VC Profile

Professor R. K. Kohli is a globally accredited Certified Senior Ecologist of the highest rank (with Emeritus recognition for life). Honoured with several state and national l awards, he is the Founder Vice-Chancellor of Amity University Punjab at Mohali. He has also served as Vice Chancellor of the Central University of Punjab for 6 years and as the Founder Vice Chancellor of DAV University, Jalandhar. Earlier, apart from being a member of the Senate and Syndicate, he had been the DUI, Dean of Research, and Chairman of Botany and of Environment Science at Panjab University Chandigarh.

Professor Kohli is internationally recognised for his pioneering work, especially in Inter-plant Interaction (Allelopathy) and the Ecology of Invasive Alien Plants. According to the Stanford University database, he has been ranked among the top 2% of the most accomplished scientists in the world for the last 5 years. As per research.com, he has a world ranking of 570 in Plant Sciences and Agronomy.

He has been bestowed with the Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS), London, in Chemistry and in Biology. He enjoys the rare distinction of being a Fellow of all the four official National Science Academies (INSA, IAS, NASI, and NAAC), apart from the Science Academy of Punjab and the National Environment Science Academy of New Delhi.

He was appointed the JC Bose National Fellow of DST for two terms of 5 years each, and Dr. BP Pal National Environment Fellow of the MoEF&CC for 2 years. A recipient of the Dr. Birbal Sahni Medal Award, he is the Member/ Chairman of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Group of the National Mission on Himalayan Studies of the MoEF&CC for the second term of 3 years.

At the global level, he served for 10 years as the Leader/ Chair of the International Working Group on Ecology of Invasives of the IUFRO (Austria). He was a member of the 18-member IUFRO Task Force on Biological Invasion to guide the world on the Invasion of biological species. He held the SAARC Chair in Bangladesh and served as an Adjunct Professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences for 2 years. He was invited several times by different countries for academic interactions. In 2023, he was elected to the Executive Council of the International Union of Biological Sciences (Paris), an affiliated body of the United Nations.

The Government of Haryana honoured him with the Haryana Vigyan Ratan Award for being the Best Scientist. Likewise, the Chandigarh Administration honoured him during the 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 Chandigarh an annual award of Rs 1 lac and a citation in collaboration for the best mid-career scientist from Punjab and UT Chandigarh in memory of his father.

Professor Kohli has successfully guided 29 MPhil and 54 PhD students (including 2 foreign students) in ecology and environment. He has two patents and has published over 365 research papers (over 200 in high-impact factor journals published internationally), authored 5 books, and edited 14 volumes.