24 LU students crack CSIR-NET JRF exams, several in top 100
The exam provides fellowships for doctoral research studies in universities and research labs. It is also a qualifying eligibility for positions of assistant professors at universities and colleges.
LUCKNOW As many as 24 post-graduate students from the Science and Mathematics departments of Lucknow University have cracked the CSIR-NET JRF Council of Scientific and Industrial Research -- National Eligibility Test Junior Research Fellow) examinations. A few among them have even secured a spot among the top 100 rank holders.

The exam provides fellowships for doctoral research studies in universities and research labs. It is also a qualifying eligibility for positions of assistant professors at universities and colleges.
The LU students who bagged a spot among the top 100 include -- Abhishek Maurya, a student of Geology who achieved All India Rank (AIR) 12; and Akriti Tewari, also a student of Zoology, who on her third try secured a research fellowship with AIR 55; and others, said Poonam Tandon, dean of academics at LU.
After his research, 24-year-old Abhishek Maurya dreams of working in the Geological Survey of India, which is a scientific government agency under the Ministry of Mines. “I started preparing for this exam when I took admission in MSc itself as I have always been focused on joining the GSI,” said Maurya, a resident of Alambagh.
“Studying Geology gives you a lot of field exposure, which was very new and exciting for me. After that, I got exposed to Seismology and the rest,” he added. Maurya is currently waiting for the results of the GSI Mains examinations. “If I don’t crack that, I might opt for a PhD at IIT Bombay,” he added.
Similarly, 28-year-old Akriti Tewari, who cracked the exam in her third attempt, said, “I appeared for this exam thrice before, but I only qualified for lectureships. This time around, I got the research fellowship as well,” said the Krishna Nagar-based girl currently pursuing a PhD in biomedical engineering at IIT Varanasi.
She graduated from the Zoology department with the class of 2019 and was a gold medallist in her class back in the day. “I plan to work on breast cancer research in the future. This is how I wanted to go into my PhD as well -- with a fellowship and a rank. I keep switching between wanting to be a professor and a researcher, but at this stage, I am focusing on research,” shared Tewari.
After exam results, she expressed her gratitude to her teachers in the Zoology department. She added that both her parents were encouraging of her efforts. “My plan has always been in academia but my father never put me under any pressure for marriage or anything. He always told me to take all the time I need,” she said. Tewari is now staying in Varanasi to work on her PhD, and celebrated the exam success with a cake and her roommates as she was away from family.
Meanwhile, Lucknow University’s vice-chancellor, Professor Alok Kumar Rai, praised the students and their achievements. He said that the dedication and hard work of these students serve as an inspiration to all aspiring scholars, and reaffirm the university’s position as a leading institution in the field of Science.
