NIT Rourkela PhD Admission 2026 (July)

11 April, 2026

Rourkela, Odisha

PhD

NIT Rourkela

NIT

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

National Institute of Technology, Rourkela (NIT Rourkela) invites applications for PhD admission in Autumn (July) Semester of the Academic Year 2026-27.

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)
    • Geotechnical Engineering, Structural Engineering, Transportation Engineering, Water Resources Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Construction Technology & Management.
  • 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, Edge Computing, SDN, 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, Cybernetics and Information Security, Biometric Security, 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, AI.
  • Chemistry (CY)
    • Organic Chemistry (Synthesis, Physical-organic, Supramolecular Chemistry, catalysis), Inorganic Chemistry ( Bioinorganic, Organometallic, Solid state), Material Chemistry (Nanomaterials, Catalysis, Energy Materials, Biomaterials), and Physical Chemistry (Biophysical, Computational and Theoretical Chemistry, Protein Chemistry, Fluorescence Spectroscopy, Supramolecular Chemistry).
  • Electronics & Communication Engineering (EC)
    • Wireless Communication, RF & Radar Microwave/Antenna, SIP, Optical NW, Sensor System, VLSI, Communication, Radar Signal Processing, Semiconductor Device, Opto Electronics, RFMS Instrumentation, Photonics, Control, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning.
  • Electrical Engineering (EE)
    • Power Systems, Power Electronics converter, Battery Pack Optimal Charging using Reinforcement Learning, ML based Data-driven Battery Pack fault Diagnosis, Communication and Signal Processing, Data Driven Control Systems, Protection, Control and Cyber Security issues in Microgrid, High Voltage Engineering, Semiconductor devices, Battery, Hydrogen Storage, Supercapacitor, Control & Automation, Microgrid Control and Operation, Active Power Filter, Drives, High Voltage Engineering, Power Electronics and Drives, Consensus Control of Multiagent System, ML based control Applications, Energy Systems, Microgrid, Renewable Energy, EV, power electronics & Drives, Microwave Circuit, Power System Stability, AI applications in power system, Synchrophasor, Technology, Power Quality, Power System Instrumentation, Renewable Energy Integration and Electric Vehicle Charging, Signal/Image Processing, Preferably Biomedical Signal Analysis, 5G, Optical Comm. & Networks, IoT, ORAN, Sliding mode control, Event-triggered control, Reinforcement Learning, Control of Cyber-Physical systems, and network control systems and its applications in biomedical, robotics , microgrid, hydrogen fuel cell, etc. Computer Vision, AI/ML applications in Signal Processing/Communication.
  • Earth and Atmospheric Science (ER)
    • Geology, Geophysics Atmospheric Sciences, Physical Oceanography.
  • Food Process Engineering (FP)
    • Post-Harvest Operations, Food Quality And Safety, Computer-Aided And IoT-Based Food Processing, AII 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)
    • English (NET/JRF), Economics (NET/JRF), Population Studies (JRF only), Sociology (NET/JRF), Psychology ( NET/JRF), Anthropology (NET/JRF).
  • Industrial Design (ID)
    • Mechanism Design, Deployable Structures, Spaceborne Systems Design, Computer Aided Design, Numerical Simulation and Experimental Analysis, Human Computer Interaction, Applications of AI in Human Centred Design, Human Factors in Emerging Technologies, Technology for Healthy Aging, Digital Human Modeling & Ergonomic Design, Innovative/Wearable Product Design, Geometric Modeling, MSDs, Biomechanical, Industrial Automation, Robotics and Artificial Intelligence.
  • Life Science (LS)
    • Cell Biology, Molecular Biology, Epigenetics, Microbiology, Bacterial Biofilm, Antimicrobial Resistance, Microbial Extracellular Polysaccharides, Bioremediation, Marine Biotechnology, Waste Water Treatment, Immunology, Drug Delivery, Tissue Engineering, Regenerative Medicine, Nanobiotechnology, Bioinformatics, RNAi Biology, Biophysics, Plant Biotechnology, Developmental Biology, Genetics, Computational Biology, Computational Science & AI-ML, Infection Immunology, Patho-Immunology.
  • Mathematics (MA)
    • Convex and Variational Analysis, Combinations, Algebra, Computational Finance, Functional Analysis, Probability and Statistics, Fluid Dynamics , Numerical Analysis, Fractal geometry, Cryptography.
  • Mechanical Engineering (ME)
    • Machine Design/Biomedical Engineering, Thermal Engineering, Fluid Mechanics , Manufacturing.
  • Metallurgical & Materials Engineering (MM)
    • Mechanical Behaviour, Biomaterials, Surface Engineering, Additive Manufacturing, Titanium Alloys, Physical Metallurgy, Nanomaterials, High Entropy Alloys, Aluminium Matrix Composites, Bulk Metallic Glass Composites, Structure-Property Correlation, Nanocomposites, Powder Metallurgy, Recycling Of Metals & Alloys, Mechanical Metallurgy, Materials For High Temperature Applications, Archaeometallurgy And Conservation Of Materials Heritage In India, Self-Healable Aerospace Alloys, Microstructural Stability In Nanocrystalline Alloys, Geological Materials, Nanoscale Plasticity And Damage, Microstructural Characterization, Transmission Electron Microscopy, Smart Materials, Aerospace Materials, Surface Modification, 3D Prinitng, & 4D Printing, Surface Engineering, Mechanical Properties Evaluation Of 3D Printed Metallic Materials, Process Metallurgy, Surface Heat Treatment Of Steel, Advanced Alloy Design And Development, ICME, Ferrous Metallurgy, Advanced Alloy Design And Development, Squeeze Casting And Solidification Techniques, Microstructural And Texture Characterization, Mechanical Properties And Tribological Studies, And Computational Material Science Using ANSYS And AI/ML Driven Modelling, Process Metallurgy, Extractive Metallurgy, Welding Metallurgy, AI-ML, Computational Materials .
  • Mining Engineering (MN)
    • Geomechanics, Environment, IoT Applications, Remote Sensing, Excavation, Mine Safety Engineering.
  • 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, Citynetwork, 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)
    • Neutron Stars, Dark Matter, Gravitational Waves, Quantum Information, Stellar Astrophysics, Asteroseismology, Particle/Astroparticle Physics, High Energy And String Theory, Experimental Condensed Matter Physics, Semicondutor Science And Technology, Thin Film And Nanotechnology, Computational Soft Matter Physics, Astrophysics And Cosmology, BlackHoles.
  • School of Management (SM)
    • Human Resource Management (Non NET, NET/JRF), Finance Non NET, NET/JRF), Marketing (Non –NET, NET/JRF), Production (Non NET, NET/JRF), General Management (Non-NET, NET/JRF).

