Dr Raghunath Mashelkar

Short citation at year of election

Raghunath Mashelkar has made path-breaking contributions in stimuli responsive polymers, modelling of polymerisation reactors, engineering analysis of non-Newtonian flows and in supamolecular therapeutics. Mashelkar was previously President of the Indian National Science Academy and the Institution of Chemical Engineers (UK). The transformation of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), under Mashelkar’s exceptional leadership as Director General, has been heralded as one of the ten most significant achievements of Indian science and technology in the twentieth century. Mashelkar has been a dominant force in shaping the direction of science and technology policies in India and has promoted worldwide the idea of inclusive innovation based on the concept of `more from less for more people’.

Mashelkar’s connections with Australian science include his active involvement in creating India-Australia education, research and innovation bridges through Monash University, Swinburne, RMIT and the Australia-India Institute. Mashelkar has also supported the creation of the Australia-India Strategic Research Fund (AISRF), Australia’s largest fund dedicated to bilateral research. Mashelkar also contributed to the establishment in 2008 of the IITB-Monash Research Academy, a joint venture, graduate research school, located in Mumbai, India. Mashelkar has been Vice-Chair and then Chair of the Academy’s Council since 2009. He has also been the Sir Louis Matheson Distinguished Professor at Monash University since 2007.

Mashelkar is also National Research Professor and President of Global Research Alliance, a global network of RTOs with over 60,000 scientists. He has received 37 honorary doctorates and many prestigious awards and prizes from around the world including, the Business Week (USA) ‘Stars of Asia’ award in 2005.