Dr. Surya Nandan Meena is currently a DSK PDF at Department of Chemistry, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, India. Earlier Dr. Meena has secured the National Postdoctoral Fellowship through Department of Science and Technology (DST), India and worked at National Institute of Oceanography, Goa for two years. He has completed his MSc (Agri) Plant Biotechnology from University of Agriculture Sciences, Dharwad, India and Ph.D. in Biotechnology from the Department of Biotechnology, Goa University, Goa India through research fellowship of Department of Biotechnology (DBT). Dr. Meena has more than 5 years of postdoctoral research experience in natural products chemistry which resulted in more than 10 peer reviewed research papers in international journals, three book chapters and editors of two books in Elsevier. Dr. Meena has presented his research work in different national and international conferences. Dr. Vinod Nandre is working as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Chemistry, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, India. His postdoctoral work is based on silica extraction from e-waste and rice husk. He has obtained his PhD from Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune on the topic of arsenic metabolism in prokaryotic system and arsenic removal from waste. He has 21 international publications and 1 patent based on phosphate removal from industrial waste sample. He also has two book chapters to his credit. He has teaching experience in Medical Biochemistry and industrial experience. Dr. Kisan M. Kodam is Professor of Biochemistry at the Department of Chemistry, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, India. Dr. Kodam’s research interests are focused on environmental biotechnology. In particular, his research team is working on biodegradation of organic pollutants, arsenic and metal bioremediation. He has 27 years of teaching and research experiences and he has supervised 16 students for their doctoral studies and mentored five postdoctoral fellows. He has published around 100 research publications and 4 book chapters. His citations are 2704 with a h-index of 29. He is also working on biotransformation reactions for synthesis of natural products and cytotoxicity analysis. He has reported two novel bacterial species, namely Alishewanella solinquinati and Microvirga indica isolated from dyes and metal contaminated soils, respectively. His research work has been presented in many international conferences. He has been awarded as Fellow of Maharashtra Academy of Sciences, India for his valuable contributions in the field of environmental biotechnology. Dr. Ram Swaroop Meena was born into a farming family and is working in the Department of Agronomy at the Institute of Agricultural Sciences (IAS), Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. With an excellent academic background, he has been elected a fellow of several academies, including the National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI), the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS), the National Academy of Biological Sciences (NABS), the Indian Society of Agronomy (ISA), and the Society for Rapeseed-Mustard Research (SRMR). The Ministry of Education has also awarded him the Raman Fellowship for the USA under World Food Prize Laureate Prof. Rattan Lal, and he was an INSA visiting scientist at ISARC-IRRI (IRRI South Asia Regional Center-The International Rice Research Institute). Additionally, he has been listed among the world’s top 2% of scientists for his research impact. He has guided PhD and master’s students and completed 10 externally funded projects from IRRI, The ‘Institute of Eminence’ (IoE)-Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) Department of Science and Technology (DST), The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Ministry of Education (MOE), The Government of India (GOI). He has published books, at an international level (Springer, Elsevier, etc.). He has made significant research contributions to natural resource management and to farm and industrial waste recycling for soil health. Dr. Meena's research evaluates energy flow, atmospheric CO₂ capture, carbon credit and auditing, and eco-friendly techniques for a sustainable food system and soil regeneration, as evidenced by high-impact publications and extension work at the farmer level. His work is crucial for understanding the long-term stability of soil carbon, which enhances soil microbial and nutrient dynamics in rice-based diversified cropping systems. He trained farmers from the Deep Forest Tribe to adopt climate-smart practices to secure their livelihoods under the DST-SEED grant project. Dr. Meena has also contributed to agricultural extension activities in villages designated under the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India's initiative. His future work aims to reduce soil organic carbon oxidation and enhance its stability in agroecosystems, enabling farmers to benefit from carbon credits and generate additional income.
