Dr. Pragya Khanna is an Associate Professor in Zoology at Govt. College for Women, Parade Ground, Jammu (J&K). She has over forty research papers, more than 3000 popular articles published in local Newspapers, magazines and websites, five books and five monographs to her credit. She has been awarded twenty one (21) times by different scientific, academic and allied agencies/societies for her research/scholastic work at State, National and International levels. She is the recipient of prestigious SWARNA JAYANTI PURUSKAR by The National Academy of Sciences, India, YOUNG SCIENTIST AWARD by All India Congress of Zoology twice for two consecutive years and INNOVATIVE SCIENCE TEACHER AWARD-2011 by the J&K State Council for Science and Technnology, Dept. of Science and Technology, J&K besides receiving other awards and recognitions.
She is Member, Editorial Board, Board of Councillors, Associate Editor, Reviewer for over a dozen, high Impact, peer reviewed National, International journals. Besides, she is Life Member of a number of scientific societies, associations and organizations.
She has attended over 70 conferences/seminars in different parts of India and abroad and has presented papers, delivered invited talks/guest lectures and has chaired sessions.
She has 18 Years of research experience on Cytology of Chironomids and Environmental assessment of Major and minor water bodies of Jammu region with special reference to heavy metals, pesticides and industrial effluents. She has worked on a number of projects funded by DST and UGC on the above mentioned aspects. Dr. Khanna has reported 14 new species of an insect called Chironomus from Jammu and Kashmir, out of which 7 form the first time reports from the world. Recently, she has been awarded the Doctorate of Letters (D.Litt.) by the University of South America.