Dr. M. Sudhakar, Scientist-G, Ministry of Earth Sciences, New Delhi, has taken charge as the Director, CMLRE. Dr. Sudhakar obtained Ph.D from Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad and a Master’s degree in Law of the Sea and Marine Policy in 1990 from the London School of Economics & Political Science, UK as a British Council Fellow. Dr Sudhakar served two premier research institutions of the country -- National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) & National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR) in Goa and occupied various positions such as project leader and scientist in various grades. He is a veteran Oceanographer with 33 years of professional experience, spent more than 1500 days at sea on-board research vessels, as leader of expeditions to Southern Ocean and Antarctica.
Dr. Sudhakar represented India at the Preparatory Commission for the United Nations Law of the Sea (PrepCom) and involved in the deliberations for allocation of Pioneer Area of Polymetallic Nodules in Indian Ocean to India in 1987. Dr. Sudhakar is an Elected Member of the Legal & Technical Commission (LTC) of the International Seabed Authority (ISBA) for the term 2007-2011 and recently elected to the 2nd term (2012-16). He is also a member of Scientific Committee on Ocean Research (SCOR), ICSU, serving for second term until 2014. He was a visiting scientist to the Aachen University of Technology, Germany; a resource person of the International Ocean Institute, Malta; Member, National Steering Committee for Science and Astronomy Olympiads and Member, Scientific Committee, International Geological Congress (2020 to be held in India). He was the “Commissioner General” of Govt. of India for the Yeosu (World) Expo 2012 held in Republic of Korea.
He is an Elected Fellow of various national and international organizations. He is a recognized guide and supervisor of Goa and Mangalore Universities in fields of Marine Sciences and Geoinformatics and has been the supervisor of many Ph. D and Post-graduate students for their thesis/project works. Dr. Sudhakar served in many national committees and is presently serving many departmental and national committees. He published over 60 research papers in referred International/National Journals, books and equal numbers presented in conferences and seminars. He has been a referee of scientific journals and contributed a special section on India’s Contribution to Southern Ocean in Current Science Journal as Guest Editor.
