Professor Ponnadurai Ramasami was appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Academia) of the University of Mauritius in April 2026. He holds a PhD in Chemistry and has over 26 years of experience in teaching, research and university administration. His research focuses on the use of computational methods to solve chemistry and interdisciplinary problems. He has published 285 peer-reviewed research papers and edited several books. He was awarded the best Mauritian Scientists in 2016 and since 2022, he holds a UNESCO Chair in Computational chemistry. He is a Visiting Professor with the University of Johannesburg and he is one of the associate editors of the Journal of Molecular Modeling published by Springer. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the African Academy of Sciences. He was a Scientific Advisory Board member of the Organisation of the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Currently, he is the Vice-Chair of the International Basic Sciences Programme Scientific Advisory Board of UNESCO, he is a Council member of the Mauritius Institute of Education and he serves on academic boards of universities.