Dr Unnikrishnan is a professor in the department of chemistry of NIT Calicut. He received PhD from M. G. University, Kottayam, Kerala state, India, with the thesis based on the transport characteristics of polymer membranes. He possesses experience, in academia and industries, in teaching, research and administrative domains.
His current research interests include design and development of novel macromolecular architectures, synthesis and characterisation of pi-conjugated polymer systems, nano- materials, polymer blends for biomedical applications, natural fibre reinforced composites, transport phenomena, polymer membranes, novel catalysts for organic reactions and materials for physical medicine & rehabilitation.
Dr Unnikrishnan supervised 30 PhDs (three awaiting defence). Five PhD scholars are currently work in the group. He has authored 264 technical articles. He completed 12 research projects funded by MHRD, DST, STEC, CSIR, British Council etc. Four patents (one awarded; 3 under processing) have been derived from his group. His group developed two inner liners for CTEV orthosis and Knight Taylor's Brace in association with Calicut Medical College, Kerala. He is a recipient of Prof. Sankarlal Memorial National Seminar Award (IIT Kharagpur) and Best Performer Award (NIT Calicut).

He was a visiting researcher at the Department of Chemistry, University of Leeds, UK. He had combined research programmes with Lunghwa University, Taiwan. He has current collaborative programmes with different universities and institutes.

He was the co-coordinator of NIT Sikkim when NIT Calicut was mentoring NIT Sikkim. He was the dean (SW) of NIT Calicut during Nov. 2015-Nov. 2018. He served NIT Calicut as the professor in charge of PG and doctoral programmes of NIT Calicut, head of department of science and humanities, head of department of chemistry and chief warden. He is the founder secretary of the Calicut chapter of society for polymer science (India). He was the faculty-in- charge of social engineering forum, the vibrant technical platform connecting NIT Calicut with public. He Is a consultant/mentor for the development of polymer and lubricant products.