Ecologist | Researches species interactions in the wild | Sometimes in the lab | Mostly in the head #NewPI @GITAMUniversity | Past @CES_IISc @HebrewU | #scicomm

Bangalore, India
Joined November 2011
Viraj Torsekar | विराज तोरसेकर retweeted
Happy to share our review, where we synthesise the biogeographic and evolutionary history, distribution patterns, anthropogenic threats, and conservation strategies for biodiversity in the Western Ghats @NatRevBiodiv
Happy to share this review of Western Ghats Biodiversity Hotspot rdcu.be/75SPRnBk9Pxa
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Viraj Torsekar | विराज तोरसेकर retweeted
Couldn’t be prouder to introduce Dr Abhishek Gopal @abhitims! The first student to graduate from the lab! He studied evolutionary and climatic drivers of species richness, composition and assembly in woody plants in the Western Ghats. More about the work: sites.google.com/view/jahnav…
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Viraj Torsekar | विराज तोरसेकर retweeted
I am happy to be on the founding editorial board of a new ecology journal: Systems Ecology The journal is free to read and free to publish, with NO article processing charges. systems-ecology.org/index.ph… The journal has a wonderful editorial board: systems-ecology.org/index.ph…
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Viraj Torsekar | विराज तोरसेकर retweeted
bribes.fyi/ - report bribes demanded from you.
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Viraj Torsekar | विराज तोरसेकर retweeted
We're hiring a Project Assistant to study diversification & trait evolution in ants! Location: GITAM University, Visakhapatnam Deadline: August 2nd Details and application form: aparnalajmi.weebly.com/join.… #Evolution #ResearchJobs #Entomology
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Viraj Torsekar | विराज तोरसेकर retweeted
🚨New paper🚨 For decades, it was widely assumed tropical species would be hit hardest by #ClimateChange. Turns out climate-related local #extinctions are already more frequent among temperate species. Read our new study @NatureClimate doi.org/10.1038/s41558-026-0… #BiodiversityLoss🌡️
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🚨 WE’RE HIRING! 🚨 Fascinated by how animals navigate diet choices under the threat of predators & competitors? 🦗🕷️ We have 2 open positions (1 JRF & 1 Field Assistant) in our lab at @GITAMUniversity, Visakhapatnam, funded by @ANRFIndia! Details below 🧵👇
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🌲 Field Worker: Love the outdoors? Help us manage field experiments, insect collections, and monitoring. A BSc in Life Sciences/Env Science is required. Prior field ecology experience and high motivation for working with animals is a big plus! 🥾🕸️
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⏳ Deadline: 19 June 2026 📧 Apply: Send your CV & brief cover letter to [email protected] 📍 GITAM University, Visakhapatnam Visit torsekar.in/ to learn more about our lab. Please RT/share with your networks! 🙏 #EcologyJobs #PhD #JRF #FieldEcology
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Viraj Torsekar | विराज तोरसेकर retweeted
Introducing the Samvardhan Biodiversity and Conservation Fellowship — a 12-month Fellowship co-curated by Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies and Dasra, and seed funded by @RNP_Foundation, built to support the next generation of conservation leaders across India, especially those from grassroots communities and underrepresented regions. Too many passionate conservationists leave the field not because they lose interest, but because the system doesn't support them. The Samvardhan Fellowship is here to change that. What the fellowship offers: - A seed grant of ₹3 lakh for practice-led conservation work - Mentorship from conservation experts throughout the year - Peer learning through cohort sessions, knowledge workshops, and community building Who can apply: - Early-career conservation researchers and practitioners under 35, engaged in public-interest conservation — whether in research, fieldwork, or community work. - Applicants from diverse educational backgrounds and non-elite institutions are strongly encouraged. _(Note: PhD students are not eligible.)_ Applications are open now! Visit samvardhan.dasra.org to apply.
