Lead speakers
AGRICULTURE & FOOD SCIENCES
Dr. G. Byju
ICAR-CTCRI, Thiruvananthapuram
Dr. G. BYJU is a Principal Scientist at ICAR-Central Tuber Crops Research Institute (Under Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Sreekariyam, Thiruvananthapuram. He did his Ph.D. in Soil Science & Agricultural Chemistry in the year 2000 and has 30 years of experience in this area. He has guided 7 Ph.D. students, and has published over 80 research papers in peer reviewed journals, besides editing 3 books. He has developed several technologies for nutrient management, ECOCROP model for climate change studies, organic farming technologies for sweet potato etc.
BIOTECHNOLOGY
Dr. C.N. Ramchand
CEO of Saksin life sciences Pvt. Ltd, and MagGenome Technologies Pvt Ltd
Dr. C.N. Ramchand, is the President and CEO of Saksin life sciences Pvt. Ltd, and MagGenome Technologies Pvt Ltd a start-up biotech company and Advisor to SciGenom Research Foundation, MedGenome Pvt Ltd and SciGenome Pvt Ltd. Earlier to this he served as the President and CEO of Laila Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd., a Drug Discovery Company based at Chennai with the Head Office at Vijayawada, served as the Director, at KEMIN Pharma, India. Before that he was with Sun Pharmaceuticals, He was closely involved in the setting up of a multimillion Drug Discovery centre including design and development of laboratories. Also, Dr Ramchand is an Honorary Visiting Professor to European Nanotechnology consortium at University of Newcastle, UK. He is also an adjunct faculty, Visiting Professor and PhD guide at Swinburne University of technology, Australia.
Dr. Ramchand did his PhD in Biochemistry from MS University Baroda, and served there as an assistant professor (1982-84). After the Ph.D. he did his postdoctoral studies at University of South Carolina, USA (1984-1987). He worked as a senior research officer at the Biochemistry Dept, University of Wales, UK (1987-90) and them served as a Sr. Scientist and Project Head at the Institute of Biological Psychiatry at University of Wales, Bangor UK (1990-1994). Sooner he joined as the Joint coordinator and Head, Laboratory research program at biomedical sciences, University of Sheffield and Northern General Hospital Sheffield, UK (1994-1999),
Dr. Ramchand has published over 70 peer-reviewed papers in international journals, edited 5 books, has 3 patented products and has applied for over 15 patents.
CHEMICAL SCIENCES
Dr. C. P. Vinod,
CSIR-NCL, Pune
Dr. C.P. Vinod, is a Senior Principal Scientist, (and Professor in AcSIR) at CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune. After his Ph.D. in the research group of Prof. C.N.R. Rao, (20021) he did his postdoctoral studies in Technical University of Eindhoven/Leiden University, The Netherlands (2002-2005) and Technical University of Denmark, (2005-2007). Sooner he joined Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore as Research Associate Professor (2007-2009). He then moved to Cardiff University, UK as a post-doctoral fellow (2009-10) before joining CSIR-NCL, Pune as a scientist. Dr. Vinod’s research interests are surface sciences, and catalysis including nano catalysis. He has over 124 research publications in high impact journals to his credit. He is a fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry, London.
EARTH & PLANETARY SCIENCES
Dr. D.S Suresh Babu
Senior Principal Scientist, Marine Geosciences Group
National Centre for Earth Science Studies (NCESS), Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt of India, Thiruvananthapuram
Dr. Suresh Babu took his Ph.D. from PhD, Moscow Geological Prospecting Institute, USSR (1990). He served the CSIR Regional Research Laboratory (Now CSIR-NIIST) (1990-1994), Brazil (2000-2002) and Saudi Arabia (2008-2012) in different capacities to pursue research in the fields of beach sand minerals, water resources and coastal zone management besides his service in the Centre for Earth Science Studies (CESS). He published 45 research papers and authored two books. Eight Ph.Ds. were awarded under his supervision by the Kerala and Cochin Universities.
