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Ph.D Program

The Ph.D. program at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at IIT Mandi encourages research scholars to pursue their scholarly enquiry in a range of topics within the broad domain of Economics, English and World Literature, German, Sociology, History, Himalayan Studies, Development Studies, etc. The research problems addressed by the Ph.D. scholars remained diverse, addressing both theoretical as well as empirical questions. We encourage research grounded in deep disciplinary as well as interdisciplinary frameworks. Our faculty members specializes in the area encompassing Comparative and World Literature, English and German Literature and Studies, Literary practices in South Asia, Translation Studies, Theory and Practice of Translation, Women's Writing, Comparative Linguistics, German Studies; Transnational History, Political and economic processes in premodern South Asia & South Asian Epigraphy, Modern Indian History, Colonialism and Decolonization, Free Speech and Censorship; Social Anthropology of Science, Mathematics, Anthropology of Texts and Literature, Social Theory, Sociology of Religion, Race and Ethnicity, Urban Sociology, Post-Reform India; Development Economics, Economics of Energy, Environment and Climate Change and Health. Many of the ongoing research by our Ph.D. students explores issues in the Himalayan regions, given the unique locational advantage of the institute. We encourage students from various disciplines, successfully completing their Master’s degree programme to apply for the Ph.D. programme at the School. The programme provides a platform for the Ph.D. scholars to successfully become an independent researcher through the training in several courses such as research methodology and research writing, advanced courses to provide a critical understanding of the subject of enquiry and methods of analysis. The School provides a vibrant academic environment with several institutional facilities such as travel grants for each Ph.D. scholar, additional grants for consumables, fully equipped research scholar seating space, computer lab with required software and a language lab, provisions for field work as per requirements. So far, the School has graduated nine Ph.D. students and the success of the program is reflected in the fact that all our graduates are well-placed in academia – both in teaching and research. Our Ph.D. research scholars regularly received prestigious grants: some of the recent ones include the Newton Bhabha Ph.D. Placement Grant under the ICSSR (India)-British Council (UK) Newton-Bhabha Programme, the Charles Wallace India Trust Research Grant for 2023-24, the Asian Graduate Student Fellowship (AGSF) at the Asia Research Institute (ARI), National University of Singapore (NUS), and several ICSSR travel grants to attend prestigious conferences or/and to collect data from outside India.

Broad Research of Areas

Comparative and World Literature
English and German Literature
Literary practices in South Asia Translation Studies
Theory and Practice of Translation
Women's Writing
Comparative Linguistics
German Studies
Transnational History
Political & economic processes in premodern South Asia

South Asian Epigraphy
Modern Indian History
Colonialism and Decolonization
Free Speech and Censorship
Social Anthropology of Science, Mathematics
Anthropology of Texts
Literature Social Theory
Sociology of Religion
Race and Ethnicity

Classification of groups and communities
Identity Politics
Himalayan and Borderland studies
Infrastructural developments in South Asia
Urban Sociology
Post-Reform India
Development Economics
Economics of Energy
Environment and Climate Change Health Economics