Dr Sangeeta Sonak is a marine biologist. Currently she is the Director of a non-governmental research organization, Centre for Environment and Natural Resource management, which aims at promoting activities relating to protection of environment. She has more than 20 years of research experience of guiding research teams and co-ordinating research projects from various highly reputed national and international organizations. She has been awarded prestigious international fellowships such as Fulbright Scholarship under Fulbright-Nehru Environmental Leadership Program (FNELP) at Virginia Tech Institute, U.S.A., United States-India Educational Foundation (USIEF) alumni award, JSPS Fellowship for Senior Scientist by the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), Erasmus Mundus Fellowship for Visiting Faculty to teach and conduct research at three European Universities by the European Commission. She has been awarded Shakti Prerana Puraskar by Vidnyan Parishad, India in March2014 in recognition of ongoing commitment and dedicated service to environmental sciences, for innovative research at the frontiers of environmental science and for exceptional potential to shape the future through intellectual and inspired leadership. She has edited a special issue of an Elsevier Journal ‘Journal of Environmental Management’, authored four books, has research publications in international peer-reviewed journals. Currently she is dedicated to work on coastal ecosystems under a project titled ‘Seas and shores around us’.