Dr. A. K. Tyagi joined Chemistry Division, BARC in 1986 through BARC Training School. Presently he is Director, Chemistry Group, BARC, Mumbai and also a Senior Professor (Chemistry) at Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI), Mumbai. His research interests are in the field of nanomaterials, functional materials, nuclear materials, metastable materials and Hybrid materials. He has published about 650 papers in international journals, 10 books and several review articles.  He has supervised 33 students for their PhD. He is a voracious speaker who has delivered a large number of invited talks, keynote lectures and popular lectures.

He has been conferred with a number of prestigious awards such as such as DAE-Homi Bhabha Science and Technology Award, DAE-SRC Outstanding Researcher Award, DAE-Group Achievement Award; MRSI Medal; MRSI-ICSC Materials Science Senior Award; MRSI-CNR Rao Prize in Advanced Materials; CRSI Bronze Medal; CRSI-CNR Rao National Prize in Chemical Sciences; CRSI-Silver Medal; Medal of Indian Nuclear Society; Rheometric-ITAS Award; ISCAS-Dr. Lakshmi Award; IANCAS-Dr. Tarun Datta Memorial Award; R. D. Desai Memorial Award of Indian Chemical Society; Rajib Goyal Prize in Chemical Sciences; ISCB Excellence Award in Chemical Sciences; CCRS Award in Chemical Sciences; ISCA Platinum Jubilee Lecture Award in Materials Science; Metallurgist of the Year award from Ministry of Steel, GoI; JNCASR-National Prize in Solid State and Materials Chemistry; ISCA Acharya PC Ray Memorial Award; NASI – Prof. N.R. Dhar Memorial Award and JNCASR-Prof. AV Rama Rao Foundation Lecture Award. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry; National Academy of Sciences, India; Indian Academy of Sciences and Indian National Academy of Engineering.

He did postdoctoral research at Max-Planck Institute, Stuttgart, Germany (1995-96) and subsequently has been a visiting scientist to several countries like USA, France, Canada, Japan, Russia, Germany, China, Portugal, Singapore, Australia, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Israel, Malaysia and South Africa.