IIIT-Delhi has also started a collaborative Ph.D. program focusing on explicit collaboration between IIIT-Delhi and some globally renowned labs and universities. Ph.D. scholars (except Sponsored candidates) have the option of joining this program during the course of their Ph.D. . In addition to the features of the regular Ph.D. program, other salient features of the collaborative Ph.D. program are:

• A student will be admitted to the Ph.D. program at IIIT-Delhi, and the degree will be granted by the same.
• Interview for admission may be done jointly by IIIT-Delhi and the partner group.
• The main supervisor of the Ph.D. scholar will be from IIIT-Delhi; there may be a co-supervisor from the partner group.
• After completing the course work at IIIT-Delhi, the student may spend 3 months to 1 year with the co-supervisor at the partner group/institution for dissertation research. While the scholar is at the partner group/organization, the stipend will be paid as per their norms.
• Overseas Research Fellowships: The Overseas Research Fellowship (ORF) is designed to provide all Ph.D. students at the IIIT-D to an exposure to international research environment. The goal is to facilitate a visit by a student to undertake research under the supervision of a reputed scholar abroad (usually with someone with whom their supervisors have collaborative links). Students getting an ORF will be required to do TA-ship for two additional semesters.

  Currently ORFs are limited to students who are supported through external fellowships like TCS fellowships, PM’s fellowship. IIIT-Delhi BTech students who join the Ph.D. program will get ORF even without external fellowship.

  Preference will be given to candidates visiting an external collaborator with strong cash or in-kind support, and those who are actively engaged in dissertation research. All ORF fellows must return to the institute after completion of their fellowship, for completing their thesis. Evaluation of ORF applications will be done by a sub-committee of the PGC. The amount of ORF will be limited to the sum equivalent to USD 6000 for the duration of six months i.e. USD 1000 per month

Some of the current and past collaborators are given below

• Biometrics: Collaborators are from University of Notre Dame, USA; West Virginia University, USA; The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
• Information Security: Collaborators are from University of Maryland Baltimore County, USA; IBM- India Research Labs, India; City University London; State University of New York, Buffalo, USA; University of Luxemborg, Luxemborg, UIUC, USA; Microsoft Research India, Bangalore
• Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing: Collaborators are from University of California, Los Angeles, USA; INRIA-Rocquencourt, France; Newcastle University, England; Ohio State University, USA; Nokia Research, Bangalore, India; Coventry University, England
• Software engineering: Collaborators are from Saarland University, Germany; Microsoft Research, Bangalore; The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong
• Information Management and Analytics: Collaborators are from IBM Indian Research Lab; University of Aizu, Japan; Max-Planck-Institute for Computer Science, Saarbrücken, Germany