Spring 2026-2027 Ph.D Admissions

Ph.D Admissions Spring 2026-2027

Dear Candidate, Thank you for your interest in our department. We look forward to welcoming a fresh batch of highly motivated and competent Ph. D. students. Let us take you through the modus operandi of our Ph. D. admission.

A shortlist of applicants will be prepared based on their CSIR/UGC fellowship, GATE score, M. Tech. degree etc. Only those candidates will be considered for interview, who fulfil educational qualifications advertised in the list mentioned above.
Shortlisted candidates will be provided with a Google form in which they need to choose one of the interview committees (out of Organic, Inorganic and Physical Chemistry).
Candidates are requested to make these choices after due consideration.
Offline Interviews will be conducted for shortlisted candidates. The tentative interview dates are 27 and 28 November 2026.
Duration of each interview will be 15-20 minutes. Candidates will be asked questions to test their knowledge of subject and ascertain their suitability for a Ph. D. position.
Selected candidates will be informed by Academic office of our institute.
Please note that assignment of supervisor will be done only after the students join the programme. While efforts will be made to assign first choice of supervisors to the maximum possible extent, it is often not possible, in case the number of applicants for certain groups is more than the number of projects available.

All the best to the candidates.

Ph. D. Admission Committee, Department of Chemistry | IIT Bombay
[Admission related queries may please be sent to admission@chem.iitb.ac.in].

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE Ph.D Admission FAQs.

ORGANIC CHEMISTRY

Serial No.	Faculty	Research Topics	Educational Requirement

1.	Suvarn Kulkarni suvarn@chem.iitb.ac.in	- Automated synthesis of bacterial glycans	- M.Sc. Chemistry

2.	Krishna P. Kaliappan kpk@chem.iitb.ac.in	- Total synthesis of xiamycins and related alkaloids - Synthesis of Ambrox analogues (External Industry Sponsored Project)	- M.Sc. Chemistry

3.	Satyadeep Waiba swaiba@chem.iitb.ac.in	- Catalytic Strategies for the Functionalization and Upcycling of Plastics and other Polymers - Development of Redox-Active Ligands and Cooperative Catalysts for C-H Bond Activation and Functionalization	- M.Sc. in Chemistry or M.Sc./M.Tech in a related field

4.	Rodney Fernandes rfernand@chem.iitb.ac.in	- Asymmetric synthesis of acetogenins and guaianolides - New method development in organic synthesis	- M.Sc. Chemistry

5.	Raghavan B. Sunoj sunoj@chem.iitb.ac.in	- Machine learning studies for chemical catalysis and reaction mechanism	- M.Sc. (Chemistry) or B.Tech./BE (Computer Science).

6.	Chandra M.R. Volla chandra.volla@chem.iitb.ac.in	- Harnessing Energy-Transfer Photocatalysis for the Development of Cycloaddition Reactions	- M.Sc. Chemistry/ M.Pharm

7.	Santosh Gharpure sjgharpure@chem.iitb.ac.in	- Stereoselective synthesis of oxa- and aka-cycles	- M.Sc. Chemistry

8.	Nandita Madhavan nanditam@chem.iitb.ac.in	- Sustainable peptide synthesis	- M.Sc. Chemistry

INORGANIC CHEMISTRY

Serial No.	Faculty	Research Topics	Educational Requirement

1.	Arnab Dutta arnabdutta@chem.iitb.ac.in	- Electroreduction of CO₂ to valulable chemicals - Electrosynthesis of ammonia from waste resources	- M.Sc. Chemistry

2.	Dasari Venkatakrishnarao dasarikrishna@iitb.ac.in	- Self-assembly of organic/inorganic micro-crystals for optoelectronics - Synthesis of TADF organic moieties for electrically driven laser applications	- M.Sc. Chemistry, Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Physics

3.	Gopalan Rajaraman rajaraman@chem.iitb.ac.in	- AI/ML modelling for Small molecule activation - Modelling Single Photon Emitters using AI/ML for quantum technology application	- M.Sc. Chemistry with preferably Mathematics at an ancillary level.

4.	Sajal Sen sajalsen@chem.iitb.ac.in	- Developing small molecules for cancer immunotherapy - Advancing tumor resection with molecular imaging	- M.Sc. Chemistry

5.	Deepti Kalsi deeptikalsi@chem.iitb.ac.in	- Visible light mediated CO₂ valorization to the value added products - Dual catalytic approach for the sustainable catalysis	- M.Sc. Chemistry

6.	Debabrata Maiti dmaiti@chem.iitb.ac.in	- Development of novel anticancer small molecules through CH activation - New heterocyclic scaffolds through skeletal editing for drug discovery	- M.Sc. Chemistry

PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY

Serial No.	Faculty	Research Topics	Educational Requirement

1.	C. Subramaniam csubbu@chem.iitb.ac.in	- Nanomaterials for electrochemical energy storage - Nanomaterials for energy conversion	- Masters degree (M.Sc./MTech) in Chemistry, Physics, Chemical Engineering, Metallurgical science and materials engineering, Energy science and engineering. Interest/expertise in instrumentation are also welcome.

2.	Ishita Sengupta ishita@chem.iitb.ac.in	- Probing dynamics in large protein complexes using 19F solution NMR spectroscopy - Development of slice-selective 19F NMR measurements on biphasic samples for biological applications	- M.Sc. in Chemistry (Physical Chemistry specialization), Physics - M.Sc./M.Tech in Biochemistry, Biophysics, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering

3.	Rajarshi Chakrabarti rajarshi@chem.iitb.ac.in	- Computer simulations of liquid liquid phase separation in biomolecules - Transport of active polymers in porous media: investigation using theory and computer simulations.	- M. Sc. in Chemistry or Physics, with Mathematics as a subject in B.Sc., B.Tech in some engineering discipline

4.	Rahul Maitra rmaitra@chem.iitb.ac.in	- Project Topic 1: Quantum-centric Supercomputing for Drug Discovery. Drona Project code: RD/0126-DST0000-009 - Project Topic 2: Quantum computational Chemistry for Chemical Space Design. Drona Project Code: RD/0126-MEITY00-001 - Project Topic 3: AI/ML Assisted Algorithms for Next Generation Quantum Hardware. Drona Project Code: RD/0126-MEITY00-001	- M.Sc. in Physics/Chemistry, M. Tech. in Quantum Technology

5.	Arindam Chowdhury arindam@chem.iitb.ac.in	- Single-Molecule Fluorescence Spectroscopy to study Structure and Dynamics in Biological Systems(Co-Guide: Prof. Ruchi Anand)	- Bachelors in Chemistry, Physics, Biosciences, or Bioengineering/Biotechnology. Should have mathematics as a subsidiary subject. Masters (M.Sc. or M.Tech) in Chemistry, Physics, Biosciences or Bioengineering/BioTechnology, with strong analytical skills.

6.	Pradeepkumar P.I. pradeep@iitb.ac.in	- Discovery of Nucleic Acid Aptaners for AMR Detection and Therapy(Co-Guide: Prof. Ruchi Anand) - 1-year JRF position without Ph.D. registration in the DST-sponsored project . Project Topic 1: Bioinspired Materials for Sensing Proteins Conferring Bacterial Antibiotic Resistance (Co-Guide: Prof. Ruchi Anand & Prof. Arindam Chowdhury)	- M.SC. in Chemistry, Life Sciences, Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Molecular Microbiology, Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, or allied areas. Candidate should preferably have studied Chemistry/Biology at the Bachelor's level