Vinod K. Singh is the founder director of IISER Bhopal, on lien from IIT Kanpur. He is a member of Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India (SAC-PM). He is fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences. Singh's major research contributions are in the areas of enantioselective reactions and total synthesis. His group has designed and developed several new chiral ligands and has achieved total synthesis of natural products using chiron approach. He was born on September 9, 1959 in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, India. He had his early education from a primary school in his village area. He passed high school and intermediate from Wesley Inter College and B.Sc. from D. A. V College, both in Azamgarh. He did M.Sc. (Chemistry) from B.H.U in 1980 and Ph.D. at Malti-Chem Research Center Nandesari, Baroda.

Professor Singh's research work falls in the area of synthetic organic chemistry, more specifically, asymmetric synthesis. He has developed several new chiral ligands/catalysts for enantioselective reactions. He has accomplished total synthesis of several bioactive natural products. Professor Singh's work has been recognized in the form of several awards and honors such as Distinguished Alumnus Award by BHU (2012), Goyal Award (2011), Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar prize (2004), and Swarnajayanti Fellowship Award (1998), among others. In addition, he has been elected as a Fellow of all the important academies of the country. He has been honored with Padma Shri (2014), a civilian award by the Government of India.