The Ministry of Earth Sciences and the Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research have linked all 10 MoES research institutes into a single doctoral network. The agreement was signed on 21 August 2026 and formally declared on 13 October 2026 at Prithvi Bhawan in New Delhi, recognising every MoES institute as an AcSIR Associated Research Institute. Students selected through AcSIR can now complete PhD research inside MoES laboratories working on weather, oceans, polar science and earthquakes.
What Is AcSIR?
The Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR) is a public research academy created by an Act of Parliament. AcSIR is a government institution with the status of Institution of National Importance under the AcSIR Act, 2011. It awards doctoral and other degrees for research done in national laboratories.
AcSIR stands for the Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research. The full form appears on admission notices, ranking lists and degree certificates, while the short name AcSIR is used in daily use. The academy began interim operations in June 2010 after a government resolution of 2010. Parliament then passed the AcSIR Act, 2011, which received assent on 6 February 2012 and came into force on 3 April 2012.
AcSIR was set up in close association with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). CSIR is a large network of national laboratories under the Ministry of Science and Technology. The idea was to use the staff, equipment and projects of these laboratories as classrooms and research guides for doctoral training. The focus is on frontier and cross disciplinary areas of science and technology that regular universities do not routinely teach.
AcSIR works on a hub and spoke model. The hub is AcSIR headquarters at Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, located in the CSIR HRDC campus at Kamla Nehru Nagar. Central admission, academic rules, evaluation and degree awards are managed from Ghaziabad. The spokes are the academic campuses, which are the affiliated research institutes spread across India. AcSIR reports more than 80 affiliated research institutes, about 2,748 faculty members drawn from laboratories and about 6,500 students on its rolls (as of 2026).
AcSIR degrees are statutory degrees of an Institution of National Importance, listed by the Ministry of Education. The academy offers PhD programmes in science, engineering and medical research, along with integrated MTech PhD and MSc PhD tracks and diploma courses. AcSIR has risen steadily in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) research category, moving from 22nd in 2021 to 9th in 2025.
The MoES AcSIR Agreement: What Was Decided
The Ministry of Earth Sciences and AcSIR executed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 21 August 2026. The Ministry of Earth Sciences publicly declared the partnership on 13 October 2026 at a ceremony at Prithvi Bhawan headquarters in New Delhi. The declaration was followed by a formal exchange of documents between the two sides.
The Ministry of Earth Sciences was represented by Dr Praveen Kumar D, Scientist G and Mission Director of Mission Mausam. AcSIR was represented by Prof Manoj Kumar Dhar, Director of AcSIR. The ceremony took place in the presence of Dr Srinivasa Kumar Tummala, Secretary of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, along with senior officials and directors from MoES institutes and AcSIR.
The core decision is simple. All 10 research institutes under MoES will function as AcSIR Associated Research Institutes (AcSIR ARIs). This brings the whole MoES laboratory network into the AcSIR academic ecosystem. The stated aim is to combine MoES research facilities and scientific guidance with the flexible academic framework of AcSIR to offer doctoral programmes in earth system sciences.
MoES scientists at these institutes will be recognised as AcSIR faculty for supervision. Students will enrol through AcSIR, carry out research inside a MoES institute and receive the degree from AcSIR. The arrangement also provides for sharing of national laboratory infrastructure, joint interdisciplinary research and a clear policy on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). Under the IPR term, the student will be credited as inventor and joint intellectual property will be shared mutually.
Ten MoES Institutes Recognised as AcSIR Associated Research Institutes
The Ministry of Earth Sciences operates through a network of attached offices, subordinate offices and autonomous bodies. Under the new agreement, all 10 institutes in this network have become AcSIR ARIs. Each institute will host PhD scholars in its own specialisation while following common AcSIR academic rules.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD India) is the national weather service headquartered at Mausam Bhawan in New Delhi. IMD provides weather forecasts, monsoon updates, cyclone warnings and climate services. Public use of IMD India services is highest during the monsoon season, especially in July for rainfall and cyclone updates.
The National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT Chennai) is based at Pallikaranai in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. NIOT develops ocean technology such as desalination plants, deep sea mining systems, ocean observation platforms and marine robotics. The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS Hyderabad) is located at Pragathi Nagar in Hyderabad, Telangana. INCOIS issues ocean state forecasts, tsunami warnings, algal bloom alerts and advisories on potential fishing zones.
| Institute | Location | Core operational role |
|---|---|---|
| India Meteorological Department (IMD) | New Delhi | Weather forecasting, monsoon and cyclone warnings, climate services |
| National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF) | Noida, Uttar Pradesh | Numerical weather prediction for 1 to 10 day forecasts |
| Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) | Pune, Maharashtra | Research on monsoon, tropical climate and air quality |
| National Centre for Seismology (NCS) | New Delhi | Earthquake monitoring and hazard assessment |
| National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR) | Vasco da Gama, Goa | Arctic, Antarctic, Himalayan and Southern Ocean research |
| National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) | Chennai, Tamil Nadu | Ocean technology, deep sea systems and desalination |
| Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) | Hyderabad, Telangana | Ocean information, tsunami early warning and marine advisories |
| National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR) | Chennai, Tamil Nadu | Coastal processes and shoreline management |
| Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology (CMLRE) | Kochi, Kerala | Marine living resources and ocean ecology |
| National Centre for Earth Science Studies (NCESS) | Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala | Solid earth, river basin and environmental studies |
How the Joint PhD Programme Will Work
The joint framework keeps research inside MoES institutes and academic control with AcSIR. A student admitted to AcSIR will be placed in one of the 10 MoES institutes. Day to day guidance will come from MoES scientists who hold recognised status as AcSIR faculty. AcSIR will award the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree, and the degree certificate will name the host MoES institute where the research was done.
