Dr. Prashanth Suresh Kumar

Associate Director, PhD Program, Plaksha University



Area of Expertise

Water Technology


Research Interests

  • Wastewater treatment
  • Wastewater effluent polishing
  • Reversible adsorption
  • Nutrient recovery from wastewater
  • Circular economy in water sector

Education

  • Ph.D. in Environmental Biotechnology, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands

Past Associations

  • Project Manager Educations Program, Wetsus, European Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Water Technology, The Netherlands
  • Research Associate, Department of Biotechnology, Lund University, Sweden 

Dr. Prashanth Suresh Kumar is passionate about reimagining higher education and research in India. He had a decade long stint in Europe before joining Plaksha. He did his PhD from the Delft University of technology in the Netherlands, in the field of water technology & wastewater treatment. His PhD project was part of a very translational research atmosphere.  The technology developed during his research was successfully piloted in Sweden and Canada to combat the challenge of harmful algae blooms. Post his PhD, he was involved in EU projects related to water technology and in science projects with high school students in the Netherlands, an activity he thoroughly enjoyed. 

At Plaksha, Prashanth is keen to innovate on the teaching and research aspects involved in the technology education space. He likes to experiment with approaches like teaching through storytelling, flipped classrooms and project-based learning. In terms of research, his focus is to get active engagement of industries and academia to lead to translational research projects. He is leading the initiative for Plaksha’s Centre for Water Security, a research Centre aimed to solve the grand challenges in the water sector in India. 

Besides academia, Prashanth likes to actively engage with students in extracurricular activities like sports and music. He has travelled to 50 countries so far, and is ever eager to share and learn more about different cultures. He especially enjoys interacting with students regarding fitness and endurance, and is always open for an informal conversation on just about anything related to student life.