering/Information Technology OR MCA OR MSc (with GATE/ Any National Level fellowship) in Computer Science / Information Technology.
  • Chemistry (CY): MSc in Chemistry/Physics/ Biochemistry/ Biotechnology / Nanoscience and Nanotechnology/ Bioinformatics / Industrial Chemistry / Applied Chemistry /Environmental Chemistry/ Food Science and Technology/ Nutrition OR MPharm OR BTech / MTech in Chemical Ceramic / Metallurgical and Materials Engineering/Biotechnology.
  • Electronics & Communication Engineering (EC): BTech (with GATE) / MTech in Electronics/Electrical Electronics & Communication / Electronics & Telecommunication Electronics & Instrumentation/Applied Electronics & Instrumentation / Electrical & Electronics Engineering/Computer Science/Computer Science and Engg./Biomedical and allied, OR MCA/MSc (with GATE/Any National Level fellowship) in Electronics/ Computer Science/ Information Technology/ Physics/ Mathematics and allied.
  • Electrical Engineering (ΕΕ): MTech/ME/M.S. in Electrical/ Electronics/ Communications/ Computer Science/ Instrumentation / Control Engineering or equivalent or Microelectronics /Solid-state Technology/ MEMS/Nano Science/ Nano Technology/Material Science/Engineering Physics or equivalent, relevant to the area of research OR BTech/BE in Electrical/ Electronics/ Communications/ Computer Science/ Instrumentation / Control Engineering or equivalent or Microelectronics/Solid-state Technology/ MEMS/ Nano Science/ Nano Technology/ Material Science/ Engineering Physics or equivalent can apply for admission to PhD programme.
  • Earth & Atmospheric Science (ER): MSc / MTech in Geology/Applied Geology/ Geophysics / Environmental Science / Remote Sensing / Chemistry / Physics / Atmospheric Science /Meteorology / Oceanography / Mathematics OR related disciplines in Science OR BTech / MTech in Civil / Mining / Electronics and Computer Science Engineering.
  • Food Process Engineering (FP): B. Tech with MTech in Food Processing Engineering / Food Technology /Agricultural Process Engineering / Post Harvest Engineering/Agricultural Engineering or any other relevant branch of Engineering/Technology.
  • Humanities and Social Sciences (HS): MSc/MA in relevant subjects OR BTech/MTech in any branch of Engineering OR MBA. Candidates with UGC NET/JRF qualification will be preferred.
  • Industrial Design (ID): B.Des. (with CEED)/ BE or B.Tech. (with GATE)/ M. Des./ ME/ M.Tech./ M.Arch./ in any discipline, including Ocean Engineering/ Marine Engineering/ Naval Engineering, etc. MCA/M.Sc. in any discipline with GATE/NET.
  • Life Sciences (LS): MSc in Life Sciences / Botany / Zoology / Microbiology / Biotechnology / Biochemistry / Bioinformatics / MBBS / BVSc./ Bio-Physics / Food Science and Technology, BTech / Integrated MTech / MTech in Biotechnology or any branch of biological sciences, BPharm/MPharm, MS in any branch of biological sciences.
  • Mathematics (MA): MSc in Mathematics / Statistics / Computer Science / Information Technology / MCA and First class Honours or equivalent in B.Sc. with Mathematics / Statistics as Honours subject. OR BTech / MTech in any branch of Engineering or equivalent.
  • Mechanical Engineering (ME): B.Tech./BE (with GATE) in any branch; M.Tech./ME in any branch; MBA (with NET) in Operations Management specialization; M.Sc. (with GATE) in Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Life Science, Electronics, Computer Science, Data Science, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Environmental Science.
  • Metallurgical & Materials Engineering (MM): BTech/MTech in Computer Science/Metallurgy / Metallurgical and Materials Engineering / Ceramic/ Chemical / Mechanical / Production / Manufacturing Engineering OR MSc in Physics/ Chemistry / Materials Science.
  • Mining Engineering (MN): BTech/MTech in Mining / Civil / Environmental / Chemical / Electronics/ Electrical / Instrumentation / Computer Science / IT / Mechanical / Metallurgical and Materials Engineering OR MSc in Geology / Geo-Physics / Environmental Science / Remote Sensing / Mathematics / Statistics / Chemistry / Physics.
  • Planning & Architecture (PA): B.Arch (with GATE)/ B.Plan (with GATE)/ M.Arch/ M.Plan / MCP / MURP / MUP / MOP/ M.Tech/ MBA (Urban Management) or Equivalent.
  • Physics and Astronomy (PH): MSc in any branch of Science with Mathematics and Physics at B.Sc. level OR BTech in any branch of Engineering.
  • School of Management (SM): Master degree in Technology, Business Administration, Arts, Science, Commerce, Pharmacy OR Bachelor degree in Technology in any discipline OR CA(FINAL) from ICAI OR LLM(LAW).

Application Procedure

  • Interested candidates satisfying the eligibility criteria may submit their online application at http://eapplication.nitrkl.ac.in.
  • Read the notification carefully before filling application form.
  • Pay non-refundable Application Fee of Rs. 500/- through SBI Collect only.
  • Fill up the online application form and enter the SB Collect Reference Number in the appropriate column of Application Fee section and submit the same.
  • Sponsored candidates are required to submit the scanned copy of the sponsorship certificate while submitting online application.

Applicants are NOT required to send hard copy of the application form or any other document(s) to NIT Rourkela.

However, candidates who will be called for interview will be required to submit signed copy of the application form, a set of photo copies of all certificates and original Sponsorship Certificate (for Sponsored/ Local Sponsored candidates only) at the time of interview. They also need to produce original certificates from HSC onwards for verification.

Important Dates

  • Last date of submission of Online form submission: 17 November, 2025
  • Publication of result of scrutiny in the website: 21 November, 2025
  • Test and/ Interview (Venue – NIT, Rourkela) (OFFLINE): 1 December, 2025
  • Publication of result of Interview in the website: 8 December, 2025
  • Admission: 15 December, 2025
  • Semester Registration /Starting of Class / Research work: 1 January, 2026

Application Fee

Application Fee: Rs. 500/-

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