The Ministry of Earth Sciences has appointed a Nodal AcSIR Coordinator in each of the 10 institutes. A Central Coordinator at MoES headquarters will align academic calendars, laboratory access and joint supervision. All 10 institutes have joined the latest AcSIR PhD enrolment cycle, so admissions under the new route have already started.
What Is an AcSIR PhD?
The AcSIR PhD is a doctoral research degree awarded by AcSIR for original work done inside an affiliated national laboratory. The student works full time in the laboratory under approved AcSIR faculty, completes coursework and publishes research. The degree is granted under the AcSIR Act as a statutory qualification.
AcSIR PhD Admission Cycle and Application Process
AcSIR runs admissions in two main sessions each year, usually for the January and August cycles. Applications are invited through the AcSIR admission portal and in national newspaper advertisements. For the January 2027 session, the last date to apply was 31 October 2026. The general pattern of the August 2026 cycle shows how the process works. The portal opened in March, applications closed on 30 April, shortlisted candidates were informed in early May and interviews were held at the institutes between May and June.
Applicants must first sign up on the portal with a single programme of study and then fill the online form to receive an AcSIR Application Number. The application fee is ₹1,000 for General, OBC and EWS candidates and ₹500 for SC, ST, differently abled and women candidates. Shortlisted candidates appear for a written test or interview at the concerned AcSIR ARI. Final selection is declared on the portal by AcSIR headquarters. The semester fee for PhD programmes is ₹15,000 for regular candidates and ₹30,000 for sponsored candidates.
Research Areas Opened for Doctoral Study
The MoU opens doctoral work across the full span of earth system sciences. Earth system science studies the links between the atmosphere, oceans, cryosphere, land and life. Scholars can work on problems that directly support public services such as forecasts, warnings and resource planning.
Atmospheric work includes weather forecasting and climate services and numerical weather prediction. This covers monsoon behaviour, short range and medium range forecasts, climate modelling and applications under Mission Mausam. Polar work covers polar and cryosphere research, including Arctic and Antarctic field studies and Himalayan snow and glacier processes managed through NCPOR.
Ocean work is equally wide. It includes ocean observation, marine robotics, coastal processes and marine living resources. Technology themes include deep sea mining and desalination led by NIOT and ocean information services led by INCOIS. Solid earth work includes seismology and earthquake hazard assessment through NCS and earth science studies through NCESS. A cross cutting theme is the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) in earth sciences for better models, early warnings and data analysis.
Ministry of Earth Sciences: Institutional Framework
MoES stands for the Ministry of Earth Sciences. The Ministry of Earth Sciences is the central ministry that handles weather, climate, oceans, seismology and polar research. It is headquartered at Prithvi Bhawan on Lodhi Road in New Delhi.
MoES traces its roots to the Department of Ocean Development (DOD). DOD was created in July 1981 under the Cabinet Secretariat and became a separate department in March 1982 to promote ocean development. DOD was notified as the Ministry of Ocean Development in February 2006. In July 2006, the government reorganised it as the Ministry of Earth Sciences. This step brought the India Meteorological Department, the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune and the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting in Noida under one ministry. The government also approved an Earth Commission on the pattern of the Space Commission and the Atomic Energy Commission.
The mandate of the Ministry of Earth Sciences is to provide services for weather, monsoon, climate, ocean and coastal conditions, hydrology, seismology and natural hazards. The ministry also works on sustainable use of marine living and non living resources and acts as the nodal agency for Arctic, Antarctic and Southern Ocean research and for Himalayan cryosphere studies. Its mission mode programmes include monsoon forecasting, tsunami warnings, cyclone alerts, ocean advisories and deep ocean exploration.
Why the Partnership Matters
The Ministry of Earth Sciences has strong field stations, ships, radars, supercomputers and long term observation records. It did not have its own degree awarding university system. AcSIR has a recognised degree system, a common coursework structure and access to more than 80 laboratories. The MoU connects these strengths without creating a new university.
For students, the benefit is direct access to live national missions and senior scientists as guides. For MoES institutes, the benefit is a steady flow of doctoral researchers for long term projects in forecasting, ocean technology and seismology. For the research system, the benefit is shared use of costly facilities and closer work across atmospheric science, ocean science and solid earth science. The clear IPR rule, which names the student as inventor, is meant to encourage innovation by young researchers.
Key Takeaways
- The MoU between MoES and AcSIR was signed on 21 August 2026 and declared on 13 October 2026 at Prithvi Bhawan, New Delhi.
- All 10 MoES institutes are now recognised as AcSIR Associated Research Institutes for joint PhD programmes.
- AcSIR is a government Institution of National Importance under the AcSIR Act, 2011, with headquarters at Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh.
- The PhD degree will be awarded by AcSIR with the host MoES institute named on the certificate, under supervision of MoES scientists recognised as AcSIR faculty.
- Research covers atmospheric, ocean, polar and solid earth sciences, including numerical weather prediction, deep sea technology and AI and ML applications.
