He started his career in 1978 at Lucknow University supervised by Dharani Dhar Awasthi, Father of Indian Lichenology. After earning his PhD, he worked as a Research Associate and in 1988, he joined CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute as Scientist-B and lead the Lichen Lab. He has superannuated from his service on January 2017. During this tenure, he published more than 60 research articles. He revised the lichen family Cladoniaceae during his doctoral degree. He has described 98 novel species. He has produced more than 35 PhD students, his students have worked in all the aspects of lichens with 400 research articles. He has revised the lichen families such as Pyrenulaceae, Graphidaceae, Teloschistaceae, Lecanoraceae, Parmeliaceae, Usneaceae, etc. Recently, Dr. Upreti received FNASc during the year 2013 for his notable service in the field of Lichenology. Pradeep Kumar Divakar is his first PhD student, who is one of the world's renowned Lichenologists. Dr.Upreti is serving as president of Indian Lichenological Society. Hon'ble Minister of Environment and Forests The Janaki Ammal National Award in Plant Taxonomy for the year 2015 was given to Dr. Dalip Kumar Upreti for his work over the last three decades, leading to the establishment of more than 100 new species of lichen to the world and more than 200 species as new records to the lichen flora of India. He has also received Prof. Bashir Ahmad Razi Medal -2006) of Association for Plant Taxonomy. There are 6 lichen species which are named after him in his honor. Parmotrema upretii Divakar, Myelochroa upretii Divakar & Elix, Lecanora upretii Papong, Nayaka & Lumbsch, Graphis upretii S.Joshi & Hur, Heterodermia upretii Y.Joshi, S.Upadhyay & K.Chandra, Coenogonium upretianum M. Cáceres and Aptroot.
Books coauthored/edited
Mukerji, K.G., Chamola, B.P., Upreti, D.K. & Upadhyay, R.K.. Biology of Lichens. Aravali Books International, New Delhi. 1999.
Shukla V., Upreti D.K. and Bajpai R. Lichens to biomonitors the environment. Springer, Heidelberg New York printed at Netherlands, 2013.
Nayaka S. and Upreti D.K. Lichens of Uttar Pradesh. Shivam press, Lucknow and Uttar Pradesh Biodiversity Board, Lucknow, 2013.
Rai H and Upreti D.K. Terricolous lichens in India. Volume I & II. Diversity pattern and distribution ecology. Springer Verlag, 2013.
Bajpai R. and Upreti D. K. Lichens on Indian monuments: Biodeterioration and Biomonitoring. Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehra Dun. 2014,
Upreti D.K., Divakar P.K., Shukla V. Bajpai R. Recent advances in lichenology. Vol I and II, Springer, Heidelberg New York printed at Netherlands, 2015.
