PhD in Ecology and Evolution at CCMB: seeking applications for a PhD position
Our research focuses on one of ecology and evolutionary biology's overarching questions: "What generates and maintains biodiversity?”. Tropical forests are storehouses of biodiversity and offer an excellent model system to address 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. More details on the past and ongoing research are here. We are based at the Laboratory for Conservation of Endangered Species (LaCONES) of 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. For further enquiries about these positions, 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 2025.
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.
Students interested in a PhD in Evolutionary Ecology Lab are exempted from the CCMB entrance exam.
Application deadline: 15 May 2025
Shortlisted candidates will be interviewed online in June 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).