Faculty

Dr A Chandrasekar is the ISRO Chair Professor at Natural Science and Engineering School, National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) since 17 July 2026. Dr Chandrasekar has about thirty eight years of academic and research experience with 21 years at the Department of Physics, IIT Kharagpur (IIT KGP) and 17 years at the Department of Earth and Space Sciences, Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST), Trivandrum.

Dr Chandrasekar’s professional academic qualifications include a B.Sc in Physics (University of Madras), MSc in Meteorology (University of Cochin) and a PhD degree in Applied Mathematics, PhD thesis being “Numerical studies of some fluid flow problems in rotating laminar boundary layers” (Indian Institute of Science).

Dr Chandrasekar’s major area of research is in the area of Atmospheric Sciences, while his expertise is in Mesoscale modelling, Data Assimilation and Land Atmosphere Interaction studies. Dr Chandrasekar has taught several UG courses in Physics at IIT KGP and several PG courses in Atmospheric Sciences at both IIT KGP and IIST. Dr Chandrasekar has successfully supervised thirteen PhD students and has published seventy two peer reviewed journal publications.

Dr Chandrasekar has written two books, titled, (i) Basics of Atmospheric Sciences, the first and second editions of the above book was published by Prentice Hall India Limited in 2010 and in 2022, and (ii) Numerical Methods for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, published by Cambridge University Press in 2022. Dr Chandrasekar jointly with Dr Govindan Kutty contributed to a book chapter in 2013, titled, “Studies on the impacts of 3DVAR assimilation of satellite observations on the simulation of monsoon depressions over India “, Springer (pp 643-705) in “Data Assimilation for Atmospheric, Oceanic and Hydrologic Applications (Vol. II)” eds. by Seon Ki Park and Liang Xu.

Dr Chandrasekar, in addition to his academic and research experience, had sizable administrative experience that included the following. Dr Chandrasekar served (i) as a Co-Chairman JAM (Joint Admission Test for Masters), an All-India entrance examination conducted by IIT’s (2008-2009), and helped IIT KGP oversee JAM 2009 exam, for which IIT KGP was the organizing IIT, (ii) served as Head, Center for Ocean River Atmosphere and Land Sciences (CORAL) at IIT KGP for a year (July 2008-June 2009), (iii) served as Registrar at IIST for nearly six years (Jan 2013- October 2018), (iv) served as Dean (Academics) at IIST for ten years (Feb 2014-Jan 2024), (v) served as Dean (R&D) at IIST for two years (Feb 2024-Jan 2026), and (vi) served as Head, Department of Earth and Space Sciences at IIST for six years (July 2009-Sep 2015).

Dr Chandrasekar secured (i) University First Rank in the M.Sc. (Meteorology) examinations in 1984 from Cochin University, (ii) the Science and Technology Agency (STA) Japanese Fellowship (Dec 1997-Feb 1998) and (iii) Astronautical Society of India Award for the year 2014 for contributions in the field of Space Sciences. Dr Chandrasekar has visited as researcher the (i) Meteorological Research Institute (MRI), Tsukuba, Japan twice (both times three months duration) in Dec 1997- Feb 1998 and in May-July 2008, (ii) Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA for two years (2000-2002), and (iii) Purdue University, USA twice (both times for five weeks duration) in June-July 2005 and June-July 2018.

T. Jayaraman was trained as a theoretical physicist and obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Madras, Chennai in 1984. He was professionally occupied for two decades as a theoretical high-energy physicist at various post-doctoral fellowships and as a faculty member at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai. Subsequently he moved to the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai as Professor in the School of Habitat Studies, where he worked from 2006 to 2020. At TISS, he began working on several aspects of climate change, climate policy, environmental issues and sustainable development and has published actively on these subjects. He initiated the Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Studies, in the School of Habitat Studies at TISS, where he led the development of a Master's Programme in Climate Change and Sustainability Studies and taught several courses and guided research as part of the program of the Centre. He has championed issues of equity in climate change and climate justice at the international and national level, including the role of the Earth System as a global commons, in his academic, advocacy and public interest work.  

Apart from climate change and related issues, his other active interests at TISS and subsequently have included the history and philosophy of science, history of agricultural science in India, science and technology policy including nuclear policy, and philosophy and methodology in the social sciences.

Subsequent to retirement from TISS, he was Senior Fellow, Climate Change at the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai from 2020 to 2026. Among his key initiatives there was contributing to further institutionalization of the role of equity and carbon budgets in climate policy making in the global South. The Climate Equity Monitor whose development he co-led with colleagues, a joint MSSRF-NIAS project, is the first and sole web portal and knowledge/data repository devoted to climate equity that is developed and located in the global South. 

He joined NIAS as Visiting Professor in April, 2026. 

Alongside academic research, he has worked (and continues to do so) with both government and civil society on climate issues and has also contributed to the media on related matters. He has been a member of the Govt of India delegation to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for several sessions from 2018, including the approval of the Sixth Assessment Report and its Special Reports. He has been a technical expert in the delegation of the Govt of India to the Conference of Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change from COP26 till date and also participated in similar capacity in several mid-year Subsidiary Bodies sessions of the UNFCCC. 

