INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH STAR AWARD
Professor
Dr. Sagarika Parida is a Professor in the Department of Botany, School of Applied Sciences, at Centurion University of Technology and Management, Bhubaneswar. She holds a Master of Science and a Ph.D. in Botany from Utkal University, and has spent more than nineteen years teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students, including at the Regional Institute of Education (NCERT) and KISS University, Bhubaneswar, alongside over seventeen years of active research. Her research career began as a scholar at the National Rice Research Institute, Cuttack, and as a Senior Research Fellow in Entomology at OUAT, Bhubaneswar, where she studied plant-pest and disease interactions. Postdoctoral work at CSIR-IMMT then deepened her expertise in pharmacognosy and natural-product chemistry. Her scientific interests span microbiology, phytopathology, integrated pest and disease management, ethnomedicine and the Indian Knowledge System, herbal drug standardization, and in-silico drug design against multidrug-resistant pathogens which combines rigorous laboratory analysis, including isolation and characterization of microorganisms and pathogens, with practical, field-based disease and pest management strategies. A defining achievement of her postdoctoral tenure was authoring fourteen monographs for The Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India (Part II, Volumes I and III), prepared for India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. She has published over 85 journal articles and 14 book chapters, edited three books, and contributed numerous popular science articles, reflecting a sustained commitment to both specialist and public scientific communication. Her contributions have been widely recognized, including the Distinguished Researcher Award at the Provost’s Annual Research Conclave 2024, the IDMA ACG-SCITECH Best Research Paper Award in 2023 and 2024 in the discipline of Natural Products, and a Best Research Paper Award at the international conference IPSBBCP 2024. She has mentored four Ph. D. scholars to the successful completion of their doctoral degrees. Beyond conventional research, she developed the NSQC-approved skill course “Topiary Garden Artist” and contributed video lectures to Utkal University’s e-Lecture portal, extending her academic reach well beyond the laboratory and classroom. Dr. Parida’s career reflects a coherent scientific identity rooted in plant health, microbial science, and traditional medicinal knowledge, sustained by a consistent commitment to evidence-based, interdisciplinary inquiry.