Dr. D.Narasimhan, one of the country’s top most taxonomists and specialist in Biodiversity, Taxonomy, Ethnobotany, Medicinal Plants and Plant Anatomy. He has been teaching UG & PG for about 25 years and guided 19 M. Phil and 12 Ph. D Scholars in Taxonomy, Conservation Biology, Medicinal Plants and Ethnobotany. Two of the theses has been adjudged as the best Thesis in Botany submitted to the University of Madras and was awarded Dr.R. Kalyanasundaram Memorial Prize. Published 50 papers in refereed journals. Co- Edited a Symposium Volume Titled “Plant Diversity, Human Welfare and Conservation”.
Co-authored two books titled ” Common trees of Chennai, A photo identification guide book” published by Urban Forestry Division, Tamil Nadu Forest Department, Chennai and “Ethnobotany The Kondh, Poraja, Gadaba and Bonda of the Koraput region of Odisha, India” published by D.K. Printworld (P) Ltd., New Delhi.
He has carried out 10 projects as Principal – Investigator and Co – Investigator funded by various agencies such as UGC, Department of Biotechnology, Tamil Nadu Forest Department, Foundation for Revitalization of Local Health Traditions (FRLHT), Ministry of Environment and Forests and Shastri – Indo Canadian Institute.
He has made unique contributions such as developing a databases on Angiosperms of Tamil Nadu and Invasive Alien Species of Tamil Nadu, for the Department of Environment, Government of Tamil Nadu hosted on the website of ENVIS. Resource person in the fields of Taxonomy, Medicinal Plants, Ethnobotany and IPR and Environment and delivered lectures in Universities, Colleges and for Voluntary Organizations. He was awarded Dr. V.V. Sivarajan Gold medal given for Taxonomists by Indian Association for Angiosperm Taxonomy (IAAT) for the year 2008-2009.
He is currently a Member, Expert Committee on Access and Benefit Sharing, National Biodiversity Authority (from 2011), Member, Tamil Nadu State Biodiversity Board (from June 2012). State Board for Wildlife, Tamil Nadu (from June 2016) and Member of the advisory committee for the ENVIS node on Conservation of Ecological Heritage and Sacred Sites – 2004. Previously, he has been a Member of Research Advisory Council, Tamil Nadu Forest Department from June 2012, Member, Expert Committee on Medicinal Plants, National Biodiversity Authority 2013 -2015, Member, Expert Committee on Normally Traded Commodities, National Biodiversity Authority 2014 -2015.
He is part of TSP’s team on Capacity Building for Higher Education Institutions in the Sciences and leads TSP’s programmes on, ‘Biodiversity Based Society” as well as TSP’s planned online courses for Science Teachers in Schools.