Rajeev Raghavan is an Assistant Professor at the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies, where his team studies fundamental and applied aspects of tropical aquatic biodiversity, particularly focusing on systematics, life history, extinction risk, evolutionary biogeography and conservation of freshwater fishes. His 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.

Two new species – a snakehead, Channa rara, and a hillstream loach, Indoreonectes rajeevi were named in honour of Rajeev for his contribution to ichthyological research in the Western Ghats.

Rajeev is the first and only Asian recipient of the prestigious FSBI Medal from the Fisheries Society of British Isles. He has to his credit 180+ papers in leading journals in the field of fisheries science and biodiversity conservation (and several book chapters), which have been cited >3000 times with an h-index of 28, and an i-10 index of 101 (Google Scholar). He is the editor of the Asian Freshwater Fish Section of Zootaxa, and serves on the editorial board of ‘Aquatic Conservation: Marine & Freshwater Ecosystems’ (Wiley), Biodiversity and Conservation (Springer), npj Biodiversity (Nature Publishing) and Journal of Threatened Taxa (a platinum open-access journal). He was also an Editor of Scientific Reports from 2018-2020.

Since 2012, Rajeev has 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/Co-Chair of the IUCN Freshwater Fish Specialist Group, and the IUCN Freshwater Fish Red List Authority Coordinator for the continents of Asia and Oceania. He also serves as an invited member on several of IUCN’s Interdisciplinary Specialist Groups and Task Forces. From 2013 to 2017, Rajeev was 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™.

Rajeev also serves as an advisory board member of several leading international conservation organizations including SHOAL Conservation (UK), Fisheries Conservation Foundation (USA), Freshwater Life (USA) and the Mahseer Trust (UK), while his expertise and services as a consultant and Senior Aquatic Biodiversity Specialist, has been used by major international development organizations including the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.