Professor Pradhan received his B.Sc. degree with honors from Berhampur University in Odisha (India), his M.Sc. degree from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Bombay (India), and his M.Tech. degree in Civil Engineering from the IIT in Kanpur (India) and Dresden University of Technology (Germany). He received his Ph.D. degree in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Geomatics Engineering from the University Putra Malaysia, Malaysia. From 2008 to 2010, he was a recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship from Germany. In 2011, he received his Habilitation in Remote Sensing from Dresden University of Technology (Germany). Since March 2015, he has been serving as the Humboldt Ambassador Scientist for the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (Germany).
Professor Pradhan was also a recipient of the prestigious German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Fellowship Award, Saxony State Fellowship from 1999 to 2002, Keith Atherton Research Award, and Georg Forster Research Award from the German Government. He is currently a Faculty Member at the Department of Civil Engineering, University Putra Malaysia. He has more than seventeen years of teaching, research, consultancy and industrial experience. Out of his more than 430 articles, more than 290 have been published in science citation index (SCI/SCIE) technical journals. He has written five books on GIS data compression and disaster management, edited three volumes, and written 12 book chapters. He specializes in Remote Sensing, GIS application, and soft computing techniques in natural hazard and environmental problems. He has completed 21 research projects.
In addition, Dr. Pradhan is a member of many professional bodies such as the Committee of Space Research (COSPAR), Senior Member of IEEE, United Nations Outer Space Research Programme (UNOOSA), and many more. He is currently the Chair of the IEEE-GRSS Malaysia Chapter. He is a board member of many national programs in Malaysia and South-East Asia, and a regular reviewer for many international bodies like the Dutch Research Council, European Science Foundation, Austrian Science Foundation, Research Council UK (RCUK) and many more. He was listed as the World's Most Highly Cited Researcher by ISI Thomson Reuters' Report in 2016 and 2017, and as one of the world's most influential minds.