Dr Rasik Ravindra held the position of the Director of NCAOR between January 2006 and August 2012 after relinquishing the post of Deputy Director General in Geological Survey of India, an organization that he served from 1971 to 2005.

A veteran Antarctican, he participated in Indian Expedition to Antarctica in 1987-88 for the first time and subsequently led Ninth Antarctic Expedition in 1989-91, visiting the icy continent again in 1996-97, 2003-04, 2007 and 2009 in various capacities for specific assignments, contributing to different facets of Antarctic science, logistics and policy of this mission. In 2010, he led the First Indian Expedition to South Pole that saw an eight member team of scientists on South Pole, opening new grounds for research by Indian scientists in the deep interior areas of Antarctica. He was Leader of the Environmental Task Force in XVI Expedition. He led the Team constituted for selecting the site of the third Indian Station in XXIII Expedition and led the First Indian Arctic Expedition in 2008, that led to establishment of Bharati and Himadri in Antarctic and Arctic, respectively.

He was Chairman of the DST constituted Program Monitoring Committee on “Dynamics of Himalayan Glaciers from 2007 to 2012 and was appointed Chair, Panikkar Professor in October 2012 by Ministry of Earth Sciences. He has been elected to the UN Commission on Limits of Continental Shelf for 2014-2017 Term.

He has held the prestigious positions of Vice President of SCAR during 2008-2012, Vice Chair of COMNAP (2008-2011), Chairman of the Asian Forum on Polar Sciences (2010-1012), First Council Member from India to International Arctic Science Committee and the Chair of INSA-SCAR National Committee for 2008- 12 and 2012-15.

He has received National Award for Polar Sciences and Cryosphere, 2013, National Mineral Award-1990, Antarctic Award-2002, H.N. Siddiqui Gold Medal from IGU in 2011, Prof Prem Bahadur Verma Memorial Lecture and Rajiv Gandhi Excellence Award-2011.