The Department of International Relations and Governance Studies at Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence (Deemed to be University), Delhi-NCR  invites applications to its PhD programme in International Relations and Governance Studies for the year 2026. Coursework for the incoming batch will commence in mid-August 2026.

This announcement contains information related to the programme and the application process. Applicants are expected to read the announcement carefully before applying.

Areas of research

The Department offers wide-ranging expertise within the field of International Relations and Governance. Specific details related to the research interests of individual faculty members can be accessed on the Department’s website: https://snu.edu.in/schools/school-of-humanities-and-social-sciences/departments/department-of-international-relations-and-governance-studies/.

Availability of supervision will be a key criterion for selection. Applicants are therefore advised to carefully peruse faculty research interests from their profile pages as available on the Department website. Candidates with research interests broadly congruent (but not exactly matching) with in-house faculty research expertise and interests are also encouraged to apply.

Philosophy

The Department provides research scholars an excellent opportunity to acquire and consolidate diverse skill sets. Scholars will get a ringside view of the discipline of International Relations – covering disciplinary history, theory and empirics – as well as governance and development issues. They will participate in debates on the philosophy of science/social science while developing a “nuts and bolts” pragmatism when operationalizing their doctoral projects.

The threads that run through the PhD programme are, first, an understanding of the significance of context – historical, cultural, economic, among others – when it comes to thinking about the world and, second, a keen awareness of the need to address asymmetries and deeper imbalances of knowledge production, circulation and consumption between the global North and the global South. The objective of the Department is to develop a contextual approach to studying international relations and global governance.

Duration and structure

The PhD programme at the Department spans ten semesters (five years). Doctoral candidates will spend at least the first two semesters on coursework, while the remaining time shall be spent on research work and thesis writing. Progression from the coursework to the thesis writing stage is contingent on performance. Full-time doctoral candidates are expected to reside on campus for at least two years and actively participate in the Department’s activities.

Fees and Assistantship

All full-time Ph.D. scholars admitted to the program will receive a doctoral award (teaching and research assistantship), which includes a monthly stipend of ₹45,000 for the first two years and ₹50,000 for the next three years, subject to benchmarked performance. The continuation of this award depends on satisfactory performance in the program, which is continuously evaluated, and compliance with all university regulations. Additionally, all full-time Ph.D. scholars will receive an annual tuition waiver of ₹60,000 and an annual hostel fee subsidy of ₹60,000. Deserving Ph.D. students will also be eligible for a travel research grant of ₹1,50,000 to support conference travel (only for Scopus-indexed conferences), both domestic and international, during the five-year Ph.D. program.

Detailed information about the fee structure and the nature of assistantships is available on the SNIoE admission website.

Application Details

Minimum eligibility criteria

A master’s degree in any discipline with a minimum of 55 percent or its equivalent in grade points from a UGC-recognized university or an equivalent foreign university.

A four-year bachelor’s degree in any discipline with a minimum CGPA of 8 or 80% from a UGC-recognized university or an equivalent foreign university.

Application fee

All applicants are required to pay a non-refundable application fee of ₹1200 (Rupees twelve hundred only).

Application process

The applicant must register at our online application portal. Please indicate whether you are an applicant for full-time or part-time PhD. All full-time and

part-time applicants shall go through the same selection process for admission in the programme. There is no other option by which candidates can secure admission into the programme.

Click Here to Apply

On entering the portal, the applicant will need to:

1. Register themselves on the portal
2. Fill in all the mandatory fields
3. Upload the following documents:
   • Passport-size colour photograph
   • Latest CV
   • Photocopy of marksheets of all previous degrees and certificates from class 10 onwards. Marks/grades and the name of the awarding institution must be clearly visible on each document.
   • Standardized Examination certificate such as UGC-NET (if applicable)
   • A Statement of Purpose (SoP) that spells out the applicant’s reasons for pursuing a PhD at the department (in 500 words)
   • A Doctoral Proposal spelling out the what (topic), why (significance/motivation), and how (methodology/method) of their PhD research interests (in 1000 words).

Additionally, the applicants are required to send a writing sample (of a minimum of 3,500 words) to the IRGS Department’s email id: [email protected]

In addition, two academic letters of recommendation must be emailed directly by the referees to the Department of International Relations and Governance Studies at  [email protected]. Referees must mention ‘LoR – IRGS PhD – Name of the Applicant’ in the email subject field.

Note: For an application to be considered complete, online registration, filling out mandatory fields, uploading required documents, emailing recommendation letters, and writing samples must be ensured. An application will be considered incomplete if any of these requirements are not met. The Graduate Admissions Committee will reject incomplete applications at the screening stage.

Written Examination and Interview

Candidates whose applications are complete in all respects will be invited to take a written exam. Those shortlisted based on the written exam will subsequently be invited to individual interviews. Shortlisted candidates will be informed of the mode of examination and dates for an online interview.

The written exam will be 150 minutes long and consist of two questions: an essay-type question and a short answer question.

Areas covered for the written exam:

• Contemporary International Politics 
• International Relations Theory
• Indian Foreign Policy
• Global Political Economy
• Strategic and Security Studies
• Political Theory
• Current Debates in Governance
• Indian Government and Politics
• Political Philosophy
• China Studies
• Latin American Politics
• Research Methodology

The interview will be approximately 30 minutes long and involve conversations about the candidate’s academic trajectory, domain knowledge, and research idea as articulated in the Statement of Purpose and Research Proposal.

Selection Process

The Department follows a four-stage selection process overseen by its Graduate Admissions Committee.

Stage one involves screening received applications for completeness, accuracy, and authenticity. Screening ensures that the applicant has met the minimum eligibility criteria for applying and that an application is complete in all respects. Applications that are found to be incomplete are rejected at this stage.

Stage two consists of a written exam. Those applicants whose applications pass the first stage are invited to take a written exam. Candidates shortlisted at this stage will be asked to continue to the next stage.

Stage three consists of an interview of candidates shortlisted based on the written exam.

Stage four involves the creation of a merit list based on the following criteria: quality of the candidate’s Statement of Purpose (10%), Research Proposal (20%), performance in the written exam (40%), and interview (30%). The selection process also involves carefully examining whether the Department can provide suitable supervision to the candidate. Candidates selected on this basis are sent offer letters.

Key dates

• Last Date for Receiving Applications: By 10th June 2026
• Date for Entrance Test: 20 June 2026
• Interview of selected candidates: 7 and 8 July 2026
• Last Date for Final Offers: 20 July 2026

Contact for queries:

Email your queries to the email id: [email protected]