Prof. (Dr.) Dilip Ukey is the Vice-Chancellor of Maharashtra National Law University Mumbai. Before joining MNLU Mumbai, he served as the pro Vice-Chancellor and briefly as the acting Vice-Chancellor of SRTM University, Nanded, Maharashtra and Professor & Head of the Department at Department of Law, Pune University. He has also served on national bodies like UGC, NAAC, UPSC, State Public Service Commission viz. UP, Uttarakhand, Orissa, Bihar, MP etc including judges selection panels. He is also a nominated Member of the UGC/MHRD panel of experts about Institutions of Eminence. In the past, he was appointed as a Visiting Research Fellow by New South Wales University, Sydney, Australia and awarded UGC Fellowship to visit France. As an invited speaker he has spoken at numerous international conferences including the International Conference held on human rights at Kathmandu, Nepal; International Conference on human rights at New South Wales University Sydney, Australia and International Conference jointly organized by Vienna University Austria and City University Hong Kong.  

In 2019, he was conferred the Best Academician (Law) by the Indian National Bar Association, New Delhi. He is an erudite expert in Jurisprudence, Constitutional Law and Administrative Law and his work in these fields are recognized in national and international fora. His research papers and his recent book on the Jurisprudence of Legal theory is widely read in the academic circle.

The Centre was established under his guidance and Prof. (Dr.) Dilip Ukey also serves as the Honorary Patron of the Centre for Research in Air and Space Law.