A research scholar registered at TERI SAS shall conduct research under the guidance of PhD research supervisor. A Co- Supervisor may be allotted to a student, if required. A Student Research Committee (SRC) will be formed comprising Supervisor(s) and other faculty members to monitor the progress. PhD Programme is structured into three stages, mentioned as under:

Stage I: Ph.D. Course work
The Ph.D. Course work is governed by the ‘TERI School of Advanced Studies Ph.D. Regulations-2019’ (and subsequent amendments) and UGC (Minimum Standards and Procedure for Award of M.Phil./Ph.D. Degrees) Regulations, 2016 (and subsequent amendments).

A minimum of 8 credits and a maximum of 16 credits will have to be completed by the Ph.D. students in order to complete their course work. Some courses are mandatory in nature and some are prescribed by the Department Research Committee (DRC on the recommendations of the Student Research Committee (SRC). The Ph.D. course work must be completed within the first two semesters of joining the programme.

Every Ph.D. student must take the following mandatory courses.
a) Research Methodology – 3 Credits (Credit only course)
b) Research and Publication Ethics - 2 Credits (Credit or audit course)
c) Quantitative Research Method – minimum 2 Credit course from the list of quantitative methods (See Annexure 1).

The Department may suggest a mandatory course relevant to the research topic. The rest of the credits can be obtained by elective courses at TERI SAS advised by the Supervisor.

Stage II: Research proposal defense and research work
• A student will be permitted to appear for defending his/her research proposal only after he/she has completed the Ph.D. course work as decided by the SRC.
• As a part of the research proposal defence, a draft research proposal must be prepared in the prescribed format by the student in consultation with the Supervisor(s).
• The Supervisor will schedule the research proposal defence.
• After a satisfactory defence, the student will submit his/her final research proposal and related documents to the DRC with due approval from the Supervisor. The final research proposal must be submitted to the DRC within a period of 24 months from the date of registration to the Ph.D. programme.
• During the Ph.D. programme, the student shall appear before the SRC at least once in each semester to make a presentation of the progress of his/her work. This process will continue until thesis submission.

Stage III: Thesis submission
A Ph.D. student may submit his/her thesis, in the prescribed format, at any time provided that he/she has completed the minimum period of registration and complied with all the necessary requirements as specified in “TERI School of Advanced Studies Ph.D. Regulations-2019” (and subsequent amendments). Prior to the thesis submission, the student shall make a presentation in the Department. A Ph.D. student must submit his/her thesis within the stipulated period, failing which his/her registration will be considered null and void.

Evaluation At the end of every semester, the SRC evaluates the researcher’s progress. The Departmental Research Committee (DRC) evaluates the preparedness of the student for submission of the Thesis to the University as per the norms prescribed by TERI SAS, and in accordance with the UGC recommendation for evaluation by international and national examiners. Student defends his/her thesis before a committee of external examiner and internal supervisor in an open forum.

Annexure 1
University Wide List of Available Courses Under Quantitative Method Category

• Environmental Statistics (3 credits)
• Probability and Statistics (4 credits)
• Statistical Methods for Management (3 credits)
• Advanced Statistical Methods for Management (2 credits)
• Multivariate Data Analysis (3 credits)
• Advanced Econometrics (4 credits)
• Time Series and Regression Analysis (4 credits)
• Quantitative Analysis for Development Practice (3 credits)
• Spatiotemporal Data Analysis (3 credits)
• Optimization techniques for energy management and planning (3 credits)
• Applied Numerical Methods (3 credits)
• Stochastic Modelling (4 credits)