Prof. V. N. Rajasekharan Pillai

V. N. Rajasekharan Pillai is the Vice-Chancellor of Somaiya Vidyavihar University. He concurrently serves as the Chancellor of the ICFAI University, Tripura. Mr. Pillai is the Founder President of Human Development Foundation India, a Civil Society Organisation in the National Capital Region, New Delhi. He was President of Mewar University, Chiittorgarh, Rajasthan, India (2016–2018). He served as the Executive Vice-President of the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment, Govt of Kerala (2011–2014). Prior to that, he was the Vice-Chancellor of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi (2006–2011). He served as Vice-Chairman & Chairman of the University Grants Commission, Govt of India, New Delhi during the period 2002–2006. He was also the executive director of the National Assessment and Accreditations Council (NAAC), Govt of India, during the period 2000–2002. Being a teacher and researcher in the field of Chemical Sciences, Pillai has held post-doctoral and visiting research professor positions in the University of Tübingen (Mainz, Germany and Lausanne, Switzerland). He has supervised over 50 doctoral students and also holds an international patent for the gram-scale preparation of biologically important peptides.