CSIR-IIIM Project Associate Recruitment 2026 Advt 40/2026

CSIR-IIIM Project Associate Recruitment 2026: Overview

CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (CSIR-IIIM), the Jammu lab of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, is hiring Project Associate-I and Project Associate-II under Project Advertisement No. 40/2026. Both posts sit on project GAP-3192, funded by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) under its BioE3 Policy, and you will work at the institute's Canal Road campus in Jammu.

The project is about turning dairy liquid waste into a useful enzyme. The team wants a low-cost way to produce and scale up β-galactosidase, recover it downstream, and then use it to make galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) for nutraceutical products. This is a purely temporary, project-based engagement, not a regular CSIR post. If your Master's or engineering work involved fermentation and enzyme production, this is a close fit.

Posts and Disciplines

• Project Associate-II (Post Code 01): the senior project post. It is meant for someone who already has research experience in fermentation and process optimisation for enzyme production; extra credit goes to hands-on enzyme purification work in industry, academia or a science and technology organisation.
• Project Associate-I (Post Code 02): the entry-level project post for graduates in Microbiology, Biotechnology, Biochemistry or Engineering. Research exposure to fermentation and enzyme production is preferred but not compulsory.

Service Conditions and Caveats

• Stipend tier: Each post has two stipend levels. The higher one is only for candidates who have cleared CSIR-UGC, ICAR or ICMR NET (including Lecturership/Assistant Professorship), GATE, or a national-level exam run by DBT, DST or a similar central department.
• HRA: House rent allowance is paid only if you do not take institute housing.
• Initial term: One year, or until the project ends if that comes first. The project currently runs up to 14 January 2028.
• Overall cap: Your total project tenure across all CSIR labs cannot go beyond six years. Unsatisfactory performance can end the engagement without notice.
• No absorption: The posts are on behalf of the sponsor, so they give you no claim to a permanent post at CSIR-IIIM or CSIR.
• Current CSIR-IIIM project staff: Get a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the office before you apply; without it your candidature will not be considered.
• Screening test: If there are too many applicants, the institute may hold a written screening test before the interview.
• Online interview: The interview happens online over MS Teams, and you can speak to the Selection Committee in English or Hindi.
• Number of posts: The count may change at interview time, and the Director can choose not to fill any post.
• Document check: Your original certificates are checked only after selection; any mismatch cancels the selection.

Application Submission Notes

Each post has its own Google Form, linked from the advertisement. Use the Post Code 01 form for Project Associate-II and the Post Code 02 form for Project Associate-I. Forms that arrive after 5:00 PM on the closing day are rejected outright.

The institute does not answer interim enquiries. For a genuine query about the project, email Dr. Vinod Kumar, Senior Scientist and Principal Investigator, at vinodudsc.iiim@csir.res.in. If the Hindi and English versions of the notice differ, the English version is final.