Dr Rasik Ravindra, a professional geologist with active interest in geomorphology and glaciology, is currently the Secretary General of 36^th International Geological Congress, an autonomous Society under Ministry of Mines and Ministry of Earth Sciences.

He held the position of the Director of NCAOR (National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research, now known as NCPOR (National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research)) between January 2006 and August 2012,  after relinquishing the post of Deputy Director General in Geological Survey of India, an organization that he served from 1971 to 2005.

Dr Ravindra undertook detailed geo-hydrological studies of Ganga-Yamuna doab, traversing the terrain from Meerut to Etawah in 1969-70. He was a member of the INSA Expedition to study the Alaknanda floods of 1970, which took him up to deep interior of Alaknanda and Bhagirathi basins.

He participated in Indian Expedition to Antarctica in 1987-88 for the first time and subsequently led Ninth Antarctic Expedition in 1989-91, visiting the icy continent again in 1996-97, 2003-04, 2007 and 2009. In 2010, he led the First Indian Expedition to South Pole that saw an eight member team of scientists on South Pole. He was Leader of the Environmental Task Force in XVI Expedition. He led the Team constituted for selecting the site of the third Indian Station in XXIII Expedition and led the First Indian Arctic Expedition in 2008, that led to establishment of Bharati and Himadri in Antarctic and Arctic, respectively.He was Chairman of the DST constituted Program Monitoring Committee on “Dynamics of Himalayan Glaciers from 2007 to 2012 and was appointed Chair, Panikkar Professor in October 2012 by Ministry of Earth Sciences.  He initiated a national program of integrated studies of Himalayan Glaciers under Ministry of Earth Sciences in 2013.

He was elected to the UN Commission on Limits of Continental Shelf for 2014-2017 Term and was Vice Chair of sub commissions constituted by the Commission to consider the recommendations on claims of three State parties in Extended Continental shelf.

He is co- editor of three Books published by Springer  and one Book published by Geol. Soc. of London and has more than 75 research publications in national and international peer reviewed journals three Books.

He has received National Award for Polar Sciences and Cryosphere, 2013, National Mineral Award-1990, Antarctic Award-2002, H.N. Siddiqui Gold Medal from IGU in 2011, Prof Prem Bahadur Verma Memorial Lecture, Rajiv Gandhi Excellence Award-2011. Life Time Achievement award and Prof R C Mishra Gold Medal from Palaeontological Society of India, Prof W D West Oratory Award from Dr Hari Singh Gaur University, Sagar  and SCAR Medal for international coordination in Antarctica.