Dr RK Kohli
Dr RK Kohli is a globally accredited Certified Senior Ecologist of ESA, USA – the highest rank (with Emeritus recognition for life). Decorated with several state and national-level awards, he is the former Vice-Chancellor of 3 universities, DAV University, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda and Amity University Punjab at Mohali. Earlier, apart from being a member of the Senate (twice) and the Syndicate, he had been the DUI, Dean Research, Chairman of the Environment Science and Botany Departments at Panjab University, Chandigarh.
Apart from being a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in Biology and Chemistry, he holds a rare distinction as a Fellow of all 4 official National Science Academies (INSA, IAS, NASI, and NAAC), as well as the National Environment Science Academy.
Dr Kohli is recognised internationally for his pioneering work, especially in Interplant Interaction (Allelopathy) and the Ecology of Invasive Alien Plants. The objective has been to bring an ecological basis for weed management. Consequently, over the last 6 years, he has been ranked among the top 2% of the world’s most accomplished scientists in the Stanford University database. In Ecology, he is among the top 0.5% of scientists worldwide.
He had been the JC Bose National Fellow of DST for 2 terms of 5 years each. He had been the Dr BP Pal National Environment Fellow of the MoEF&CC for 2 years. He is the recipient of the Dr Birbal Sahni Medal Award. He has successfully guided 29 MPhil and 54 PhDs (including 2 foreign students) in ecology & environment. He was the Chairman of STAG of the NMHS of the MoEF&CC for the 2nd term of 3 years. He has delivered over 500 lectures at various forums, including INSPIRE camps, since the programme’s inception.
At the global level, he served for 10 years as the Leader /Chair of the International Working Group on the Ecology of Invasives of the IUFRO (Austria). He had been on the 18-member IUFRO Task Force on Biological Invasion, which guides the world on the Invasion of biological species, one of his research areas. He had held the SAARC Chair in Bangladesh and had been an Adjunct Professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences for 2 years. He has been invited several times by various countries to engage in academic interactions. In 2024, he was elected to the Executive Council of the International Union of Biological Sciences (Paris), a UN-affiliated body till 2026.
The Haryana Government honoured him with the State’s Best Scientist Award of Rs 1 lac and a citation. Likewise, the Chandigarh Administration honoured him during Independence Day celebrations as the best Environmentalist. He also won the Punjab Rattan Award.
To promote research and encourage active scientists, he instituted at Panjab University an annual award of Rs 1 lac and a citation for the best Mid-career scientist from anywhere in Punjab and UT Chandigarh in memory of his father. This is now the 8th year of the award.
He has guided 54 PhD theses and, apart from 2 patents, has published 365 research papers, authored 5, and edited 14 books, of which 5 are published in the USA, 1 each from Singapore and the UK. His research h-index is 73, with over 19,500 citations; i10 of >223, and i100 of 54.