IIT Ropar JRF Recruitment 2026

IIT Ropar JRF Recruitment 2026: Overview

Indian Institute of Technology Ropar (IIT Ropar) is recruiting a Junior Research Fellow in its Department of Mechanical Engineering for a project sponsored by the Aeronautics Research and Development Board, Government of India. The research examines how graphene modification and weathering influence the fatigue behaviour of glass-fibre and carbon-fibre reinforced polymer composites. It brings together experimental mechanics, aerospace materials and long-term durability.

The project asks a practical materials question: whether graphene hybridization can improve how composite structures respond to repeated loading. The team will compare conventional and graphene-modified GFRPs and CFRPs, study their behaviour at the micro level and examine what happens after exposure to weathering conditions. This makes the fellowship especially relevant if you want research experience in fatigue, composite materials or applied mechanics.

Your work will contribute to planned experiments, model-based analysis and interpretation. Familiarity with MATLAB, Fortran or Abaqus can help you manage calculations, simulations and result comparison, although the project will still demand careful engineering judgement rather than software use alone. You will need to connect observations from different specimens and conditions to the broader research objectives.

The fellowship sits inside the Department of Mechanical Engineering at IIT Ropar, where the principal investigator is Dr Sachin Kumar. You will work with research records, discuss progress with the project team and help present findings in a clear technical form. Because the study spans material modification, fatigue testing and environmental effects, organized documentation will be important throughout. Working in this setting will also show you how a sponsored research team plans experiments, reviews evidence, handles unexpected results and decides which findings need more testing before they can support a defensible technical conclusion.

This position can also serve as a research pathway toward doctoral study. The notification allows the selected fellow to apply separately to IIT Ropar's regular PhD programme after meeting its admission requirements. The fellowship itself does not provide automatic PhD admission, but it can give you direct exposure to the project's research methods and academic setting.

Service Conditions and Caveats

• Project tenure: The appointment continues for up to 3 years or until the project ends, whichever happens first.
• Annual renewal: The temporary position is reviewed and renewed each year based on satisfactory performance.
• Temporary status: This is a sponsored-project fellowship and does not create a claim to a regular IIT Ropar post.
• PhD route: The selected fellow may apply for the institute's regular PhD programme only after satisfying the programme's separate eligibility rules.

• Plan and support fatigue studies on GFRP and CFRP composites
• Compare conventional and graphene-modified composite specimens
• Examine micro-level fatigue behaviour under project test conditions
• Study the effect of weathering on composite fatigue performance
• Use MATLAB, Fortran, or Abaqus where suitable for analysis
• Keep accurate experimental records and prepare technical findings