Resources
A hand-curated collection of funding schemes, fellowships, free courses and research tools — useful for anyone in physics and materials science, from school students to faculty.
ANRF Core Research Grant (CRG)
Main extramural funding for individual researchers or groups at any Indian institution; no fixed upper budget; 3-year tenure. Flagship scheme of Anusandhan National Research Foundation.
SERB Start-up Research Grant (SRG)
Two-year seed grant of ₹30 lakh for early-career faculty (within 5 years of first regular appointment) to establish an independent research programme.
ANRF Advanced Research Grant (ARG)
Competitive grant for high-impact frontier research by established groups with a strong publication record; larger budgets for ambitious proposals.
SERB MATRICS
Fixed grant of ₹2 lakh p.a. + overheads tailored for active mathematicians and theoretical physicists with a strong credentials and publication record.
SERB-POWER Grant
Promoting Opportunities for Women in Exploratory Research — supports women scientists at all career stages with dedicated research grants and fellowships.
SERB National Post Doctoral Fellowship (N-PDF)
₹80,000/month + HRA for PhD holders within 5 years of viva; 2-year fellowship at any recognised Indian institution. One of the most competitive postdoc awards in India.
SERB Ramanujan Fellowship
For brilliant Indian scientists returning from abroad; ₹1,35,000/month + research grant for 5 years. Age limit: below 40 years. Helps reintegrate into India's research ecosystem.
CSIR–Nehru Science Postdoctoral Fellowship
₹50,000/month + HRA for fresh PhD holders in CSIR labs; 2-year fellowship (extendable to 3 for outstanding work). Covers sciences including Physics and Materials Science.
CSIR–Raman Research Fellowship (RRF)
For CSIR scientists to conduct collaborative research at premier foreign institutions; USD 2,500/month + travel; duration 2–6 months. Stimulates international exposure.
Raman–Charpak Fellowship (Indo-French)
DST–CEFIPRA exchange programme for Indian PhD students & postdocs to undertake 3–6 month research visits at French laboratories in any area of science.
CSIR NET JRF — Physical Sciences
Gateway to PhD fellowship in India: ₹31,000–35,000/month + ₹20,000 p.a. contingency; conducted twice a year by NTA. Mandatory qualification for most funded PhDs.
UGC Schemes Portal
All UGC-funded schemes: Major/Minor Research Projects, STRIDE, BSR fellowships, Junior Research Fellowships for university faculty & their PhD students.
DST Fellowship Opportunities — Master List
DST's consolidated portal listing all national fellowships, career-development awards, and women scientist schemes. Best starting point for any Indian researcher exploring funding.
DST-INSPIRE Fellowship & Scholarship
Scholarship for top BSc/MSc students in Natural Sciences: ₹80,000/year + ₹20,000 summer attachment grant. Also offers INSPIRE Faculty Award and PhD Fellowship.
INSPIRE–MANAK (Innovation Award)
DST scheme for school students (Class 6–10) to submit innovative ideas; ₹10,000 award to selected entries; national exhibition with mentorship at premier institutions.
Science Academies' SRFP (IAS / INSA / NASI)
Joint Summer Research Fellowship Programme by India's three national science academies; 2-month placement with a Fellow of the Academy; open to students AND college teachers.
TIFR Visiting Students Research Programme (VSRP)
Summer research at TIFR Mumbai in Physics, Chemistry, Computer Science, Astronomy; for final-year UG/PG students; stipend and accommodation provided.
PRL Summer Internship Programme
8-week programme at Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad in Space, Atmospheric & Planetary Sciences, Theoretical Physics; minimum 60% aggregate required.
JNCASR Summer Research Fellowship (SRFP)
Two-month summer placement at JNCASR Bengaluru in Physical, Chemical and Life Sciences; for BSc/MSc students with strong academic record.
NCRA–TIFR Visiting Students Programme
Summer research at National Centre for Radio Astrophysics, Pune in Radio Astronomy and Astrophysics; stipend + accommodation for selected students.
