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. 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, an Assistant Editor of the Journal of Fish Biology, and a member of the editorial board of npj Biodiversity, and was previously an Editorial Board member of Scientific Reports from 2018-2020, ‘Aquatic Conservation: Marine & Freshwater Ecosystems’ (from 2019 until 2023) and Biodiversity and Conservation (from 2022 to 2025).

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™.