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15  Institute Post-Doctoral Fellows (IPDF)

Keywords

IIT Bombay postdoc, IPDF, Institute Post-Doctoral Fellowship, IITB postdoctoral hiring

An Institute Post-Doctoral Fellow works in your group but draws the fellowship from the Institute, so you do not need a project to pay for one. The Dean (Faculty Affairs) runs IPDF hiring. In your academic unit, the Department Post-doctoral Committee (or the FSC/DPC) screens the applications.

15.1 Eligibility

  • The candidate should have a fresh PhD, a PhD with less than two years of experience, or a submitted thesis awaiting examination.
  • The candidate should preferably be under 32. SC/ST/OBC-NCL/PwD candidates get age relaxation under Government of India norms.
  • IIT Bombay’s own PhD students cannot apply.
  • You can mentor at most two external IPDFs at a time.
  • The call has no last date, so candidates can apply at any time.

15.2 Fellowship

  • ₹ 80,000 a month (consolidated), plus HRA at the Government of India rate, currently 30% of the consolidated salary.
  • A non-lapsable contingency grant of ₹ 1,00,000 a year.
  • 30 days of earned leave a year, casual leave, and OPD medical treatment.
  • Support for one international conference during the fellowship, usually after the first year, to present work done at IIT Bombay, and for one national conference each year.

The Institute does not give IPDFs campus housing and pays HRA instead. A new fellow can stay in the Guest House at the going rate while looking for a flat.

15.3 Selection procedure

The candidate first asks you to be the mentor. With your consent, they send the IPDF application form to the Head of your academic unit. Since April 2025 every academic unit follows the same seven steps:

  1. The candidate submits the application with your consent email attached.
  2. The PDF Screening Committee, FSC or DPC either rejects the application or invites the candidate to give a seminar.
  3. The candidate gives the seminar, online or in person. Circulate the notice widely.
  4. At least three or four faculty members from the area fill in a standard feedback form on the seminar.
  5. The candidate sends two or three referee letters. You add your own detailed letter comparing the candidate with PhD students you have graduated.
  6. The DPC meets in person, reviews the feedback and letters, and decides whether to recommend the candidate. It cannot decide by email or circulation.
  7. The Head presents the case to the Institute Standing Committee for External PDF appointments, with a summary sheet of the unit’s applicants. The Standing Committee approves or rejects it.

For each candidate your unit fills in two forms (templates on bighome). The Post-doctoral Candidate Evaluation Form rates the seminar, the research and publications, and the candidate’s teaching and research potential, and ends with an overall recommendation. The Summary Sheet by Department records the candidate’s age against the 32-year cut-off, category, publications, thesis submission or graduation date, and how many external IPDFs you already mentor. The Dean (FA) office emails Heads before each Standing Committee meeting with the date and the deadline for uploading these forms.

15.4 Joining

The fellow accepts the offer by email and agrees a joining date with you and the Head. They must join in person. On joining, they take the joining form to the Faculty and Staff Section (F&SS) with their certificates, bank details, PAN and Aadhaar. Security issues the ID card, the department sysadmin sets up the LDAP account, and ASC gives the ERP licence. To claim HRA, the fellow files the HRA form and rent agreement with F&SS.

Before leaving, the fellow completes the no-dues (NDC) process. F&SS holds back the last month’s salary until they do.

15.5 Duties

The fellow does research with you. The Head may also give them reasonable academic or administrative work.

15.6 Tenure and extension

The first appointment is usually for one year. The Institute can extend it by up to two more years if the fellow’s work is satisfactory.

For an extension after the first year, the fellow writes a progress report and gives it to you and the Head. The Head forwards it to the Dean (FA), and F&SS issues the extension order once the Dean approves.

In 2024 and 2025 a committee set up by the Dean (FA) reviewed the IPDF programme. It asked faculty about placements, publications, the fellows’ contribution to their units, TA training and innovation.

15.7 ANRF National Post-Doctoral Fellowship (NPDF)

A candidate applying for an NPDF needs an endorsement from the Institute. Send the Dean (FA) office the DPC minutes recommending the candidate, and an endorsement letter that you sign as mentor. The office returns an endorsement signed by the Registrar, which the candidate uploads to the NPDF portal. If the candidate is already an IPDF, skip the DPC minutes and route the request through yourself and the Head.

Source: IIT Bombay, Institute Post-Doctoral Fellowship (IPDF).