The Ph. D. program at National Institute of Psychology (NIP) has been started during the year 1986 and basic purpose to launch this program was to train competent students in diverse areas of psychology. The Ph. D. program consists of research work carried out under the direction of an approved supervisor for a period of at least three years. Some other important requirements as discussed below: 

Residency Requirement

During the whole Ph. D. programme student is required to complete residency of two years. While residency period, student is required to come in department daily and have meeting with supervisor at least twice in a week.

Research Seminars

The student is required to present three seminars on his/her research in whole Ph. D. programme as per following schedule.

The student is required to pass additional Ph. D. level course work of at least 18 credit hours during the Ph. D. programme. Ph. D. students will be offered different courses in each semester and they can select courses according to their own field and interest.

Comprehensive Exam

A student shall be required to pass a comprehensive examination, consisting of a written and an oral report, within three years of admission to the Ph.D. Programme. The comprehensive examination shall consist of written and oral parts. The registration of a Ph.D. student shall be deemed as cancelled if he/she does not pass the comprehensive examination even in the second attempt. The pass percentage shall be 50%.

One Publication

Acceptance / Publication of at least one research paper in an HEC approved Journal is essential for the award of Ph. D. degree (University requirement). The student is required to submit or get published the article from Ph. D research work till the end of fifth semester (NIP requirement)

Research Group Meeting (RGM)

To have interactive discussions on research related issues Research Group Forum has been developed. All the M.Phil/ Ph. D.  Students of the department and their respective supervisors are the part of that group. To gather this interest group a meeting of them is held once in a month. Research Group Meeting is mandatory for its members as proposed by NIP academic committee and endorsed by NIP Board of Governors. To obtain satisfactory semester progress report as per NIP requirement, four out of six meetings are compulsory to attend.

Articles to be reviewed

All Ph. D students are required to review at least 100 articles relevant to their research work and prepare summaries of them as per NIP requirement throughout Ph. D. programme. For the students convenience these articles have been spread through out programme by splitting them in each semester. The reviewed articles will be reflected in the research progress sheet of each student.

Biannual Progress Report

The supervisor of a Ph.D. student shall submit a detailed report to the research board by 30th, June and 31st, December each year on the progress of the student in accordance with the prescribed format. In cases where no supervisor has been appointed, progress report will be submitted by the chairman of the department concerned. To obtain this satisfactory report NIP has created its own research progress and monitoring sheet. This sheet makes it possible to achieve the all degree awarding mile stones easily semester wise. In case of consecutive two adverse reports, the research board may cancel the registration of the candidate.

Ph. D. Research Progress Sheet

Ph. D. Progress sheet is specifically designed to monitor and evaluate each student’s progress systematically in each semester. The Ph. D. Progress Sheet provides each student some specific benchmarks of research to be completed in each semester throughout Ph. D. program.

Three Foreign Experts

Ph. D. dissertation will be evaluated by at least three foreign experts as per NIP requirement. These foreign experts will be from technologically advanced countries. Names of these foreign evaluators will be finalized and thesis will be sent to them at the completion of dissertation (by the end of sixth semester).

Research Advisory Committee

Research Advisory Committee is specially formed to facilitate students at any time in the process of their research; this committee constituted on members who have sound professional experience of research who provide valuable guidance and recommendations to the research students in order to ensure smooth progress of the research.

Research Coordinators

NIP appointed research coordinators along with administration staff for the assistance and smooth running of the research process. Research coordinators are suppose to maintain the record of each student’s research progress and guide them to fulfill different university and NIP degree awarding requirements.

Research Guidelines for Dissertation Writing

Dissertations should be prepared while taking into view following guidelines