Debasis Banerjee is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee. He graduated with M.Sc. degree in Organic Chemistry from Banaras Hindu University and obtained Ph.D. in Organic chemistry from Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur in 2011 under the guidance of Prof. M. L. N. Rao. Thereafter he moved to Leibniz Institute for Catalysis (LIKAT), Germany for a postdoctoral position with Prof. Matthias Beller (2011-14) and subsequently held another postdoctoral position (2014-2015) at the Stockholm University, Sweden with Prof. Jan-Erling Bäckvall. In March 2015 he started his independent career as an Assistant Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, from 2015 to 2020 and as an Associate Professor from 2020 to 2025. Currently he is a Professor from March 2025 at the same institute.
His research interests include design and synthesis of sustainable catalysts, electro organic synthesis, switchable-catalysis, enantioselective dual-catalysis, activation of small molecules, activation and functionalization of sp3 C-H bond and heterogeneous catalysis for application towards industrial valuable products (Bio-polymer degradation, dye-degradation, biofuel from CO2 and lignocellulose biomass). He has delivered numerous invited and keynote lectures at leading National and International Institutions, where he has shared his work on homogeneous non-precious metal catalysis, electrocatalysis, and drug discovery.
He is a recipient of SERB-Early Career Research Award (2016), DAE-Young Scientist Research Award (YSRA-2016) and winner of Evonik Call for Research Proposal (ECRP-2016) Award by Evonik Industries GMBH, Germany. He is a recipient of the Bronze Medal (2023) from the Chemical Research Society of India (CRSI). He has also been awarded the highly prestigious Humboldt Research Fellowship from 2024-2026.
At IIT Roorkee, he has built a strong reputation as a thoughtful and committed mentor, nurturing and guiding many Ph.D., and M.Sc. students through their academic and research careers. Many of his former students are now established researchers at leading international institutions, with one currently serving as a Professor at IIT Patna.
