Team

HUMAN RESOURCES:

Dr. Pious Thomas, M.Sc. (Hort.), Ph.D. (Hort.), PDF (Biotech.); FNAAS, FNABS, FHSI

CEO & Director

Dr. Pious Thomas completed B.Sc. (Hort.) (1982) and M. Sc. (Hort.) (1985) from the College of Horticulture, Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur. Thereafter he served in the Department of Agriculture, Govt. of Kerala as an Agricultural Officer and then as Research Scientist at the Centre for Water Resources Development & Management (CWRDM), Kozhikode. He completed his Ph. D. majoring in Horticulture – Vegetable Breeding- from ICAR- Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, during 1989. This was followed by a Post-Doctoral stint at the University of Sheffield, UK, under the prestigious Commonwealth Fellowship scheme.

Dr. Thomas joined the Agricultural Research Service under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and got the final posting at the ICAR- Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR) where he served in the capacities as Scientist, Senior Scientist and Principal Scientist (from 1990 to Dec. 2018) until his voluntary retirement from the Council on 5th Dec. 2018. He was a recipient of the DBT Overseas Associateship Award twice which enabled him to work at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA (March 1999- Sept. 2000) and the Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia (March-Sept. 2007) as a visiting Research Scholar. Dr. Thomas was a recipient of several national/ international awards during his 28 years of service at the ICAR-IIHR from where retired as i/c Head, Division of Biotechnology. His research and technological contributions covered the areas of plant tissue culture, in vitro physiology, gene cloning and gene expression, basic molecular biology, and applied, molecular, and endophytic microbiology.

Patron: Dr. T. P. Rajendran, Former Assistant Director General (Plant Protection), ICAR, New Delhi

Adviser: Dr. Anita Mariet Thomas, Senior ENT Consultant, Bangalore Baptist Hospital, Bengaluru

STAFF

  • Mrs. Mukta Agrawal, B. Sc. (Agri.); M. Sc. (Agri Biotech.), Senior Research Fellow
  • Mr. Bharathkumar C.B., B. Sc. (Agri Biotech.), Research Fellow
  • Mr. N. Shivrudriah, Technical Officer
  • Mr. Hanumantharaju KR, Skilled Staff
  • Mrs. Bhagya D, Skilled Staff
  • Mr. Madhu, Skilled Staff
  • Ms. Poojashree, Skilled Staff