Special 'Walk-in Interview' for the CSIR/UGC NET-JRF Students for admission in the Autumn Semester 2023

The Department of Earth Sciences (DES) at IISER Kolkata invites applications for regular Ph.D. programme in the Autumn Semester 2023 in the sub-disciplines of Near-surface isotope and trace element geochemistry, Paleobiology, Metamorphic petrology, Seismology and Environmental Nanoscience.

Eligibility Criteria:
***This special interview call is ONLY for the candidates who have valid CSIR/UGC-NET-JRF (ONLY those who have qualified for JRF in the last Joint CSIR UGC NET December 2022 Examination, whose results were declared in July, 2023)***.
In addition to the above, the candidates must satisfy the following criteria:

1) The candidates must have completed their M.Sc./MS/M.Sc. Tech/M. Tech (with minimum of 55% marks) in: Geology / Applied Geology / Geophysics / Earth Sciences / Marine geology / Environmental Sciences / Environmental Studies / Atmospheric Science or any other branch of Geological sciences.
Or
Physics / Chemistry / Mathematics / Biological Sciences /Computational Seismology / interested to pursue research with the DES faculty member in the matching specialization.

2)
Candidates must have physics, chemistry and mathematics at 10+2 level, and at least one of these subjects at their bachelor level.

**All prospective students are encouraged to apply in the Institute portal (Click here). The portal will remain open till the day of the interview.

**Reservations for SC/ST/OBC/EWS/DIVYANG candidates are applicable as per Government of India rules.

Interview Date: Friday, August 11, 2023 (Interview via ON-LINE Mode), 10:00 AM

Venue: Online; Google Meet platform

Near-surface isotope and trace element geochemistry
Requirements: The prospective candidate must have a bachelor and master degrees in the field of earth sciences.
The prospective candidate can work on any of the following ongoing research areas under the guidance of Dr. Tarun Kumar Dalai.
Areas of research:
1. The fate of biospheric and petrogenic carbon in the river basins: This project would use proxies of biospheric carbon (i.e. stable (13C/12C) and radio (14C) carbon) and petrogenic carbon (rhenium) of suspended and bed sediments in the rivers of Eastern India. The eventual goal is to assess the net effect on the atmospheric carbon due to CO2 consumption via silicate weathering vs the release of CO2 via oxidation of biospheric and petrogenic carbon in the river basins.
2. Incongruent vs congruent behaviour of elements and isotopes during weathering and transport: The primary goal of this project is to test the robustness of isotopes of neodymium (143Nd/144Nd), lithium (7Li/6Li), strontium (87Sr/86Sr) as proxies of silicate weathering. We will use these isotopes and a suite of major and trace elements in basaltic and granitic weathering profiles for investigation.
3. I am also open to working in other areas of mutual interest based on discussions with prospective candidates.

Paleobiology
Dr. Subhronil Mondal is looking for a motivated PhD candidate to work on problems related to paleoecological and evolutionary patterns of marine invertebrates across space and time.

Metamorphic Petrology
Dr. Tapabrato Sarkar welcomes applications from candidates who are interested to work in the field of petrology and geochemistry. The research group is interested in understanding the processes involved in the formation and evolution of continental crust through geological time by studying the high-grade metamorphic rocks in orogenic belts.

The group is currently working on the different problems related to the Southern Granulite Terrane and Eastern Ghats Belt. The goal of these studies is to combine state-of-the-art petrological, geochemical and geochronological analyses on the studied rocks to understand crustal evolution.

Seismology
Dr. Kajaljyoti Borah is looking for a bright and motivated PhD candidate to work on the 'Evolution of the Bastar craton' with the help of seismology. Archean cratons are the prime targets of the scientific community for a long time because they store records of the long Earth's history and they have economic significance as a major source of the World's minerals. The crustal thickness, crustal composition (inferred from seismic wave velocities), structure and physical properties of crust-mantle transition (commonly used as Moho by the seismologists), and lithospheric discontinuities are the key parameters for understanding the formation and evolution of cratonic lithosphere. This project is focussed at elucidating the origin and evolutionary history of the relatively unexplored Bastar craton along with other Archean cratons all over the globe by modelling the physical properties of the underlying crust and mantle using seismological data from these regions.

Environmental Nanoscience
The environmental nanoscience laboratory at IISERK, led by Dr. Gopala Krishna Darbha is working on understanding the pollutant fate in the environment and its exposure pathways to humans. We are also working on remediating the pollutants using eco-friendly methods. We are looking for an enthusiastic and motivated candidate with environmental science or, preferably, a chemistry background to work on topics related to water and soil pollution. The candidate should have chemistry as one of the subjects at the bachelor's level.