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From left: Akhil, Ullasa, Anaswara, Kushankur, Indukala, Shreya, Abin, Akshaya, Nikhil and Bhanu. Perunad, during lab trip to Vagamon, Apr 2024.
Professor
Ullasa did his BSc (Forestry) from the University of Agricultural Sciences (Bangalore), PhD from Stockholm University and joined IISER-TVM in 2013 after two postdocs - in Stockholm University and University of Cambridge. Personal webpage.
Postdoctoral Fellow (Mar 2024 - )
Kushankur did his masters and PhD from IISER Kolkata. His PhD was on the effect of monsoon on the nesting biology of an Indian ant Diacamma indicum. As part of his postdoc, he works on the evolution of desiccation tolerance of butterflies
Postdoctoral Fellow (Jan 2024 - )
Aarini completed her PhD from Ashoka University. Her doctoral research focused on the acoustic communication of katydids. In the Vanasiri lab, she is broadly interested in butterfly-hostplant interactions.
PhD student (Aug 2018 - )
Tarunkishwor did his BS-MS from IISER Mohali. He is working on the adaptive phenotypic plastity of colour patterns in butterlies.
PhD student (April 2019 - )
Indukala is an Integrated-PhD student. She works on the evolution of life-history traits in satyrine butterflies.
PhD student (Jan 2020 - )
Anaswara did her masters in Zoology from the University of Calicut. She works on butterfly hostplant interactions.
PhD student (Aug 2020 - )
Akhil did his masters in Environmental Studies from University of Delhi. He is interested in understanding what makes camouflage effective in avoiding predation.
PhD student (Aug 2021 - )
Bhanu did his masters from Sikkim Central University on altitudinal variation in lizards. As part of his PhD, he is trying to understand the evolution of desiccation tolerance in insects.
PhD student (Aug 2023 - )
Shreya did her M.Sc in Zoology from Visva-bharati University with specialisation in ecology. She has done an internship in Zoological survey of India. She will be working on oviposition preference of butterfly.
PhD student (Aug 2024 - )
Sharafudheen completed his Masters in Zoology from the University of Kerala. He is interested in the chemical ecology of insect-plant interactions and will be studying the sequestration of secondary metabolites by caterpillars for his doctoral thesis.
PhD student (Aug 2025 - )
Malavika completed her Masters in Ecology and Environmental Sciences from Pondicherry University. She is broadly interested in community ecology and her PhD will focus on the competitive interactions between different species of herbivorous insects on shared host plants.
Masters student (Aug 2025 - )
Rugma is a BS-MS student at IISER-TVM. Her thesis work focuses on evolution of butterfly-hostplant interaction.
Masters student (Aug 2025 - )
Prajna Bandyopadhyay is a BS-MS Biology major student at IISER Berhampur, currently pursuing her Master’s thesis at IISER Thiruvananthapuram. Her research investigates whether male spermatophore size influences female reproductive output in the common castor butterfly.
From left: Nikhil, Kushankur, Anaswar, Bhanu, Shreya, Indukala, Ullasa, Akshaya, Akhil, Ullasa. Lab trip to Vagamon, Apr 2024.
From left: Bhanu, Indukala, Ullasa, Arsha, Anaswara, Sneha, Tarun, Simran and Akhil. Lab trip to Meghamalai, Apr 2023.
From left: Balu, Jose, Ullasa, Sumayya, Manas, Sraman, Birupaksha, Harshad, Tarun and Vedant. Lab trip to Vagamon, Dec 2018.
From bottom row to top. First file from Right: Ullasa, Freerk, Harshad, Gopal. Second file: Ravi, Mruganka (red), Sridhar, Srikanta Third File: Sora (blue), Sumayya, Avantika, Ranjit. May 2016.
Ranjit, Sumayya, Ullasa, Ritwika and
Harshad.
Kovalam, April 2014.
