PhD Position
PhD in Computational Condensed Matter Physics
A PhD position will open for the December 2026 intake, with applications through SRMIST’s admission cycle from September 2026. The position is described below — if it fits your interests, you are welcome to write to me ahead of the formal call. Early conversations make for stronger applications.
For what working in the group is actually like day-to-day — the tools, the culture, the temperament I look for — read the Joining MAVENs page first.
The Position
This is a computational condensed matter group working on disorder in magnetic and quantum materials — using KKR-CPA, Monte Carlo, and machine learning together to reach finite-temperature and disordered systems that any single method handles badly on its own. It is a specific methodological combination, and learning it well gives you a toolkit that transfers across problems and outlasts any particular project.
The questions are open ones. You would be expected to take a problem and drive it — formulating it, choosing the methods, deciding when a result is trustworthy. The work connects to experiment and to computational collaborators at SRMIST and CeNS, Bengaluru, so your calculations are tested against measurement rather than ending at a plot.
If you want to learn a method deeply and own a problem from question to result, that is the kind of PhD this is.
What You Would Be Working On
Open problems in magnetism, disorder, and coherence, approached with density functional theory, KKR-CPA, Monte Carlo, and machine learning. The materials are the testbed, not the subject. Current directions:
The exact problem is shaped to the student over the first months.
Eligibility
- A qualifying score in NET, GATE, or JEST is preferable and strengthens your application through the SRMIST cycle
- A solid foundation in quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics — not just familiarity, but the ability to work with them
- Some exposure to condensed matter physics at the MSc level
- Evidence that you can think independently: a project, a thesis, a paper — anything where you had to figure something out without being told the answer
Marks matter less than these. A student with a strong project background and average marks is more useful to this group than the reverse.
What a PhD Here Involves
A PhD is full-time research through SRMIST, over several years. Your work is expected to reach publication quality, and co-authorship on the papers arising from it is standard — you build a real publication record, not just a thesis. Students present at workshops and conferences as the work matures, and leave with a portfolio — code, papers, and the ability to drive a problem from question to result — that holds up whether the next step is a postdoc, a research role in industry, or further academic work.
I do not promise a fixed completion timeline; a PhD takes as long as the science takes. What I do promise is that if you are working seriously, you will have my full attention and support.
How and When to Apply
The formal route is SRMIST’s PhD admission cycle, opening September 2026 for the December intake. The most useful thing you can do before then is reach out directly — an early conversation tells both of us whether there is a fit, and makes for a stronger formal application.
I read every message. If there is a potential fit, we will talk before the formal cycle opens — and I can guide you through the departmental requirements once we are in contact.