Dr. Sainul Abideen-1

Dr. Sainul Abideen is distinguished by his meticulous care and determination in what he does. Born and raised in a small village called Chemmankadavu in the Malappuram district of Kerala, he went on to earn his bachelor's in zoology from the University of Calicut, before switching to library science. He did a bachelor's course in library and information science from the University of Calicut. Further, he went on to do a master's degree in Associateship in Documentation and Information Sciences from the Documentation Research and Training Centre (DRTC) at Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Bangalore. This was followed by a PhD in library and information science from the University of Pune, under the guidance of Prof. ARD Prasad from the Documentation Research and Training Centre (DRTC), Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore.

Dr. Sainul began his career as a library assistant at the Centre for Development and Telematics in Banglore. Soon after that, he got an offer from IIT Kharagpur as Asst. Librarian. After a brief stint there, he came back and joined the Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management-Kerala (IIITM-K) located in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, where he was instrumental in setting up the library from its initial phase. After a long term of 9 years at IIITM-K, he got an offer from IISER Thiruvananthapuram and joined the institute. He is a recipient of many awards and recognitions.

“My ID number is 03. I was the third non-teaching staff to join IISER. From being confined to a single floor to having a whole campus to itself, I’ve witnessed IISER’s growth in every sense”, he recalls.

Aside from his work at IISER, Dr. Sainul is an enthusiastic traveller. He has been to various countries such as Belgium, France, Germany, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and he continues to seek out new destinations whenever possible. He finds pleasure in travelling, trekking, and being amidst nature.

Dr. Sainul joined IISER Thiruvananthapuram in the year 2010, and after 13 years here, he is steadfast in his commitment to serving the student community and is doing the best he can.