Vinod K. Singh

Professor Vinod Kumar Singh is Professor Emeritus and Institute Chair Professor at IIT Kanpur. He currently serves as the President of the National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI).  He is the Chairperson of the CSIR Research Advisory Board (CSIR-RAB), the Governing Council of the Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology (IASST), Guwahati, and the Council of Management of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bengaluru.

Born on 9 September 1959 in Anantapur, a village in Azamgarh district, Uttar Pradesh, Professor Singh received his early education in his native place. He obtained his M.Sc. in Chemistry from Banaras Hindu University in 1980 and completed his PhD in 1986 at The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, carrying out his doctoral research at the Malti-Chem Research Centre, Nandesari, under the supervision of Dr Sukh Dev.

He subsequently pursued postdoctoral research in Canada at the University of Calgary and the University of British Columbia (1985–1987), followed by further postdoctoral research at Harvard University (1987–1990) under the guidance of Nobel Laureate Professor E. J. Corey. After a brief tenure as a Senior Scientist at Neurogen Corporation, Connecticut, USA, he joined IIT Kanpur as an Assistant Professor. Over the course of his academic career, he rose through the ranks to become Professor and superannuated from the Institute in 2024.

Professor Singh’s research interests lie in Synthetic Organic Chemistry, with a strong emphasis on asymmetric synthesis. His pioneering contributions have earned him several prestigious honours, including the Swarnajayanti Fellowship (1998), the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (2004), and the Padma Shri (2014). He is an elected Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy (FNA), the Indian Academy of Sciences (FASc), the National Academy of Sciences, India (FNASc), and The World Academy of Sciences (FTWAS).

He has made significant contributions to the international chemical sciences community through his editorial leadership. He currently serves on the Editorial Advisory Boards of Asian Journal of Organic Chemistry, Tetrahedron Letters, and Organic Chemistry Frontiers. Previously, he served as Editor of Tetrahedron Letters (2014–2023), Associate Editor of Synthetic Communications (2010–2014), and as a member of the Editorial Advisory Boards of Organic Letters and The Journal of Organic Chemistry (2018–2024).

Professor Singh has also made outstanding contributions to higher education, institution building, and science policy in India. As the Founding Director of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Bhopal (2008–2018), he played a pivotal role in establishing the institute and developing its academic ecosystem and permanent campus from the ground up. He has also served as Mentor Director of IISER Berhampur, Director (additional charge) of the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), Bhopal, Chairperson of the Board of Governors of the National Institute of Technical Teachers' Training and Research (NITTTR), Bhopal, and Director (additional charge) of the Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (MANIT), Bhopal. In recognition of his exceptional contributions to institution building and the development of scientific infrastructure, he was awarded the TWAS–CASAREP Award in 2020.

Professor Singh has played an influential role in shaping India's scientific and research landscape. He served as a Member of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (2009–2014). He was a member of the CSIR Society (2023-2026). During this period, he also served as a Mentor to the CSIR-Advanced Materials and Processes Research Institute (CSIR-AMPRI), Bhopal, and the CSIR– Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (CSIR-IIIM), Jammu, providing strategic guidance for their scientific and institutional development.

He was the President of the Chemical Research Society of India (2020–2023), Chairperson of the Governing Council of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS), Kolkata (2021–2024), and the Chairperson of the Research Council of CSIR-AMPRI, Bhopal (2024-2026).