Prof Jonnalagadda is currently Senior Professor of Chemistry at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, since 2005. He received his BSc from the Andhra University and MSc and PhD in Chemistry from the Vikram University, Ujjain, India. After working as a Research Associate in Germany, and as faculty at University of Nairobi and University of Zimbabwe, he joined the University of Durban-Westville in 1995, as professor of Physical Chemistry. 

Professor Jonnalagadda is an elected Fellow of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (2012); South African Chemical Institute (2014); African Academy of Sciences (2015) and A.P. Academy of Sciences, India (2017). 

He published 385+ research papers and review articles in many reputed and high-impact journals. Participated in about 150 research conferences as plenary or invited speaker in over 45 different countries. He is always among the top 30 researchers of UKZN and was top researcher in 2017. His research interests include Green chemistry, Value added conversions, Water treatment and Heterogeneous Catalysis.