IISER Kolkata Junior Research Fellow Recruitment 2026

IISER Kolkata Junior Research Fellow Recruitment 2026

The Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata (IISER Kolkata), Terrestrial Ecology Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences, has invited applications for 1 post of Junior Research Fellow (JRF) under the ANRF-funded project "Recent decadal-scale changes in land use/land cover in the Terai-Duar Savanna and Grasslands Ecoregion: Implications for terrestrial carbon cycling and plant biodiversity". The project is led by Dr Robert John Chandran, Professor. Applications must reach by email by 22 November 2026.

About the project

The work covers landscape ecological analyses of land-cover change, species diversity and above and below-ground carbon in forest and grassland ecosystems of the Terai ecoregion, using primary and secondary datasets. Fieldwork will be in and around Terai protected areas including Manas, Jaldapara, Valmiki and Rajaji. The fellow will be based at IISER Kolkata, Mohanpur, District Nadia, West Bengal.

Pay and duration

Pay is Rs. 37,000 per month plus Rs. 8,880 HRA per month on ANRF norms, which works out to Rs. 45,880 per month in total. The appointment is for 1 year and may be extended beyond 1 year on performance and motivation; the second year may be as Senior Research Fellow. The selected candidate is expected to join immediately after selection.

Who can apply

Candidates must hold a Master's degree in Geoinformatics, Geoscience, GIS and Remote Sensing, Life sciences, Ecology or Environmental Science, or a B.Tech in Engineering with appropriate GATE qualification. In addition, candidates must have qualified at least one national exam — CSIR or UGC NET-LS, GATE, ICAR-NET, JGEEBILS or equivalent — and must have at least 2 years' work experience in relevant projects funded by Government agencies. Skills in landscape and spatial data analysis with R, PYTHON, Google Earth Engine, ArcGIS Pro and QGIS are required. An inclination to ecological sciences and some field-work experience are desirable.

Age limit

The notice says only that the age limit and age relaxation will be as per Government of India rules — no specific age figure is printed in the notice.

Application fee

No application fee is mentioned in the notice, so no fee is stated for any category.

How to apply and selection

Email your CV as a single PDF to tecollab.iiserk@gmail.com with the subject line "Landscape Ecology JRF". The CV should carry full personal and professional details, the names of at least 2 referees, a statement of suitability indicating past research experience, scanned mark sheets, national exam qualification certificates and proof of work experience. Shortlisted candidates will be called for an online interview; the interview date has not been announced in the notice.