IISER Summer Student Programme
Competitive summer research across IISERs in all science disciplines; excellent exposure to frontier research culture; multiple IISER campuses accept applications.
IUAC Training & Research Visitors Programme
Inter-University Accelerator Centre, New Delhi: short-term research visits and accelerator-based experiment training; open to PhD students, postdocs, and faculty.
ISRO YUVIKA — Young Scientist Programme
Annual residential programme at ISRO centres for Class 9 students; covers space science, rocketry, remote sensing, robotics; fully sponsored including travel and accommodation.
Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings
Annual meetings in Germany; highly competitive selection by DST/SERB; connects young researchers with Nobel Laureates. Physics meetings held every 3 years (interleaved with Chemistry & Medicine).
ICTP Schools & Research Visits (Trieste)
Abdus Salam ICTP, Trieste — workshops, schools & associate programmes for physicists from developing countries; fully funded; exceptional for condensed matter, optics, and high energy.
Fulbright–Nehru Postdoctoral Fellowship (USA)
8–24 month research fellowship at a US institution for Indian early-career faculty; covers living allowance, J-1 visa, travel and professional allowance. Prestigious government exchange.
Fulbright–Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowship
6–9 month fellowship at a US university for Indian PhD students to carry out part of their doctoral research; managed by USIEF India.
DAAD Scholarships — Study & Research in Germany
Multiple DAAD programmes for Indian students and researchers: Research Grants for PhD/postdoc (2–12 months in Germany), RISE Worldwide for undergrads, bi-national PhD programmes.
Veritasium
Deep-dive science videos by Dr. Derek Muller — physics, maths, engineering — exceptional production with rigorous content; from quantum mechanics to real-world phenomena.
MinutePhysics
Short animated explanations of physics concepts — from classical mechanics to quantum field theory — in under five minutes. Perfect for building intuition quickly.
3Blue1Brown
Visual mathematics and physics — linear algebra, calculus, Fourier transforms, neural networks — with beautiful animated geometric intuition. Essential for any physicist.
Fermilab (Don Lincoln)
Particle physics, cosmology, and quantum mechanics explained by FNAL physicist Dr. Don Lincoln; 100+ videos on Higgs boson, dark matter, Standard Model and beyond.
PBS Space Time
Graduate-level astrophysics and cosmology — dark matter, general relativity, quantum gravity, black holes — explained rigorously yet accessibly. For serious students.
Sabine Hossenfelder
Theoretical physicist offering clear, critical-minded takes on quantum mechanics, foundations of physics, dark energy, and science news. Cuts through hype with precision.
Physics Girl
Experiment-driven demos of physical phenomena; ideal for undergraduates and school students looking to develop intuition for physics through hands-on exploration.
SWAYAM — India's National MOOC Portal
Government of India free online courses from IITs, IIMs and Central Universities; 2,000+ courses in Physics, Engineering, Sciences; certifiable credits transferable to degrees.
NPTEL — IIT/IISc Video Lectures
National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning: full-semester video courses from IIT faculty in all branches of Physics, Electronics and Engineering. Certificate exams available.
MIT OpenCourseWare — Physics
Full lecture notes, problem sets and exams from MIT physics courses — Classical Mechanics, E&M, Quantum Mechanics, Statistical Physics through QFT. A gold standard resource.
Coursera — Physics & Astronomy Courses
Structured online courses from top global universities (Duke, Yale, MIT, Caltech) in Quantum Mechanics, Particle Physics, Astrophysics; free to audit, paid for certificates.
edX — Physics Courses (MIT, Harvard, Berkeley)
University-level physics from MIT, Harvard, CalTech, Berkeley and others; includes professional certificates; many can be audited free of charge.
arXiv.org — Preprint Server
Where physics research appears first — before journal publication. Browse cond-mat, physics, quant-ph, astro-ph and more; millions of papers freely accessible.
Physics LibreTexts
Open-access physics textbook library: Mechanics, E&M, Quantum, Statistical, Optics, Modern Physics — all freely downloadable and editable. Growing community resource.
