Dr. C.T. Aravindakumar is a Senior Professor at the School of Environmental Sciences at Mahatma Gandhi University. He also holds honorary positions as the Director of the Inter University Instrumentation Centre (a Government of Kerala initiative), Coordinator of the National Centre, SAIF-DST, and the Director of the International Centre for Polar Studies. He initially joined as a Lecturer at the School of Chemical Sciences at Mahatma Gandhi University in 1993 and served there until 2010, before joining the School of Environmental Sciences.
Prof. Aravindakumar is an Environmental Chemist. He received his MSc in Chemistry from the University of Pune and obtained his PhD from the University of Pune in an interdisciplinary topic on DNA radiation damage under an exchange programme with the Max Planck Institute for Radiation Chemistry, Germany, under the ICSC-World Laboratory Fellowship. He conducted post-doctoral research at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium (in Biochemistry), the Max Planck Institute, Germany (in Free Radical Chemistry), and the Free University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands (in Biophysics). He has also been a visiting faculty member/visiting professor/scientist at several reputed universities and research organisations in nearly 16 countries across Europe, the USA, Australia and Asia. He received the full visiting professor title twice from the University of Paris (E), France. His recent research interests include oxidation technology for water purification, polar environmental research, monitoring of emerging contaminants in water bodies, membrane technology for water purification, air pollution, and protein-pollutant interaction.
He has established nearly 15 national and international collaborations, including MoUs with prestigious research centres in India and abroad. He has over 400 publications in international journals, conference proceedings, conference presentations, book chapters, reviews and editorials. He has completed 20 national and international major research projects (totalling over Rs. 15 crores), including the prestigious Obama-Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative with Duke University, USA. Thirty students have obtained their PhDs under his guidance/co-guidance. He has presented research papers at over 60 national and international conferences (plenary/invited/chair) within India and in countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, France, Norway, Denmark, the USA, Japan, Australia, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brazil, Russia, Slovakia, Turkey, and Korea.
He was the team leader of India’s Arctic Expedition in July 2017. He was selected for the LEAP programme of MHRD in 2019 and received an ERASMUS fellowship from the European Union in 2019. He was a Fulbright Fellow from United States-India Educational Foundation (2023). Presently, he is serving as an expert member of many national and international bodies related to environmental research.
He has completed 30 years as a teacher and researcher at MG University. He has served as the Dean of Environmental and Atmospheric Sciences, the Director of the School of Environmental Sciences, and the Convenor of the ERUDITE Programme at MG University. He has been a member of several academic bodies and is a former member of the MG University Syndicate, Senate, and Academic Council. He was the former Director of IQAC at MG University. He was the Chairman of the Examination Reform Commission constituted by the Government of Kerala in 2021.
Besides his scientific research, he is interested in environmental education, environmental policies and governance.
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