From an engineering degree in India, through a PhD on honey bee communication, to research on social insects using computational tools in Switzerland. Here's how I got here.
Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
I run my own research programme, working on division of labour in ants. Prof. Cleo Bertelsmeier has hosted me since 2026, and Prof. Erica van de Waal hosted me from 2023 to 2025.
Laurent Keller's group, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
I studied division of labour in ant colonies, including how workers care for wounded nestmates and how brood affects the behaviour of the colony.
Zukunftskolleg, University of Konstanz, Germany
I visited Dr. Anja Weidenmüller to start a project on information use in bumblebee foraging. The COVID-19 pandemic cut the visit short.
Axel Brockmann's group, NCBS, Bangalore, India
I held a Bridging Postdoctoral Fellowship from 2019 to 2020 to continue my work on the honey bee waggle dance, and stayed affiliated with the group until 2021.
National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS–TIFR), Bangalore, India
I joined the Honey Bee Lab of Dr. Axel Brockmann straight after my B.Tech. and worked on a range of projects on the honey bee waggle dance. I wrote my thesis on Individual and social mechanisms regulating the dance activity within honey bee forager groups.
University of Würzburg, Germany
I spent three months in Dr. Ricarda Scheiner's group, linking individual honey bee dance behaviour to gene expression in the brain. The DAAD "A New Passage to India" Fellowship funded the stay.
National Institute of Technology, Durgapur, India
I graduated with the Gold Medal as top of the department. I'm an engineer by training!
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
I got my first experience of academic research here. I spent two months in the lab of Dr. Upendra Nongthomba exploring the role of TEN-A in Drosophila melanogaster, with an Indian Academy of Sciences Summer Research Fellowship.
For the full details, see my CV.
Or, for something different, see my interests outside research.