Dr. Narayan Kayet is currently serving as an Assistant Professor in the Energy, Environment, and Climate Change Programme at National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) since 15 May 2026. Prior to joining NIAS, he worked as a research scientist and principal investigator (PI) at Environmental Management & Policy Research Institute (EMPRI), Government of Karnataka, from January 2023 to May 2026. Dr. Kayet earned his Ph.D. in Remote Sensing and GIS from Vidyasagar University in collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. Before joining NIAS, he served as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Birla Institute of Technology and Science Pilani, Goa Campus and as a Postdoctoral Research Associate (RA-I) in the Department of Mining Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. His research focuses on innovative applications of Remote Sensing, GIS, and environmental sustainability, particularly in the fields of air quality monitoring, climate  change, mining, forestry, and environmental policymaking. To date, Dr. Kayet has published 25 research articles in high-impact SCI Q1 international  journals, along with 5 book chapters and 7 papers in international conference proceedings. He has successfully led several high-value research projects as Principal Investigator, including: Short-Lived Climate Pollutants for Karnataka (Vasudha Foundation), Development of HighResolution District-Level Emission Inventories and Mitigation Strategies for Major Air Pollutants in Karnataka (CiSTUP, Indian Institute of Science), Mainstreaming Non-CO₂ Action within Karnataka’s Climate Action Framework (Vasudha Foundation) and Evaluation and Inspection of Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations in Karnataka (KSPCB).  Dr. Kayet has also been selected as a Lead Author for the upcoming Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Methodology Report on Short-Lived Climate Forcers (SLCFs). In recognition of his contributions, he has received several prestigious awards, including the Gandhian Young Technological Innovation Award (DST), the Sustainability Global Changemaker Award by the ESG Research Foundation, and the Excellence Award in Air Quality Management by ELCITA. Dr. Kayet has a strong interest in remote sensing and GIS applications in air quality, mining, and forestry, with a focus on sustainable resource management and environmental monitoring.

Dr. Sanjay K. Srivastava is the S. Radhakrishnan Chair Professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS).

Until July 2025, he served as Chief of Disaster Risk Reduction at the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), leading regional initiatives linking science, policy, and technology for resilience. He directed the Asia-Pacific Disaster Report and the Risk and Resilience Portal, supporting national DRR and adaptation strategies.

Previously, he held leadership roles at ISRO and the SAARC Disaster Management Centre, advancing the use of space-based technologies for disaster management.

A recipient of ESCAP Innovation Awards (2022, 2024) and ISRO’s Team Excellence Award, he has authored 150+ publications and contributed to major UN and WMO climate reports. He holds a Ph.D. in Remote Sensing and an Executive Certificate in Digital Transformation from UC Berkeley.

Mr Yadav has served as Distinguished Scientist and Group Director in Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. He has experience of more than four decades. He is an expert in the field of Nuclear Engineering, Design Development and commissioning of Nuclear Systems and Project Management. He has developed many critical technologies to make India self-reliant. Shri Yadav has played a leadership role towards project of National importance.

Mr Yadav is BE(Mechanical) 1975 from the University of Roorkee (since IIT Roorkee), ME (Mechanical) 1982 from IISc. He has undergone one-year training in Nuclear Science and technology in the 19th Batch of BARC Training School. 

He is a recipient of several awards, including the Distinguished Alumni award 2020 from IIT Roorkee.

He is a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Engineering.
 

Dr. Deepti Navaratna is a musician and neuroscientist interested in an alchemy of research and performance. After several years of neuroscience research at Harvard Medical School, USA, her current research interests span neuroscience, arts and humanities; exploring new frontiers of interdisciplinary knowledge such as cognitive hermeneutics, neuropsychology and empirical musicology. She is a Chevening Clore Fellow (2021-23), recognized by the UK Government as one of the most creative artists and dynamic leaders across the globe.

Until, recently she served as the Regional Director, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Ministry of Culture, Government of India, Bengaluru, India. She directed the centre’s research, academic and outreach activities at the intersection of science and humanities - with a focus on Indian knowledge systems. Under her leadership the centre was deemed a ‘Centre for Excellence’ under the Bangalore University and initiated a one-of-a-kind Post Graduate Diploma in Manuscriptology and Paleography. She served as the Chairman, Board of Studies, IGNCA Bangalore for curriculum development across music research, manusciptology and paleography. As an arts curator, she has curated over a thousand academic/outreach events
such as seminars, symposiums and public engagements.

While at IGNCA she was instrumental in the scientific documentation of several vanishing art forms such as the Kinhal art, Kerala Mural paintings and Ayyanar Terracota Votive Art. In 2018, she created the Raaga Laboratory, a first-of-its-kind laboratory studying Indian music from neuroscientific and cultural perspectives. The laboratory undertakes interdisciplinary research in Cognitive Musicology, Science of Raagas, Chants and Rhythm, Brain body computer interfaces for special needs and performance and Hermaneutics of Indian Music Cognition – study of texts of Nada Yoga & Natyashastra.

