IITH is a partner in the Deakin-IITM, Centre of Excellence on Advanced Materials and Manufacturing (CoE). The two institutions have forged a strong partnership in this domain through the CoE. Both the institutions are now entering into an agreement to offer a Joint Doctoral Program (JDP) in a wide range of subjects/disciplines, including (but not limited to) Materials and Smart Manufacturing; Affordable Healthcare; Food, Environment and Agriculture; Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Data Science; Cyber-Physical Systems; Infrastructure and Energy.

The agreement was signed in a virtual event by Alfred Deakin Professor Julie Owens (Acting Vice-Chancellor, Deakin), and Prof B S Murty (Director, IITH), in the presence of Prof Pinaki Prasad Bhattacharjee (Dean, International and Alumni Relations), Prof Saptarshi Majumdar (Dean, Academics) from IITH, Professor Bas Baskaran (Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Research), Prof Peter Hodgson, Ravneet Pawha (Global Vice President and CEO, S Asia) and Kopal Chaube Dutta from Deakin University, along with other officials from both institutions.

The salient features of the agreement are:

1. Candidates with BTech/MTech degrees are eligible to apply for the JDP provided they meet the necessary entry requirements. The selection will be made through a joint interview process. Upon selection into the JDP Program, the candidates will be jointly supervised from day one by supervisors from both IITH and Deakin. 

2. Successful candidate(s) will spend between 3-12 months at Deakin depending upon the research requirements. 

3. IITH will provide the regular PhD fellowship to the students during their stay at IITH and when the students travel to Deakin, they will get a stipend, paid fortnightly, to increase the total equivalent stipend to $A28, 600 per annum. In addition to the above, Deakin will provide a full tuition fee waiver for up to 4 years and a top-up stipend of $A150 per month for 3 years while they are at IITH. 

4. Each candidate will be assigned a Supervisory Team at Deakin and Doctoral Committee at IITH. 

5. Once the candidate meets all requirements for a PhD, he/she will be conferred a PhD by both the institutes with two separate certificates with a noting that doctoral award is conferred under the JDP HDR (Higher Degree by Research) program between the institutes.

Alfred Deakin Professor Julie Owens (Acting Vice-Chancellor, Deakin) expressed happiness at Deakin and IITH in formalizing this program and hoped that this collaboration will benefit students and both the Institutions. “As one of Australia’s largest universities, Deakin has strong global linkages, world-class research and, most importantly, an educational portfolio that blends the best of campus and digital delivery into a highly supportive and personalised student experience. Deakin is committed to working with IITH to bring this knowledge to combat the great challenges of the community and countries”, added Alfred Deakin Professor Julie Owens.

This association is aimed at developing successful academic and research collaborations in the areas of common interest and complementary capabilities. It seeks to harness the synergy at both institutions to propel excellent research.

Outlining the benefits of the program with Deakin, Prof B S Murty, Director, IIT Hyderabad said, "IITH had a wonderful journey in the last decade and has established itself as a strong force in its teaching and research. Deakin comes along with four decades of academic and research excellence. Through this MoU, both IITH and Deakin will explore new avenues in the field of teaching and research through synergy to scale newer heights of excellence and will prove to be a winning quotient for the benefit of the society at large.”