Department of Zoology

Year of Establishment: 1941

The study of Zoology in Ravenshaw College began in the Department of Biology in 1941. At the time the Department was being headed by Dr. Parasuram Misra. In 1946, Zoology was introduced as a main optional subject in B.Sc. as both pass and honours. PG in Zoology was first started in 1960 under Utkal University and operated from the present campus of Ravenshaw University till 1973. Independent PG teaching was again initiated in the Department of Zoology affiliated to Utkal University in the year 1981. The Department finally became autonomous in 1989. M. Phil and Ph. D. programmes were introduced in 1992. The Department offers special papers at M.Sc. (Zoology) level in Neural and Behavioural Biology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Aquatic Biology and Toxicology. The research focus of the faculty is diverse, and covers areas such as cell and molecular biology, cancer biology, developmental biology, microbiology, biochemistry, computational biology, environmental biology and ecotoxicology. Several faculty also hold prestigious national fellowships and research grants from DST, UGC, CSIR, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE-BRNS), Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF), and ISRO-SAC, Government of India and Science and Technology Department and Biodiversity Board of Government of Odisha. The Department is also recognized by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India under Fund for Improvement of Science and Technology (FIST) scheme. There are also extensive intradepartmental, interdepartmental, as well as international collaborations, which allows for a truly interdisciplinary research environment. The department has several Instrumentation Facilities such as Animal Cell Culture, microbial Culture and Microscope facility. The Department has 20 sanctioned positions for core faculty. The Department holds scientific colloquiums and public talks, outreach activities and workshops to inculcate scientific temper among citizens. The students of the Department have passed various national level tests such as JAM, TIFR, GATE, CSIR-UGC NET, UGC NET/JRF and ICMR.