Annapurni Subramaniam is the Director of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore. She was awarded Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar, Vigyan Shri in 2024, for space science and technology.

She has about three decades of research experience and has published about 200 research publications in topics such as, star clusters, stellar populations, galaxies, and ultra-violet astronomy. She has trained a large number of students for projects and she has guided 15 students for PhD and several collaborated with her for thesis work.

She was the Chief Editor of the Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy, jointly published by the Indian Academy of Sciences and Astronomical Society of India during 2019-2024.

She is a scientific Editor of Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics, published by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

She heads the membership committee of the International Astronomical Union. 

She was involved in various space missions including AstroSat and Aditya-L1. 

She has contributed to the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), which is being built by an international consortium with India as a partner.

She is the Principal Investigator of the proposed next generation UV-Optical space telescope (INSIST), leveraging on the experience gained from AstroSat and UVIT.

Awards and Fellowships: 

• Fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences (since 2014) 

• Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences (since 2013) 

• INSA Woman Associate (2025) 

• Life member of International Astronomical Union and Astronomical Society of India.  

• Kavli Frontiers of Science Alumni, instituted by Kavli foundation and National Academy of Sciences, USA.  

• Recipient of C.V. Raman Young scientist award for physical sciences, from the Karnataka Government for the year 2018. 

• Recipient of SERB-POWER fellowship (2021) 

• Recipient of NASI-BUTI foundation lecture award (2021) 

• One of the top 100 women achievers of India – India Today – Dec 2023 

• Devi Awardee – by The New Indian Express (TNIE) – January 2024 

• Future Forward Female Award from CNBC-News18 – February 2024 

• Vanitha Ratna 2023 Award from the Government of Kerala. 

• NDTV Science Icon of the year – Indian of the year 2024 award 

Her research interests include:

Star clusters, Classical Be stars, Young stellar Objects, Blue straggler stars, Magellanic Clouds, nearby galaxies, UV astronomy