Surender Singh Prof. Surender Singh received his BSc (Hons.) Agriculture from Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar (India). He obtained his MSc and PhD in Microbiology from Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, in 2005 and 2009, respectively, before joining as Scientist (ARS) in IARI, New Delhi. He joined Central University of Haryana in 2018. His research focuses on the development of multi-stress tolerant bioinoculants and organic matter recycling including bioethanol production from lignocellulosic material. He was awarded the prestigious Endeavour Research Fellowship (2011) by Government of Australia for his academic excellence to carry out 6-month research in University of South Australia, Adelaide. He was also awarded with Young Scientist Award 2015 by Association of Microbiologists of India (AMI), Young Scientist Award (2015–2016) by National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS), New Delhi, and Haryana Yuva Vigyan Ratan (2018) by Department of Science and Technology, Government of Haryana. Dr. Singh has been involved in six research projects funded extramurally by ICAR, DBT, DST, and MoEF (Government of India). He is currently supervising six doctoral scholars and has supervised 15 PG dissertations in the past. He has authored more than 80 research articles, 1 book, and 15 book chapters and is an active reviewer for many reputed journals in microbiological research. He is also an editorial board member of Electronic Journal of Biotechnology and Frontiers of Microbiology. Prof. Singh is a Life member of Association of Microbiologists of India (AMI) and Indian Science Congress. Radha Prasanna Dr. Radha Prasanna completed her Masters and PhD programs from Indian Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR-IARI), joined as Scientist in 1996, and presently serves as Principal Scientist, Division of Microbiology, ICAR-IARI, New Delhi. Her major interests include investigations in the areas of natural resource management and crop protection, through deploying integrated nutrient/disease management strategies and modern omics tools. She is passionate toward diversifying the role of cyanobacteria and their consortia in crops, besides rice, and their significant role as plant growth promoting inoculants for wheat, maize, cotton, legumes, and vegetable crops and as biocontrol agents against phytopathogenic fungi in cereal and vegetable crops. She is actively involved in post-graduate teaching and research guidance of MSc/PhD students at ICAR-IARI. She has been recognized as Outstanding Reviewer by Elsevier, Springer, and Wiley journals, besides being identified as Top Peer Reviewer by Publons. She is serving as Associate Editor, BMC Microbiology and CABI Agriculture and Bioscience, and Member, Editorial Advisory Board, Journal of Basic Microbiology. She has published more than 230 research papers in peer-reviewed journals, most of them being highly cited. She is the recipient of NAAS Fellowship (2022), Fellowship of the Academy of Microbiological Sciences (FAMSc 2019), Hari Krishna Shastri Award (2017), ICAR Panjabrao Deshmukh Outstanding Woman Scientist Award (2012), and IARI Best Teacher Award (2008), for her outstanding contributions to research and teaching. Kumar Pranaw Dr. Kumar Pranaw completed his bachelor’s in 2006 with BSc (Hons.) Microbiology from Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology & Sciences, Allahabad, India. He obtained his Master’s degree in Microbiology from Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, India, in 2008. He joined Indian Agricultural Research Institute in 2009 as Senior Research Fellow and started working on microbial enzymes and their role in bio-pesticidal activity as well as in bioremediation. He registered for his doctoral study at the National Institute of Technology, Durgapur, India, in collaboration with the Indian Agriculture Research Institute, New Delhi, India, and received his PhD (Biotechnology) in 2014. His expertise has been enriched by academic as well as industrial research experience at eminent national and international institutions. Currently, he leads a multinational research group at the University of Warsaw, Poland, which works toward innovative solutions for realizing the zero-waste circular economy concept by probing plant growth-promoting bacteria for sustainable agriculture and utilizing the generated agro-wastes for high value-added products. Presently, he is supervising two postdocs and two doctoral scholars and has supervised several PG/UG dissertations in the past. He has authored more than 20 research articles in different peer-reviewed journals and is an active reviewer for many reputed international journals in the field of applied microbiology, sustainable agriculture and environment, and waste valorization. He has presented his research achievements at several national and international conferences. He is actively engaged in different professional societies like Life member at the Association of Microbiologists of India; Life member at The Biotech Research Society, India; Member of American Society for Microbiologists, USA; and Member of European Federation of Biotechnology.
