Editorial Board Member
Dr. Alka Rani,
https://iiss.res.in/downloads/scientist_profile/AlkaRani.pdf
Institutional email ID: alka.rani1@icar.org.in
Scientist, ICAR – Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal - 462 038
Editorial Board Member
Dr. Alka Rani,
https://iiss.res.in/downloads/scientist_profile/AlkaRani.pdf
Institutional email ID: alka.rani1@icar.org.in
Scientist, ICAR – Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal - 462 038
Dr. Alka Rani is serving as a Scientist (Soil Sciences) in the Division of Soil Physics at ICAR–Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal, India. She earned her Ph.D. (2023) in Agricultural Physics from ICAR–Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, with research focused on agricultural drought monitoring and early warning in India using meteorological and remote sensing datasets. Her doctoral research culminated in developing the innovative “Multivariate Hierarchical Agricultural Drought Index (MHADI),” which enables high-resolution monitoring of agricultural drought across India through integration of multi-source remote sensing datasets. She was conferred the Dr. Shibendu Shankar Ray Best Doctoral Thesis Award and Dr. P.D. Mistry Award for Best Ph.D. Thesis, along with the prestigious CSIR–UGC Junior Research Fellowship. She completed her M.Sc. (2016) in Agricultural Physics from the same institute with ICAR Junior Research Fellowship, and B.Sc. (Hons.) Agriculture (2014) from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, achieving Gold Medal distinction along with multiple academic honours. Her research expertise includes soil physics, conservation agriculture, crop simulation modelling, and applications of remote sensing in agriculture. She is proficient in the application of machine learning and geospatial analytics for soil salinity mapping and agricultural drought assessment. Her work has substantially advanced the understanding of long-term spatio-temporal soil moisture dynamics across diverse agro-ecological regions of India and contributed to the development of composite and multivariate drought indices for operational agricultural drought monitoring. She has authored several peer-reviewed research articles in reputed international journals, along with review papers, books, and book chapters, receiving over 490 citations. She is an active member of professional societies, including the Indian Society of Soil Science, Indian Society of Agrophysics, Association of Agrometeorologists, and Indian Society of Remote Sensing. Her work contributes towards digital agriculture, climate-resilient farming, and sustainable soil resource management in India.