Pawan Kumar Singh received MSc and PhD degrees in Botany from Banaras Hindu University (BHU). After serving for a few years in the Department of Botany, BHU in the Algal Project under PL-480, he joined Central Rice Research Institute (CRRI), Cuttack as Algologist and served for about 21 years in various capacities including Principal Scientist, Head, National Fellow, Joint Director and Director (officiating). He was also briefly at the Indian Institute of Sugarcane Research, Lucknow as Head of the Department and thereafter joined Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi where he was Project Director, Joint Director (Research) and Director (officiating). He was also appointed as OSD by ICAR to start the National Bureau of Agriculturally Important Microorganisms, New Delhi. Thereafter, he served as Vice-Chancellor of CS Azad University of Agriculture & Technology, Kanpur. After retiring from ICAR (2007), he joined BHU as INSA Senior Scientist and subsequently as CSIR Emeritus Scientist.

Academic and Research Achievements: Singh made seminal contributions to plant sciences, particularly in microbiology, algology, biotechnology, biofertilizers and integrated crop nutrient management, genetics, radiation biology, and ecophysiology. He did pioneering research on various biological aspects of cyanophages, cyanobacteria, Azolla and also in relation to rice. Dr Singh has to his credit nearly 400 publications comprising research papers, reviews, popular articles, technical reports and books. He also guided 23 PhD students.

Other Contributions: Singh served as Chairman/Member of various expert committees of government departments and organizations, such as ICAR, DBT, DST, CSIR, UGC, DOEn, universities and Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet.

Awards and Honours: Dr Singh received the National Fellow Award (1980) by ICAR for Biological Nitrogen Fixation and Hari Om Ashram Trust Award (1981) by ICAR for his outstanding research contributions. He was elected Foundation Fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, New Delhi (1991) and Honorary Fellow of Indian Society of Agricultural Biochemists (2003).