As an Assistant Professor at the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies, I study fundamental and applied aspects of tropical aquatic biodiversity, particularly focusing on systematics, life history, extinction risk, evolutionary biogeography and conservation of freshwater fishes. Our team has described 25 new species, three genera (Aenigmachanna, Sahyadria, Waikhomia) and two enigmatic families (Krytoglanidae and Aenigmachannidae) of fish, and a unique new genus and species (Eurindicus bhugarbha) of blind subterranean shrimp.

I received the prestigious FSBI Medal from the Fisheries Society of British Isles (FSBI) in 2023, becoming the first Asian recipient of the award. I am currently the editor of the Asian Freshwater Fish Section of Zootaxa, and serves on the editorial board of Biodiversity and Conservation (Springer), npj Biodiversity (Nature Publishing) and Journal of Threatened Taxa (a platinum open-access journal), and was previously an Editorial Board member of Scientific Reports (Nature Portfolio) from 2018-2020, and ‘Aquatic Conservation: Marine & Freshwater Ecosystems’ (Wiley) (from 2019 until 2023).

Since 2012, I have been closely involved with the work of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and wears multiple hats including that of the South Asia Coordinator/Chair of the IUCN Freshwater Fish Specialist Group, and the IUCN Freshwater Fish Red List Authority Coordinator for the continents of Asia and Oceania. From 2013 to 2017, I was also an invited member on the IUCN Red List Committee, which guides and oversees the work and functioning of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™.