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In august presence of Secretary, MoPNG, MoUs exchanged with IITs and national institutes for industry-sponsored Ph.D. research in energy Up to 100 research scholars to work on real problems of the hydrocarbon sector, with a path from laboratory to start-up

Goa, 27 October 2026: The Centre for High Technology (CHT), under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, today signed ten Memoranda of Understanding with Indian Institutes of Technology and premier national institutes for sponsored Ph.D. programmes, at the 29th Energy Technology & Innovation Meet (ETM 2026) in Goa.

The partner institutions include IIT Roorkee, IIT Kanpur, IIT (ISM) Dhanbad, IIT Madras, IIT Guwahati, IIT, Patna, the Institute of Chemical Technology Mumbai, the Indian Institute of Petroleum Dehradun, the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology (RGIPT) Amethi and the Indian Institute of Petroleum and Energy (IIPE) Anakapalli. The programme will support industry-relevant doctoral research with strong potential for commercialisation in refining, petrochemicals, critical minerals and energy – in line with this year’s ETM theme, “Accelerating Energy Innovation: From Research to Commercialisation”.

Under each MoU, up to five (5) Ph.D. scholars will be selected every year, with a cap on ten at any time. Across the ten MoUs, this means up to 50 new scholars a year and 100 at full strength. Each scholar will be jointly guided by a faculty member of the institute and a co-supervisor from CHT or an oil and gas company, and will work on problems drawn from operating refineries and plants. Scholars will receive a fellowship 25 per cent above CSIR/UGC rates, along with house rent allowance, a contingency grant, support for consumables and a thesis grant, for a tenure of four years, extendable by one year.

The programme is fully funded by CHT. Research will cover green hydrogen and fuel cells, energy storage including sodium-ion and redox-flow batteries, carbon capture and conversion, crude-to-chemicals, catalysts and polymers, biofuels, gasification and waste valorisation, and digitalisation and cybersecurity. Intellectual property generated under the programme will be jointly owned by the institute, the scholar and the industry partner.

Scholars will be recognised as inventors and will be able to take their technologies to market, including through their own start-ups. They lay the foundation for a wider partnership between the oil and gas industry and academia, including joint Centres of Excellence, testing facilities and training programmes. Intellectual property will be jointly owned by the institute, the scholar and the industry partner. Selected research will be taken forward for incubation and Commercialisation through the MC² pathway, including scholar-led start-ups – in line with the ETM theme, “From Research to Commercialisation”

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