He is recipient of overseas research fellowship of USSR in 1986, CSIR Pool officer/ Fellow Scientist in 1990, MHRD Post-doctoral fellowship of PRC in 1994 and INSA fellowship to visit Russia in 2005-06. Received Certificate of Merit from the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Govt. of India (2016) and deputed as a Member of Indian delegation to Germany (2018) on behalf of MoES, GoI for scientific exchange program. Dr. Suresh Babu has coordinated national network project on ‘Submarine Groundwater Discharge’ pertaining to nine coastal states of India with the participation of 14 reputed research agencies.
ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY
Dr. Seena V.
Associate Professor, Department of Avionics
Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology
Dr.Seena V. received Ph.D. in Microelectronics, Department of Electrical Engineering with an “Award for Excellence in Ph.D Thesis” from IIT Bombay. She served as a faculty member at IIT Jodhpur and as R& D Consultant for NanoSniff Technologies Pvt. Ltd., SINE, IIT Bombay. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Dept. of Avionics Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST).
She has more than 15 years of research expertise in the field of Microelectronics, Nano Electro Mechanical Sensor Systems (MEMS/NEMS), CMOS-MEMS, Polymer MEMS etc. She is a recipient of several awards, some of them are: NASI-Young Scientist Platinum Jubilee Award’, The National Academy of Sciences, India (2012), ‘SERB Women Excellence Award’ from Science and Engineering Research Board),Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt.of India (2015-2018), Kerala State Young Scientist Award , Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE), Govt. of Kerala (2016), ‘IEI Young Engineer Award’, Electronics, Telecommunication Engineering, The Institution of Engineers India (2014-2015), Gandhian Young Technological Innovation Award-2012 for “Ultra-sensitive, low cost Hand held Explosive Detector System” , Sponsored by SRISTI and National Innovation Foundation, India at IIM Ahmedabad and Tata Consultancy Services fellowship for doctoral studies at IIT Bombay (2006-2011).
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE, FORESTRY & WILD LIFE
Dr. Pramod G Krishnan
Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Forest Department, Kerala
Mr. Pramod Krishnan is an Indian Forest Service Officer. Currently, he is heading the Vigilance wing of Kerala Forest Department as Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests. He is also looking after the Research, Working Plan and Participatory Forest Management activities. He has extensive work experience at regional, national and international levels in various capacities. He was Deputy Director and Ecodevelopment Officer in Periyar Tiger Reserve; Assistant Inspector General of Forests in the Ministry of Environment & Forests; Policy Specialist in the United Nations Development Programme; Chief Conservator of Forests, Palakkad etc. He is particularly interested in natural resource management and human interphase. As of now, he is also pursuing PhD programme. He has authored several books and publications and has also attended several national and international events related to natural resources management and climate change issues.
FISHERIES & VETERINARY SCIENCES
Dr. Chintu Ravishanker
Dept. of Veterinary & Microbiology, KVASU
Professor. Chintu Ravishankar is a fauclty of Department of Veterinary Microbiology College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Pookode, Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (KVASU), Wayanad. He did his Ph.D. from Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, UP (2013). He has been associating with KVASU since 2004. Dr. Ravishankar has 4 books and over 30 publications to his credit. Some of the awards he received are: Pfizer Veterinary Award, Scroll of Honour and Medal (2000); Dr. N. P. Panicker Endowment award of Kerala Agricultural University for excellence in academics during post graduate studies (2009); Bronze medal for Ph. D. (2013) from Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Deemed University, Izatnagar.
HEALTH SCIENCE
Dr. Jabbar P.K.
Professor and Head, Department of Endocrinology Government Medical College, Trivandrum, & Director CEO, Indian Institute of Diabetes, Trivandrum.