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 1 st 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.

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 result by the time of admission, submission of qualifying degree result may be permitted till 30th September, 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 all branches with Mathematics in +2 level. (For Fellowship category, valid GATE/NET 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)
    • B.Tech (with GATE/Any National Level Fellowship)/ M.Tech. M.E./M.S. in Electrical/ Electronics/Communications/ ComputerScience/ Instrumentation/Control Engineering/ Biomedical/Material Science/ Engineering Physics, or allied Engineering Branches OR MCA, M.Sc. (with GATE/Any National Level Fellowship) in Physics/ Electronics/ Mathematics/Computer Science/ IT/ Biomedical and allied.
  • 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)

Fellowships

Institute Fellowships are available to the PhD students of all the departments. Prevailing rate of fellowship is given below:

  • 1st & 2nd year:  Rs. 37,000/- p.m.
  • 3rd, 4th & 5th year*: Rs. 42,000/- p.m.

* Subject to clearing the Progress Seminar to be conducted by the department.

Individual External Fellowships

Candidates with individual external fellowships (CSIR-NET/ UGC-NET/ DSTINSPIRE/ RGNF/ ICSSR/Women Scientist, etc.) are especially encouraged to apply. The selection process will be same as that for other candidates. The rate and mode of payment of fellowship to such students will be governed as per the rules of the Sponsor / Funding Agency.

Note :- Those students admitted under external fellowships from various agencies or sponsors such as NET-JRF, CSIR, DST-INSPIRE, project fellowships, and other schemes, the HRA shall be governed in accordance with the guidelines and rules of the concerned agency or sponsor.

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.

Important Dates

  • Last date of submission of Online form submission: 11 May, 2026
  • Publication of result of scrutiny in the website: 22 May, 2026
  • Test and/ Interview (Venue – NIT, Rourkela) (OFFLINE): 4 June, 2026
  • Publication of result of Interview in the website: 12 June, 2026
  • Admission: 30 June, 2026
  • Semester Registration /Starting of Class / Research work: 20 July, 2026

Application Fee

Application Fee: Rs. 500/-

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