Guidance on PhD Interview and Proposal:

Applying for a PhD at JNU's Centre for South Asian Studies (CSAS), School of International Studies? Get focused, insider guidance on your research proposal and interview preparation from a current doctoral scholar at the Centre.

This session is ideal if you are:

1. Preparing your research proposal for CSAS and unsure how to frame your research problem, objectives, and methodology to match what the Centre's faculty expect
2. Shortlisted for the CSAS interview and want to anticipate likely questions and panel expectations
3. Confused about how to position your topic within CSAS's specific thematic strengths (South Asian regional politics, India's neighbourhood policy, state and society in South Asia, comparative politics of the region)
4. Applying to JNU's School of International Studies (SIS) more broadly, including other centres such as the Centre for International Politics, Organization and Disarmament (CIPOD), Centre for European Studies, or the Centre for Political Studies (CPS), and want general guidance on SIS-wide application norms

I will help you with:

1. Structuring your research proposal: problem statement, research questions, theoretical framework, and methodology, calibrated specifically to what CSAS evaluators look for
2. Identifying and articulating the right theoretical lens for South Asia-focused research (small state theory, dependency theory, regionalism, comparative politics frameworks commonly used at the Centre)
3. Mapping your proposed topic to CSAS faculty research interests and ongoing scholarship at the Centre, which matters for how your proposal is received
4. Mock interview preparation: the kinds of conceptual, methodological, and topic-specific questions CSAS panels typically raise
5. Common mistakes applicants make in CSAS proposals (vague research questions, weak theoretical grounding, insufficient engagement with existing literature on South Asia)
6. For SIS centres beyond CSAS (CIPOD, CPS, Centre for European Studies, and others), I can offer general guidance on proposal structure and interview expectations at the School level, though this will be less detailed than CSAS-specific advice, since my direct scholarly engagement is with CSAS.

Please note: My specialised, in-depth guidance applies specifically to CSAS. For other centres within SIS or for the School of Social Sciences' Centre for Political Studies (CPS), I can share broader, school-level application norms and general interview preparation, but not centre-specific insider detail. If your application is for a centre outside CSAS, please factor this into your expectations before booking, so the session matches what I can genuinely offer.

This guidance is based on my own experience as a doctoral scholar at CSAS, having gone through the Centre's admission process, proposal evaluation, and interview, and having continued to engage with the Centre's academic culture and faculty expectations through my ongoing PhD work.