R. N. Kini was born in Kochi, Kerala, India. He received the B.Sc. degree in physics from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, India, the M.Sc. degree in physics from IIT Madras, Chennai, India, and the Ph.D. degree in physics from the University of Nottingham, Nottingham, U.K., in 1999, 2001, and 2005, respectively. He did the post-doctoral training at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO, USA. He is currently an Associate Professor with the School of Physics, IISER Thiruvananthapuram, Thiruvananthapuram, India. His research activities span ultrafast and terahertz studies of different material systems, including semiconductors, layered materials, strongly correlated systems, and superlattices. Dr. Kini is a Life Member of Indian Physics Association and Indian Laser Association. He has been awarded Kerala State Young Scientist Award (2014) by Kerala state council for science technology and Environment, India.