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Viraj Torsekar | विराज तोरसेकर retweeted
Do apply if you are interested in studying Ecology, Evolution, and Diversity of Fireflies in the Western Ghats
Applications are open for one JRF position under a Max Planck Society-funded project at BITS Pilani Hyderabad Campus. 🪲 Ecology, Evolution, and Diversity of Fireflies in the Western Ghats 📅 Deadline: 1 July 2026 Application procedure in comment @Jahnavijoshi2 @sriram_p_murali
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Viraj Torsekar | विराज तोरसेकर retweeted
India’s extraordinary biodiversity — from alpine meadows to coral reefs — needs long-term field science now more than ever. Building a national network of modern ecological field stations is critical for understanding climate change, strengthening conservation, and shaping evidence-based policy for the future. It is also time to move beyond individual-centric science towards collaborative, long-term, institution-driven ecological research. @somanathan_hema @minivets @moefcc @wii_india @rameshpandeyifs @SPYadavIFS @ntca_india @IBCA_official @bhlab_india journals.biologists.com/jeb/…
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Viraj Torsekar | विराज तोरसेकर retweeted
IMSc announces a workshop on "Behavior, Evolution, Emergence" (BEE'26) during 8-20 June, on quantitative methods for understanding collective dynamics of biological & social complex systems and their evolution. For details and application: imsc.res.in/~sitabhra/meetin…
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Viraj Torsekar | विराज तोरसेकर retweeted
Important announcement!!!🫵💥💫 Would you have a tooth pulled if it helped your chances to get an important grant funded? Absurd question (obviously), but the situation right now is so bad funding-wise, that I bet some of you actually considered it for a second… Well, don’t get desperate - we created a new tool that might help! (keep your teeth!) I’m excited to announce that as of today we are officially releasing “QED for Grants” for everyone. What started off as an extension of our existing paper review platform, grew in the last few months to an entirely new design. We’ve been working like crazy on this, and although we have more things we want to add in the (very near) future, we decided to release our AI for grants NOW, earlier than planned. It’s not perfect, no AI is, but for the first time, when I run my own grants through @qedscience, I feel it gets the research, finds real problems, and gives me very useful feedback that I can implement before submission. It’s like sending it to 20 scientists from my domain, knowing they’ll agree to dedicate their entire week to carefully read and comment on every line. It’s very important to write your own grants yourself, it makes you think hard and you learn a lot from doing it, and q.e.d’s system is designed to preserve these positive aspects and augment them - you get feedback on your own writing, we don’t write for you!! But at the same time, a typical PI spends many months every year writing proposals and sadly only a tiny fraction gets funded, even if the ideas are good. When you are forced to submit an unreasonable amount of grants the quality of the writing drops, and rejection rates increase. Not because the essence is bad. It’s simply too competitive right now (the cuts made it so much worse) and if your proposal is not super clear and tight, and if it’s not a perfect fit for the grant you’re submitting, you’re doomed. Our grant solution is not an authoring, text-generating tool. It gives you constructive feedback on your writing (it comments on the deep things, not grammar and typos). It’s meant to help you with the questions that torment you late at night (“is this a good fit?”, “Is this novel enough?”, “Did I miss something?”). Tens of thousands of you already use q.e.d to improve your manuscripts and critically read papers, we built the grant tool by the same principles (you’ll identify many of the features that you told us you like). We’ve processed thousands of proposals, learned where things fail, where reviewers get stuck, why good ideas come out weak. We interviewed hundreds of scientists, and also experts who work in funding agencies and university research authorities, and implemented their feedback (we’re constantly looking for more feedback). Our AI is always happy to give you constructive (and polite!) critique, and it will go through your grant line-by-line, forcing you to improve clarity, flag weak points, and push the whole thing to a higher standard. We study, in scale, what gets funded and what doesn’t, and what is the perfect fit for each type of grant. So please, use it, pressure-test it, tell us where it fails, and together we’ll improve it every day to put you in the best position for actually testing your ideas in the real world. As always with q.e.d, the system is completely secured and private, and we are NOT training on your data (see the FAQ on our website). Please like, retweet, and share with your favorite colleagues! (link to the platform below in the thread👇)
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Viraj Torsekar | विराज तोरसेकर retweeted
Another milestone for GITAM! 3 ANRF research grants - ₹59.4L for crop resilience, ₹55L for TB drug resistance, and ₹72L for pollinator health. Driving impactful research across life sciences. #GITAM #ANRF #ResearchGrant #LifeSciences
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Viraj Torsekar | विराज तोरसेकर retweeted
Postdoc opportuity: We @lab_behavioural are happy to host a PDF interested in overlapping/complementary research on behavioural ecology/ bioacoustics/ biodiversity: (manjarijain.net/fortytwo/) Please apply if interested: IISER M PDF: iisermohali.ac.in/project-po… @IndiaBioscience RT
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Viraj Torsekar | विराज तोरसेकर retweeted
#GITAM is proud to share that Dr. Viraj R. Torsekar, a researcher in Life Sciences at GITAM, has been awarded a ₹68L PM Early Career Research Grant from ANRF. Shivam Shinde, a student researcher, has received a $1500 Student Research Grant from the Animal Behavior Society.
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