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Dr. Rajeev Raghavan
Rajeev Raghavan
Born	(1979-07-00)July 1979 Kerala State, Kochi, India
Nationality	Indian
Occupation(s)	Assistant Professor, Conservation Biologist
Board member of	International Union for Conservation of Nature, Mahseer Trust
Academic background
Alma mater	St. Albert's College, University of Madras, Wuhan Institute of Hydrobiology, University of Kent
Academic work
Discipline	Conservation Biology
Sub-discipline	Freshwater Fish Conservation, Fish Taxonomy, Inland Fisheries
Institutions	Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies
Website	www.fishlab.in

Rajeev Raghavan is an aquatic conservation biologist known for his work on the freshwater fishes of the Western Ghats – Sri Lanka Biodiversity Hotspot. He is currently an Assistant Professor at the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies, Kochi, India and the South Asia Coordinator of the IUCN’s Freshwater Fish Specialist Group.

Education and Career

After completing undergraduate and graduate degrees in Aquaculture and PhD in Fish Ecology, Rajeev carried out postdoctoral research and teaching in various countries including India, China, United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany and Hungary. Prior to his appointment with the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS), Kochi, India, Rajeev also worked as a Lecturer at St. Albert's College, Kochi, India (where he set up the Conservation Research Group, a multidisciplinary network of conservation biologist working on various aspects of the biodiversity of the Western Ghats) and also held affiliate positions at the Zoo Outreach Organisation (ZOO), Coimbatore, India.

Research

Since 2003, Rajeev has been involved in interdisciplinary research that generates information to support conservation decision making in tropical aquatic ecosystems particularly in the Western Ghats Biodiversity Hotspot. His work cuts across multiple disciplines from taxonomy to evolutionary biogeography, fisheries management and conservation policies, and range from local to global scales.

His research has resulted in the discovery and description of nine new species, one new genus and a unique new family of freshwater fish from the rivers of the Western Ghats; contributed to the assessment of the extinction risk of over 100 species of South Asian freshwater fishes for the IUCN Red List, and generation of the first information on the biology and population status of several endemic fish species of the Western Ghats. As of 2017, Rajeev has published over 120 peer-reviewed papers (with ~900 citations) in some of the world’s top journals in fisheries and conservation science including Fish and Fisheries, Biological Conservation, Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems; Marine Policy and Ambio.

Work with IUCN

Rajeev is closely involved with the work of the IUCN Species Survival Commission (IUCN SSC) holding multiple responsibilities in its various groups. He is currently the South Asia Coordinator of the Freshwater Fish Specialist Group (FFSG); Red List Authority Coordinator for the regions of Southern, Northern and Eastern Asia and Oceania; Steering Committee member of the Freshwater Fish Specialist Group (FFSG) and the SSC Freshwater representative on the Red List Committee. In addition he is also a member of the Species Survival Commission/World Commission on Protected Areas (SSC/WCPA) Joint Task Force on Biodiversity and Protected Areas; the WCPA Freshwater Specialist Group and the IUCN Conservation Planning Specialist Group.

Work with International Organizations

Rajeev’s expertise has been used by various international organizations including the World Bank and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) while he currently works in honorary capacity as the Head of Science and Knowledge (India) for the Mahseer Trust, an international conservation NGO based in the UK.