I completed my MSc in Tropical marine biology from the James Cook University, Australia in 2009. Since then, I have been working with NCF in the Lakshadweep archipelago, studying the effects of repeated climate-change disturbances on the distribution of structure-dependent reef fish. I am interested in behavioural ecology (foraging and mating behaviours), ecomorphology and functional ecology of reef fish, particularly set within the context of rapid human-induced environmental change (HIREC).

Currently, I am pursuing a PhD with NCF and Manipal University, Karnataka. For my PhD I am studying the consequences of mass-bleaching driven rapid reef degradation, on groupers (Family: Epinephelidae), a functionally important, benthic piscivore guild. A part of my study looks at plasticity in foraging behaviour, which allows some grouper species to successfully survive in degraded habitats and tracks the physiological and demographic consequences of persisting in these degraded reefs. I am also study the mating system of  a high-density, squaretail grouper spawning aggregation and the impact of fishing on this unique system .