OpenStax Free Textbooks
Peer-reviewed, openly licensed textbooks for University Physics Vols. 1–3 and College Physics — PDF, HTML or app; widely adopted by institutions worldwide.
Khan Academy — Physics
Structured video courses from school to introductory university physics; excellent for building conceptual foundations; used widely for JEE and NEET preparation.
NCERT Physics Textbooks (XI & XII)
Official NCERT textbooks — free PDF download; the essential foundation reference for school and early-college physics in India. Clearly written, conceptually sound.
LabVIEW (NI)
Industry-standard graphical programming for instrument control, DAQ, and automated test systems; widely used in experimental physics labs worldwide. Student edition available.
OriginPro (OriginLab)
Scientific graphing and data analysis: curve fitting, statistical analysis, signal processing, publication-quality figures. The standard tool for experimental physics papers.
MATLAB (MathWorks)
Numerical computing, matrix operations, simulation, and signal processing; ubiquitous in experimental and computational physics. Academic licensing available for institutions.
Python (NumPy / SciPy / Matplotlib)
Free, open-source; rapidly becoming the standard language for data analysis in experimental physics. Install Anaconda for a complete scientific computing environment in one step.
VESTA
Free 3D crystal structure visualisation; reads VASP, CIF, WIEN2k and many formats; simulates electron density and diffraction patterns. Essential for materials characterisation.
FullProf Suite (Rietveld Refinement)
Free standard software for Rietveld structural refinement of XRD and neutron powder diffraction data; developed at ILL, Grenoble; widely used in condensed matter physics.
JANA2020
Free crystallographic software for Rietveld refinement and structure solution from powder and single-crystal diffraction; handles modulated and composite structures.
CrystalMaker
Powerful crystal and molecular structure visualiser; simulates powder and single-crystal diffraction; excellent for teaching and presentations. Mac/Windows; academic license available.
Quantum ESPRESSO (DFT)
Open-source DFT code for electronic structure, band structure, phonon calculations and materials modelling; widely used for condensed matter theory and first-principles research.
WIEN2k (All-Electron DFT)
Augmented plane-wave DFT code for electronic, magnetic and optical properties; highly accurate full-potential method; affordable academic licence widely used in India.
VASP (Vienna Ab initio Simulation Package)
Industry-standard plane-wave DFT code; ab initio molecular dynamics, geometry optimisation, band structures; most widely cited computational materials science software.
ACD/ChemSketch (Free)
Draw chemical and molecular structures, organometallics, polymers; calculate molecular properties; free for academic non-commercial use. Windows only. Widely used in teaching.
Avogadro (Molecule Editor)
Free, open-source advanced molecular editor and visualiser for computational chemistry, molecular modelling and materials science. Cross-platform (Windows, macOS, Linux).
AutoCAD (Autodesk Education)
Free for verified students and educators through Autodesk Education Community; essential for designing experimental setups, vacuum chambers, cryostat parts, and lab schematics.
Overleaf — Online LaTeX Editor
Browser-based LaTeX editor with real-time collaboration; free tier available; used by virtually all journals and conference submissions; pre-loaded journal templates.
Zotero — Reference Manager
Free, open-source reference manager with browser plugin for one-click paper capture from any journal; integrates seamlessly with Word, LibreOffice, and LaTeX/BibTeX.
Mendeley — Reference Manager
Elsevier's free desktop and web reference manager with PDF annotation, social networking for researchers, and Word/BibTeX plug-in; 2 GB free cloud storage.
Cambridge Structural Database (CSD)
World repository for organic & metal-organic crystal structures (~1.2 million entries); CSD Web search is freely accessible for browsing and downloading structures in CIF format.
ICSD — Inorganic Crystal Structure Database
Comprehensive database of inorganic crystal structures (160,000+ entries); covers oxides, nitrides, semiconductors, intermetallics. Institutional subscription required for full access.
ICDD Powder Diffraction File (PDF)
The gold-standard XRD reference database (1.1 million+ entries, Release 2026) for phase identification in materials science; supplied with most diffractometer software suites.