Faculty at School of Humanities and Social Sciences

Sunil Bajpai

Sunil Bajpai

Distinguished Professor (Visiting)

School of Humanities & Social Sciences


Contact Information

Paleontology, Evolution, Geology, Paleobiogeography, Paleoclimatology, Paleoecology

  • Ph.D (Panjab University, Chandigarh, 1990)

  • Director, Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences (BSIP), Lucknow (autonomous institute under DST, Govt. of India)
  • 2021-2024: Institute Chair Professor, IIT Roorkee
  • 2008- continues: Senior Professor (HAG), Department of Earth Sciences, IIT Roorkee
  • 1996-2008: Assistant Professor/Associate Professor, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Roorkee/IIT Roorkee

  • J.C. Bose Grant (formerly J.C. Bose Fellowship)
  • Fellow, Indian Academy of Sciences (F.A.Sc.)
  • Fellow, National Academy of Sciences (F.N.A.Sc.)
  • National Geoscience Award (Ministry of Mines, Government of India)
  • National Award for Excellence in Geoscience & Technology (Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India)

  • Chairman, Research Advisory Committee (RAC), Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun (2025–ongoing)
  • Institute Chair Professor, IIT Roorkee (2021-2024)
  • INSA Scientists’ Exchange Fellowship (Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea (2011)
  • Post-doctoral Fellowship, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, USA (2007)
  • Post-doctoral Fellowship, University College London, UK (2007)
  • JSPS Post-doctoral Fellowship (Kitakyushu Museum of Natural History, Kitasyushu, Japan (2004)
  • CNRS Professor Invitee (National Museum of Natural History, Paris, France (2002)
  • Post-doctoral Fellowship, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, USA (1994)
  • Commonwealth post-doctoral Fellowship, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK (1999)

Publications: ~160

Selected publications
  1. Datta, and Bajpai, S. (2025). Fossil snakes from the Eocene of India: new material with comments on phylogenetic relations and biogeographic and palaeoecological implications. Journal of Paleontology, 1-27, doi: org/10.1017/jpa.2025.10101
  2. Bajpai, S., Rautela, A., Yadav, R. & Wilson Mantilla, G.P. (2024). The first eutriconodontan mammal from the Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, doi: 10.1080/02724634.2024.2312234
  3. Datta & Bajpai, S. (2024). Largest known madtsoiid snake from warm Eocene period of India suggests intercontinental Gondwana dispersal. Scientific Reports, doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-58377-0
  4. Rautela, & Bajpai, S. (2023). Gujaratia indica, the oldest artiodactyl (Mammalia) from South Asia: new dental material and phylogenetic relationships. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 21:1, 2267553, doi: 10.1080/14772019.2023.2267553
  1. Bajpai, S., Datta, D., Pandey, P., Ghosh, T., Kumar, K. & Bhattacharya, D. (2023). Fossils of the oldest diplodocoid dinosaur suggest India was a major centre for neosauropod Scientific Reports, 13:12680. doi:10.1038/s41598-023-39759-2
  2. Yadav, R. Bajpai, S., Maurya, A.S. & Cernansky, A. (2023). The first potential cordyliform (Squamata, Scincoidea) from India (uppermost Cretaceous-lowermost Paleocene): An African lizard clade brings possible implications for Indo-Madagascar biogeographic links. Cretaceous Research. 150: 105606. doi: 1016/j.cretres.2023.105606
  3. Bajpai, S. & Kapur, V. (2020). India’s geodynamic evolution during the Eocene: perspective on the origin and early evolution of modern mammal orders. Episodes, 43(1):489-497.
  4. Chatterjee, , Scotese, C. & Bajpai, S. (2017). The restless Indian plate and its epic voyage from Gondwana to Asia: its tectonic, paleoclimatic and paleobiogeographic evolution. Geological Society of America, Special Paper 529, 1-147.
  5. Keller, Adatte, T., Pardo, A., Bajpai, S., Khosla, A. & Samant, B. (2010). Cretaceous extinctions: Evidence overlooked. Science, 328: 974-975.
  6. Bajpai, S., Kay, F., Williams, B. A., Das, D. P., Kapur, V. V. & Tiwari, B. N. (2008). The oldest Asian record of Anthropoidea. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 105(32): 11093-11098.
  7. Thewissen, G. M., Cooper, L. N., Clementz, M. T., Bajpai, S. & Tiwari, B. N. (2007). Whales originated from aquatic artiodactyls in the Eocene epoch of India. Nature, 450(20): 1190-1194.
  8. Nummela, , Thewissen, J. G. M., Bajpai, S., Hussain, S.T. & Kumar, K. (2004). Eocene evolution of whale hearing. Nature, 430: 776 – 778.
  9. Spoor, F., Bajpai, S., Hussain, S.T., Kumar, K. & Thewissen, J.G.M. (2002). Vestibular evidence for the evolution of aquatic behaviour in early Nature, 417: 163-166.
  10. Bajpai, S. & Gingerich, D. (1998). A new Eocene cetacean from India and the time of origin of whales. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 95: 15464-15468.
  11. Thewissen, G.M., Roe, L.J., Neil, J.R.O'., Hussain, S.T., Sahni, A. & Bajpai, S. (1996). Evolution of cetacean osmoregulation. Nature, 381: 379-380.

Invited lectures: IISER Pune; IISER Kolkata; NISER Bhubaneshwar; IIG Mumbai; Geological Survey of India Lucknow; Zoological Survey of India, Kolakata; Geological Society of India, Bangalore; Zoological Survey of India Kolkata; NGRI Hyderabad; Paleontological Society of India, NIO, Goa; MR Sahni memorial lectures at Lucknow and Panjab universities; International Fossil Day lectures, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun, Dibrugarh University; Numerous DST’s INSPIRE lectures; Many keynote addresses at colloquia and seminars/conferences

Current sponsored Research Projects: A-NRF, Ministry of Earth Sciences

Current editorial responsibilities
  • Journal of Asian Earth Sciences
  • Journal of Asian Earth Sciences X
  • Current Science