Arunkumar holds a doctoral degree in anthropology and is interested in understanding the historical dynamics of the coastal landscapes. His experience working as a Post doctoral researcher in an EQUIP funded project provided exposure to work on the commodification of shrimp aquaculture in India. He is currently studying the reception of marine spatial planning among fishworkers in the various coasts of Tamil Nadu, to study how measures of the sea by the state and measures of the sea of the fishers resonate with each other in the epistemologies of planning and fisheries management.