The School of Social and Behavioural Sciences seeks to conduct compassion driven research for societal good. Built on this core, is the mission to identify and address the social determinants of inequality, build on human capacity and evaluate interventions and policies that would lead to an improvement in the overall wellbeing of humankind and the environment.
The School and its two research centres AMMACHI Labs (Amrita Multi-Modal Applications and HumanComputer Interaction) and CWEGE (Center for Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality) are based on the University Chancellor Amma’s compassion driven approach to research. Building on it, the School uses a Problem Driven Iterative Approach to design, and implement technologies for the purpose of solving social problems leading to inclusive development of under-served communities. The multidisciplinary approach allows the optimization of solutions and their implementation
Our Chancellor’s exemplary vision and unwavering endeavourto care for and address the needs of underserved people drive the program’s comprehensive yet flexible curriculum. We enroll and cater to candidates who have a background in social and behavioural sciences, or in technology-oriented disciplines.
Interdisciplinary studies in
The offered research context is interdisciplinary and includes the following thrust areas, among others:
Gender studies
Education and Pedagogy
Implementation Sciences
Computational Social Sciences and technology
Mental Health and Wellbeing
Our Ph.D. fellows will be working in interdisciplinary teams of students and expert researchers in projects that promote women’s empowerment and rural development by implementing technologies and social solutions. For example, life skills and vocational skills courses are provided using technology and are geared towards supporting personal growth and healthy community development
Field Work practices
All PhD students will work on topics with the goal of creating tangible community impact, through intervention or product research & development.
International and Indian citizen students can apply for the program. Fellowships can be requested through the online registration form. Applicants from a wide range of academic disciplines can apply, including Social and Behavioural Sciences, Arts and Humanities, Engineering, Management, and additional disciplines.
Degree awarding criteria as well as all regulations with regards to the awarding of this degree will adhere to and concur with, Amrita’s PhD policy. This includes the criteria on publications (quality and quantity), ethics and ethical clearances, policy against plagiarism etc. to name a few.
Admission to our PhD program is now open.
Step 1: Register with us online
Step 2: Email us the following documents (as attachments)
Amrita’s PhD program in Social and Behavioural Sciences is a theory-into practice program. It is designed to provide an interdisciplinary grounding with its integrative courses.
We offer this program in two modules:
1. Academic Learning Module:
The academic learning module will be designed and tailored to suit the proposed research and development context. Social science research methods will be a crucial component of the academic learning module for all students. The module will constitute a set of Core courses and Elective courses. Wherever applicable, we will arrange:
2. Field Work practices
Mandatory Courses:
Core Studies in Social Sciences
Technology Courses
Elective Courses (based on individual requirements)
The course structure is designed to combine flexibility to pursue an individual field of study with the development of broad-based skills and knowledge in relation to social and behavioural sciences, as well as technologies such as Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Artificial Intelligence. The students should maintain at least an overall average of B+ with no grade lower than a B in any of the core classes.
UNESCO Chair Director CWEGE Associate Professor
Adjunct Professor
Adjunct Professor
Assistant Professor, CWEGE
Assistant Professor
Assistant Professor (Sl. Gd.)
