Perspectives on unification in view of neutrino mass

A brief overview of the progress in understanding neutrino masses and their implications for new physics is given within the paradigm of the seesaw mechanism. Particular emphasis is given to the question of a unified understanding of the detailed flavour structure of quarks and leptons. A particular minimal example is emphasized where the seesaw mechanism is embedded within the SO( 10) grand unified theory ( GUT). Other examples that use a bottom-up scenario with symmetries of leptons and link them to quarks are noted.