Dr. Jabbar completed his graduation in Medicine from the Govt Medical College, Trichur (1990), had his Diplomate of National Board (Medicine) (1995), M. D (General Medicine) (1994), DM (Endocrinology) (1997) and Diplomate of National Board (Endocrinology) (1998). He is a member of FRCP (Glasgow). Since 1992 is a faculty member in various medical colleges in the state. He has vast experience in ward/ emergency procedures in different medical procedures. He has presented over 200 papers in national and regional conferences in Diabetes and Internal medicine conferences and contributed to text book of Thyroid (Elsevier). He is a member of Indian Medical Association, RSSDI, Endocrine Society of India, Indian Thyroid Society and Physicians’ Association of India.
LIFE SCIENCES
Prof. Saikrishnan K
IISER, Pune
Professor Saikrishnan is in the Department of Biology, IISER, Pune. He did his Integrated PhD in Biological Sciences from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He carried out his postdoctoral research work at the Clare Hall Laboratories, Cancer Research UK, and was a visiting scientist at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK. His researches are in structural biology, DNA and Enzyme studies. Professor Sai published several articles in very high impact journals. He was the recipient of Shanti SwarupBhatnagar Prize (2019) in Biological Sciences.
MATHEMATICAL & STATISTICAL SCIENCES
Dr. K.R. Arun,
IISER, Trivandrum
Dr. Arun is a faculty member at IISER, Trivandrum since 2012. He did his Ph.D. from Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore, and had his postdoctoral studies at Institut fuer Geometrie und Praktische Mathematik, RWTH Aachen, Germany (2011-12). He was a Guest Scientist at Institut fuer Numerische Simulation, Technische Universitaet Hamburg, Germany, in 2006 and 2007. Alexander-von-Humboldt Fellow, Institut fuer Geometrie und Praktische Mathematik, RWTH Aachen, Germany: January 2011 – December 2012. His research areas are: Hyperbolic systems of conservation laws, Asymptotic preserving schemes, Genuinely multidimensional numerical schemes, Nonlinear waves and shock waves. Dr. Arun was the recipient of AVH fellowship.
PHYSICAL SCIENCES
Dr. Narayanan Unni
CSIR-National Institute of Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram
Dr. Narayanan Unni is a senior principal scientist at CSIR- National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST) and Professor at AcSIR. He did his Ph.D. from Mahatma Gandhi University (2001). He had his post-doctoral studies in Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, and at University of Angers, France. In 2005, he returned to India and joined Samtel Color Ltd, New Delhi and was posted at Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur as a visiting Research Engineer on deputation. His group developed organic light emitting diode (OLED) based displays for the first time in India. In 2012, he joined Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur as a Principal Research Engineer and in April 2013, he joined National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology as Principal Scientist in the Photosciences and Photonics group. His current research interests are efficient lighting using OLEDs, sensing using OFETS, photodetectors and large area DSSC modules. He has over 70 publications in high impact journals and 3 patents to his credit.
SCIENTIFIC SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Dr. P.E. Rajasekharan
ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticulture Research, Bengalure
Dr. P.E. Rajasekharan is working as a Principal Scientist at ICAR Indian Institute of Horticultural Research has 38 years of research experience in Horticultural genetic resources Conservation, Management and Intellectual Property Rights. He took his Ph. D in conservation of threatened medicinal plants from Department of Botany, Bangalore University. He has three post graduate diplomas viz., IPR, HRD and Ecology & Environment and also successfully completed 3 certificate courses (in Biotechnology, Genetic Engineering and UPOV).
He started his career at ICAR-Central Plantation Crops Research Institute, Kasaragod (1985) and later joined at ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bangalore (1990) and posted in the Division of Plant Genetic Resources. His areas of research in cryopreservation of seed, pollen and organelles of horticultural crops and species and A pollen cryobank was established with more than 700 samples. He has published over 200 research publications in peer reviewed journals.
He was elected as a Fellow of Indian Society for Plant Genetic Resources, NBPGR New Delhi from 2011 for his contributions in the field of Plant Genetic Resources. He is also fellow of Indian Association of Angiosperm Taxonomy (FIAT) from 2015.