I am an Assistant Professor at the School of Arts and Sciences, Azim Premji University (APU), Bhopal. I completed my PhD in Botany from the University of Calcutta and had three years of postdoctoral experience at the School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU), China. I was associated as a research associate at SYSU for three years.
I work in the field of biological invasion. My research interest is to understand the biotic and abiotic influences on the range dynamics of invasive plants. Toward this major objective, my research focuses on functional traits, community ecology, biogeography, and spatial ecology. MORE
At Azim Premji University, I teach undergraduate courses – Quantitative Thinking for Biologists and Introduction to Biodiversity and Conservation. MORE
My journey so far
Employment
December 2023 – Present: Assistant Professor, School of Arts and Sciences, Azim Premji University (Bhopal)
April 2021 – November 2023: Research Associate, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University
March 2018 – March 2021: Postdoctoral fellow, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University
December 2017 – February 2018: Visiting Scientist, Agricultural and Ecological Research Unit, Indian Statistical Institute
August 2017 – November 2017: Manager (Biodiversity), Terracon Ecotech Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai
Academics
August 2010 – July 2017: PhD (Botany) from Indian Statistical Institute (University of Calcutta)
August 2007 – July 2009: M.Sc. (Botany) from Presidency College, University of Calcutta
August 2004 – July 2007: B.Sc. (Botany) from RKMVC College, University of Calcutta
Professional experience
R programming
- 2014 – Workshop on R programming (Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, India)
Geospatial Technologies and Applications
- 2017, 2018 – Workshop on Species Distribution Modelling with MaxEnt (Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, India) – Meeting co-organizer
- 2014 – Geospatial Technologies and Applications (JNTUH, Hyderabad, India)
- 2012 – Remote Sensing and GIS – Technology and Applications (NRSC, Hyderabad, India)
- 2012 – Bhuvan Workshop (University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India)
Awards and achievements
- Topped the graduation level exams for three years (2004-2007), and Second rank in order of merit in M.Sc. (2009)
- Qualified for all India-level entrance examinations of the Indian Statistical Institute and was awarded a junior research fellowship (2010)
- First Class with distinction in the ‘Training on Geospatial Technologies and Applications’ conducted by the Indian Space Research Organisation (2012)
- The research proposal submitted for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship was awarded a Seal of Excellence from the European Commission (2019)