Program Overview

National Initiative on Undergraduate Science (NIUS) Chemistry – 2025

The National Initiative on Undergraduate Science (NIUS) Chemistry is a flagship programme of HBCSE–TIFR, Mumbai. The programme aims to provide vibrant exposure to different areas of chemistry to undergraduate students through sustained mentorship.

Programme Details

• The programme is open to second-year undergraduate students with chemistry as one of the subjects/papers, pursuing B.Sc./ B.Sc. with Honours/ BS/ Integrated M.Sc./ BS-MS programmes in Indian academic institutions.
• Applicants must have a minimum of 60% marks or equivalent in both their Class X and Class XII examinations.
• The exposure cum enrichment camp (Batch XXI) will be held at HBCSE from December 22 – 31, 2025.
• Only second-year students are eligible to apply for this camp.

Camp Structure

• The camp is designed to expose students to different domains of chemistry through interactive theoretical sessions, hands-on experiments, and workshops.
• The workshops will focus on reading research papers, understanding concepts in a given area of chemistry using a guided inquiry approach, planning of experiments, and academic writing.
• A special focus of the camp will be on understanding experiments, their design, procedural understanding, data analysis, and making meaningful conclusions.

Nurture Component

• The exposure camp will be followed by an extended nurture component for a subset of selected students.
• This component will be in the form of long-term projects carried out at different institutions across the country.
• Selected students will be required to visit their respective mentor's institutions during vacation periods over the next 1.5 years to carry out the projects.
• A final report at the end will mark the completion of the NIUS project.
• The NIUS programme will pay for travel to and from the mentor's institutions and for lodging and boarding expenses as per norms.
• A contingency grant will also be provided to cover expenses such as the purchase of books or participation fees for conferences relevant to the NIUS project.

Follow-up Camp

• Students who do not opt for projects or are not selected for projects will be eligible for a follow-up camp.
• The follow-up camp will be held in June 2026 and will focus on exposure to instrumentation and wet lab techniques in chemistry.
• Eligibility for the follow-up camp is subject to attendance at the first (exposure cum enrichment) camp.

Selection Process

• The number of applications received by HBCSE is usually much higher than the numbers that can be accommodated in the NIUS programmes.
• Efforts are made to select as many deserving candidates as possible within the organizational constraints.
• The decision of the selection committee shall be final and binding, and no appeals for reconsideration of applications will be entertained.

Accommodation and Travel

• Selected outstation students will be reimbursed for to and fro travel fare (maximum III-AC train fare) for attending the camp.
• Food and accommodation in the HBCSE Hostel will be provided to all students during the camp(s).
• Local students from the Mumbai Metropolitan region will be reimbursed one-time to and fro travel fare from their home/college.