Ananya Ashok

Alumni and Former Staff

​Ph.D. Student

Social Profile:

Research Interests

My research studies the impacts of pollution with a particular emphasis on persistent pollutants from oil on coastal-marine environments and their biota. By combining field studies and experiments, I decipher past trends in oil contamination, develop new analytical methods to trace oil pollution and study the effects of pollutants on key phytoplankton species. Further aims of my research are to characterize adaptation of phytoplankton to oil contamination in their environments, and experimentally determine how complex interactions between different environmental stressors such as warming and pollution could impact this. 

Selected Publications

  • Accumulation of 13C-labelled phenanthrene in phytoplankton and transfer to corals resolved using cavity ring-down s... 
    A. Ashok, S. Kottuparambil, L. Høj, A.P. Negri, C.M. Duarte, S. Agustí
    Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 196, (2020)
  • Accelerated burial of petroleum hydrocarbons in Arabian Gulf blue carbon repositories 
    A. Ashok, M. Cusack, V. Saderne, P.K. Krishnakumar, L. Rabaouib, M.A. Qurban, C.M. Duarte,...
    Science of the Total Environment, 669, pp. 205-212, (2019)

Education

  • M.Sc., Aquatic Environment Management, ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Education, India, 2015 

Professional Profile

  • 2016-Present: Ph.D. Student, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, KAUST, Saudi Arabia
  • ​Senior Research Fellow, National Surveillance Program on Aquatic Animal Diseases, ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Education, India
  • Project Assistant II, DST Project on ‘Setting up of fingerprinting laboratory for oil spills’, Physical Oceanography Division, National Institute of Oceanography, India

Scientific and Professional Membership

  • Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC)
  • Professional Fisheries Graduates Forum of India (PFGI) 

Awards

  • Indian Council of Agricultural Research – Junior Research Fellowship in Aquatic Environmental Management, 2013
  • Best Fisheries Graduate of India and H.P.C Shetty Award by Professional Fisheries Graduates Forum, 2013
  • Gold medalist in Bachelor of Fisheries Sciences, 2013 
  • Puratchi Thalaivi Dr. J Jayalalithaa Award for Best Outgoing Girl Student, 2013
  • British Council’ International Climate Champion, 2011

KAUST Affiliations

  • ​​​​Red Sea Research Center (RSRC)
  •  Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering Division (BESE) ​

Research Interests Keywords

Marine ecology Environmental pollution Global change Oceanography