Our research focuses on one of the overarching questions in ecology and evolutionary biology: "What generates and maintains biodiversity?” Tropical forests are storehouses of biodiversity and offer an excellent model system for addressing these questions. In particular, our lab aims at 1) systematic documentation of tropical diversity in an integrative taxonomic approach, 2) identifying the underlying geological, evolutionary and ecological processes that govern the diversity patterns, and 3) identifying the processes that govern the assembly of species in these forests. We draw from multiple disciplines within ecology and evolution, including biogeography, phylogenetic and population genetics, community ecology, and comparative methods. We do extensive fieldwork to build natural history collections for the unexplored taxa and landscapes of peninsular India in Tropical Asia, as they form the backbone of our research. We focus on two mountain ranges: the Western Ghats, a global biodiversity hotspot, and the Eastern Ghats. For more details on past and ongoing research, please visit this link.
We are based at the Laboratory for Conservation of Endangered Species (LaCONES), a dedicated research facility for ecological, evolutionary and conservation studies at the CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad, India. More details of CCMB’s PhD program can be found here.
We are currently looking for enthusiastic and motivated students to do PhD research with us. If you are interested in applying for the PhD position and would like to discuss further, please write to jahnavi@csirccmb.org.
Open position: We have a five-year PhD position at the Evolutionary Ecology Lab. The position will start in August 2026.
To apply: Please send a single consolidated file with your (1) cover letter, (2) statement of purpose, (3) Curriculum Vitae (including publication list), (4) contact details for two referees, and optionally (5) one sample publication if available to jahnavi@csirccmb.org.
Also, please apply to the CCMB portal and select the 'LaCONES only' option for the PhD in Evolutionary Ecology Lab. This is mandatory.
Application deadline: 14th April 2026
Selection Process: Those opting for “LaCONES-only” will be screened through an interview and a statement of purpose. Please upload the statement of purpose when applying online. LaCONES-only candidates are exempted from the computer-based written test.
Shortlisted candidates will be interviewed online in November 2025. The final selection will be based on the overall merit of their application and performance in the interview.
Who can apply?
Candidates with a master’s degree in any branch of Science with minimum 55% marks (without rounding off) or equivalent grade for General (UR)/General-EWS and minimum 50% marks (without rounding off) or equivalent grade for OBC (NCL)/SC/ST, Third gender and Persons with Disability (PwD).
The applicant should have qualified either GATE Ecology and Evolution or have a valid National-level Fellowship JRF of any funding agency, e.g. CSIR, UGC, DBT, DST, etc., or any other equivalent fellowship like DBT-BET, INSPIRE, RGNF, etc. (TENABLE AT ALL AcSIR ACADEMIC CENTRE).