IISER Pune Project Lead, Associate Advt 83/2026

IISER Pune Project Lead and Associate Recruitment 2026: Overview

Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune, an Institute of National Importance under the Ministry of Education, is holding a walk-in interview for three kinds of project posts. All of them work on an archive project titled "Poona Public Works Department Records: Unwritten Ground Realities of Colonial Construction", funded by a private agency.

The team will clean, digitise, catalogue and preserve colonial-era Public Works Department records, and then share the work through workshops and small exhibitions. These are short, temporary project posts of three to four months, so they suit architecture graduates, history and archaeology postgraduates, and archivists who want hands-on digitisation experience. Indian nationals and Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) can attend.

Posts and Disciplines

• Project Lead: the senior post on the team, for a PhD in Architecture or a related area. Preference goes to someone who has taught, worked on archiving and handled Public Works archives.
• Project Research Associate: for an MA in Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology or a related area. Experience in metadata creation, cataloguing and archival materials is preferred.
• Project Junior Associate: the entry-level post, for a Bachelor's degree in Architecture. Knowing archival handling, metadata cataloguing and social media outreach helps.

Post-wise Duties

Project Lead

You will lead and supervise the team through every stage — preparing archival material, digitising it, cataloguing metadata and preserving and storing the originals. You will also run workshops and training sessions, and design academic modules, seminars and exhibitions for outreach.

Project Research Associate and Project Junior Associate

You will clean and prepare fragile documents for safe scanning, work with conservation experts to repair damaged pages, and create collection, series and item-level metadata using the EAP Cataloguing Template. You will also flag sensitive content, help organise the database on IISER's cloud server, join metadata training such as ICA Digital Archives courses, and help at Open House events and exhibitions.

Service Conditions and Caveats

• Temporary posts: The appointment ends automatically when the project ends, without notice or compensation.
• No absorption: You will have no claim to a regular job at IISER Pune or with the funding agency.
• Funder's rules: Your appointment follows the terms of the funding agency for this project.
• Cut-off date: Age, qualification and experience are counted as on the date of the walk-in interview.
• Screening: If many candidates turn up, a screening committee may interview only those with qualifications and experience above the minimum — so list everything relevant in your form.
• Relaxation: Candidates with higher qualifications or experience may get age relaxation with the competent authority's approval.
• Post count and waitlist: The number of posts may change during selection, and waitlisted candidates may be offered a post if a selected person does not join or resigns.
• Travel costs: No TA/DA is paid for attending the interview.

Application Submission Notes

There is no online form. Report at 9:00 AM to Seminar Room 33, Main Building, IISER Pune, Dr. Homi Bhabha Road, Pune with the filled application form, which you can download from the link given below the advertisement on the IISER Pune website.

For questions, email pushkar.sohoni@acads.iiserpune.ac.in or call (020) 2590 8079. The institute does not answer interim enquiries about the result, so check the IISER Pune website for updates.

• Prepare, clean and organise fragile archival documents for safe digitisation
• Work with conservation experts to stabilise and repair damaged materials
• Create collection, series and item-level metadata using the EAP Cataloguing Template
• Flag sensitive content and refine metadata after digitisation
• Help build the database structure and cloud server organisation at IISER
• Support workshops, training sessions, Open House events and exhibitions
• Lead and supervise the team across all digitisation stages (Project Lead)