Viknesh is an Assistant Professor at Heriot-Watt University, Malaysia Campus. His area of specialisation centres on the development of systematic design approaches for biomass energy systems and supply chains. His research aims to integrate process design and operational considerations simultaneously. His research interests also include process synthesis and analysis of energy systems, synthesis of integrated biorefineries, industrial symbiosis planning as well as energy planning for greenhouse gas emission reduction. Most recently he has embarked on developing decision-making models for sustainable agriculture planning. He spends his time working on mathematical programming, multi-objective optimisation, input-output modelling, game theory models, process simulation and Process Integration tools such as pinch analysis.

Vik is well-published and well-cited for a young researcher (over 50 publications) and presented several papers in various conferences. He was also shortlisted as a finalist for the IChemE Young Researcher Malaysia Award in 2018 and 2019. Vik is also an editorial board member for internationally peer-reviewed journals such as Process Integration and Optimization for Sustainability (PIOS) and Frontiers in Sustainability (Sustainable Chemical Process Design). He is a member of the reviewer board for Processes Journal. In addition, he serves as a technical committee member for several conferences. Vik also collaborates closely with well-known international researchers from Malaysia, Philippines, India, Japan, Taiwan and United Kingdom. He led and completed a COVID-19 research grant, which worked on developing an economic analysis model to formulate post-pandemic recovery strategies for the agro-industry in both Malaysia and the Philippines. Most recently, he was awarded the IBAE Young Researcher of the Year Award in 2020 for his contributions and achievements in research.