ELIGIBILITY FOR ADMISSION

 i. M.Phil. (awarded by IIT Bombay or equivalent 2-year degree) in any of the disciplines pertaining to the research areas in the Department, with First Class or 60% marks (55% marks for SC/ST) as specified in the General Eligibility Criterion. 

OR

ii. M.A. or equivalent degree in Humanities & Social Sciences subjects, with 55% marks(50% for SC/ST). 

OR 

Master’s degree in Commerce with 55% marks (50% for SC/ST).

OR 

M.Sc. or equivalent degree in Science, with First Class or 60% marks (55% marks for SC/ST) as specified in the General Eligibility Criterion. 

OR 

B.Tech./B.E. or equivalent degree in Engineering/Technology, with First Class or 60% marks (55% marks for SC/ST) as specified in the General Eligibility Criterion. 

Candidates with degrees in Science, Commerce, Design, Architecture, Management and Engineering/ Technology or candidates with two years of PGDM from recognised Govt. Institution will be considered for research areas consistent with their academic background. Candidates having UGC-NET Lectureship (LS)/ GATE are also eligible for Teaching Assistantship in addition to other academic qualifications. 

RESEARCH AREAS 

Psychology – Only in Autumn Semester 2026: Organizational Psychology, Health Psychology, Cognitive Psychology. 

Sociology - Only in Autumn semester 2026 : Urban Studies; Development Studies; Rural/Agrarian Sociology; Law and Governance; Legal Pluralism; Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change; Gender and Development; Disaster Studies; Ethnicity and Multiculturalism; Sociological Theory; Historical Sociology; Collective Memory; Anthropology of corruption; Constitutional Law; Sociology of Higher Education; Sociology of Religion and Kinship; Conversion; Christianity in India; Caste today; Religious Institutions; Hierarchy/Stratification; Sociology in/of India; Contemporary Karnataka; Sociology of Development; Resource Rights; Subaltern Resistance and Movements and Political Ecology; Sociology and political economy of Finance; Political Economy of Development; Indian Political Economy; Theories of Money; Classical Political Economy; New and Old Institutionalism and History of Economic Thought; Issues of Gender and Sexuality; Medical Anthropology; Anthropology of the Body and Embodiment; Post-Colonial Studies; Post-Modern Feminist Studies and Southern Theories; Caste: Civility and Democracy; Civil Society, Ethnography Studies; Inclusion and Exclusion; Environmental Sociology; Social and Environmental Movements; Environmental Politics with a focus on Social inequality and Natural Resource Conflicts especially in Rural India; Issues of Livelihood and Problems of Marginalized Class and Political Ecology; Science and Technology Studies; Sociology of Medicine and Public Health. 

Philosophy – Autumn & Spring Semester 2026: All areas. 

History – Autumn & Spring Semester 2026: Histories of anticolonialism and decolonization, subaltern histories, social histories of modern India, studies in social mobility, community; caste studies, Dalit studies, histories of languages and scripts, manuscript cultures, print cultures (modern/early modern period), cultures of memorializaton, Archaeology of death, Landscape Archaeology, Experimental Archaeology, South Asian Archaeology, Archaeological Theory, Public Archaeology and Heritage, Material Culture Studies, Object Histories. 

Cell for Indian Science and Technology in Sanskrit - Autumn and Spring semester 2026 Indian Science and Technology; Indian Philosophy; Logic and Epistemology; Sanskrit language; Panini and Grammar; Philosophy of Language. *Note for CISTS: Ph.D. candidates who will apply for Sanskrit in the SF category may possibly get some financial support from the Chellaram Foundation, based on the performance in the entrance exam. 

English –Literature and Performance Studies- Only in Autumn Semester 2026:

Applicants are required to submit a Research Proposal along with the application. The format, content and other details needed for the proposal are available on the link below.

Linguistics - Autumn and Spring Semester 2026: All areas of theoretical linguistics and, especially, early language acquisition/learning; documentation of endangered languages. Applicants are required to submit a Research Proposal along with the application. The format, content and other details needed for the proposal are available on the link below.