Deepti holds a doctorate degree in Neuroscience and has authored over twenty original scientific research papers, book chapters to her credit. 

Vinay Kumar Dadhwal is currently Indira Gandhi Chair Professor of Environmental Sciences in the School of Natural Sciences and Engineering at NIAS. Prior to joining NIAS, he had a distinguished 38-year career (1983-2021) in the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Department of Space (DOS), holding leadership positions as Director, Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST/DOS, Thiruvananthapuram, 2016-21), Director, National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC/ISRO, Hyderabad, 2011-16) and Dean, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS/ISRO, Dehradun, 2004-10) and held concurrent positions at UN Centre of Space Science and Technology Education in the Asia Pacific (UN CSSTE-AP, Dehradun, 2004-10).

Vinay Kumar Dadhwal was born and educated in Delhi where he graduated in Botany from Hansraj College (Delhi University, 1976) and completed Master of Science (1978) and PhD (1983) in Plant Physiology from Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI, New Delhi) and started his career in remote sensing applications at Space Applications Centre (SAC/ISRO, Ahmedabad, 1983). 

Early in his career Vinay developed a methodology for use of remote sensing for crop identification, and crop mapping and later expanded it to yield modelling and crop production forecasting at district to state and national scale under a major program funded by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation (DAC), Government of India. He has extensively worked with EO data for applications in land transformation, land surface modelling, deforestation, geo-hazards and hydro-meteorological disasters, to name a few. He was Project Director for the National Carbon Project (NCP) under ISRO Geosphere-Biosphere Program(IGBP), a multi-institutional national effort that established an observation network of carbon flux and atmospheric CO2, and geospatial mapping of national forest biomass and soil organic carbon in high detail. His extensive research is described in more than 300 co-authored peer-reviewed journal publications. His current research at NIAS covers various dimensions of assessment and modelling of the terrestrial carbon cycle of India.

During his tenure at various institutions major long-term programs were initiated, including a satellite-based education program hosted by IIRS for PG students nationally, expanded EO products and services from NRSC for land resources, near real-time flooded extent and forest fires, climate information products, digital elevation models and ocean applications. Establishment of spacecraft and payload development laboratory and space technology incubator at IIST. As a science leader, Vinay has extensive experience in bilateral and multi-lateral space cooperation, including as a member/leader of the Indian delegation to the UN Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UN COPUOS) from 2012 to 2016 and was Chairman of the 53rd Session of Science and Technology Subcommittee (STSC) of UNCOPUOS in 2016. 
 

Prof D. Suba Chandran is the Dean of the School of Conflict and Security Studies at NIAS. Within the School, he heads two Programmes -  Conflict Resolution & Peace Research; and Science, Technology and International Relations.

Pakistan Reader: Pakistan is his primary area of research interest; currently, he is working on a manuscript looking at 75 years of Pakistan. He teaches a course on contemporary Pakistan. He has been a regular visitor to Pakistan, and has been part of numerous track-II dialogues with Pakistan; he has also worked and published with scholars from Pakistan. 

Peace and Conflict Research: Besides Pakistan, he works on issues relating to peace and conflict; he is currently researching on two primary areas – “Conflict Peripheries” trying to find why most of the conflict regions are situated in geographic corners, and on “Peace Gap” trying to find why peace does not prevail, despite the end of violence and conflict. He leads the International Peace Research Initiative (IPRI) at NIAS. He is also the regional representative of the Global Partnership to Prevent Armed Conflict (GPPAC). He teaches an online course on peace research.

Global Politics and Area Studies: He coordinates the NIAS Global Politics initiative, which looks at the contemporary world order, and four area studies – Pakistan, Europe, Africa and Maritime. In the long run, the area studies are expected to branch out into independent disciplines. He also teaches an online course on “Contemporary World Affairs.” 

He works with a young, colourful and an extremely dedicated team who leads the research on area studies relating to Pakistan, Africa, Europe, Sri Lanka and Myanmar, and issues relating to Peace & Conflict, Arctic, Space, and the Himalayas. His team coordiantes “Global Politics Young Voices (GPYV)” an exclusive network of young scholars, and take the lead in publishing the following at NIAS: Pakistan Reader Evening Brief (Daily), Pakistan Weekly, Europe Daily Brief, Europe Monitor (Monthly), Africa Weekly,  Conflict Weekly, and The World This Week. Together, they coordinate the “Young-IPRI” network, aimed at bringing young scholars working on issues relating to peace and conflict on a common platform.

IR Networks: He coordinates three academic networks – the International Studies Network Bangalore (ISBN), International Peace Research Initiative (IPRI), and Maritime Studies. Academic institutions from Goa, Bangalore, Chennai and Pondicherry are a part of the above networks.

Science Diplomacy: He also leads the “Science Diplomacy” initiative within the institute, aimed at bringing S&T and International Relations together. He coordinates the BRICS-Young Scientists’ Forum.

He is an Associate at the Pakistan Study Research Unit (PSRU), University of Durham, UK.  Earlier, he was a Visiting Fellow at the following places: the Department of Peace Studies, University of Bradford, UK; ACDIS, University of Urbana-Champaign; and the University of Jammu, J&K.