People

Prem Awasthi is a seasoned humanitarian professional with nearly two decades of experience in progressively senior roles within humanitarian coordination and climate change adaptation at the United Nations. In his most recent capacity as a Humanitarian Coordination Officer with the UN in Nepal, Prem provided strategic advisory services to the…

Jeevan Baniya is the assistant director of the Social Science Baha in Kathmandu and a member of teaching faculty at Tribhuvan University. He holds a PhD in Political Science from the Faculty of Social Science, University of Oslo, Norway, and an MA from Ajou University GSIS, South Korea.

Dipak Basnet holds master’s degree from Kathmandu University in Sustainable Development. He received Motilal Dissertation Scholarship 2019 for thesis entitled Everyday life space in post disaster housing reconstruction: An ethnographic study of the Ghale people at Barpak from Center for Nepal Studies UK (CNSUK) in collaboration with Social Science Baha.…

Sarah’s research interests include the active management of tensions within cross-sector collaborations in disaster risk management, response and recovery contexts, with a special interest in boundary organizations and collaborative governance.

Simon Dadson is Professor of Physical Geography at the University of Oxford. Simon leads the Hydro-JULES project which combines a three-dimensional model of the surface and subsurface water cycle with weather and climate models to predict future floods, droughts and water scarcity.

Alex Densmore is a professor in the Department of Geography at Durham University. He works on the evolution of seismically-active mountain landscapes. His research has demonstrated the role of landslides and debris flows in erosion and sediment transport in active mountain ranges around the world.

Mr. Amod Mani Dixit is the President of NSET and, chairs the Asian Disaster Reduction and Response Network (ADRRN). Mr Dixit holds a Doctor of Engineering from Ehime University, Japan. With 49-year’s professional service and 25-years as Executive Director of NSET, Mr. Dixit has received several national and international recognitions.

Born in a Temal village of Kavre district, Nepal, Tek Bahadur Dong completed his Masters of Philosophy in Anthropology from the Central Department of Anthropology, Tribhuvan University. His areas of research interest are around tourism, disaster, caste, ethnicity, and affirmative action issues.

Nyima Dorjee (Bhotia) holds a Master’s degree in anthropology from Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, and a Bachelor’s degree in history from University of Delhi. His research interests include migration, borderland citizens, road and infrastructure, and trans-Himalayan trade across the Nepal Himalaya.  

Alex Dunant is a postdoctoral research associate at Durham University. Alex completed his PhD on novel multi-hazard risk methodologies at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. His current work focuses on the spatio-temporal complexity of natural hazard risk assessment in Nepal and how scientific input can foster better preparedness.

JC Gaillard is Ahorangi / Professor of Geography at Waipapa Taumata Rau / The University of Auckland. His work focuses on power and inclusion in disaster and disaster studies. It includes developing participatory tools for engaging minority groups in disaster risk reduction.

   

Ganesh Kumar Jimee has been with the National Society for Earthquake Technology-Nepal (NSET) for the past 20 years and is the Director of the Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Response (DPER) department. Jimee holds a PhD in disaster risk reduction and management from the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Tokyo.

Amy is a political and environmental anthropologist of South Asia with a particular interest in the restructuring of states and environmental relations. Amy joined Northumbria in March 2021 as a Research Fellow, exploring community perceptions and responses to earthquake and landslide environmental change in relation to Nepal’s political transformation.

Mark is a quantitative physical geographer, currently working as a Post-Doctoral Research Associate in the Department of Geography at Durham University. His primary research focus is concerned with large-scale landscape perturbations, both natural geomorphic events and intensive anthropogenic disturbances.  

   

Erin is a postdoctoral research associate at Durham University. Erin’s research interests include post-earthquake sediment cascades, debris flow dynamics and organic carbon transfers. She recently completed her PhD at Cardiff University, UK, on the topic of post-earthquake debris flows in Wenchuan, focusing on their grain size and magnitude.

Katherine is a physical geographer, interested in the interactions between surface processes and topography, most recently the changing footprints of landslide hazard and risk in Nepal following the 2015 Gorkha earthquake. Katherine joined Northumbria in January 2023 as a Research Fellow, to develop dynamic exposure data using local community knowledge.

Bina Khapunghang Limbu is a PhD student of Human Geography at Northumbria University. Her PhD research is titled ‘Unpacking the household blackbox: How rural households make decisions in relation to mountain hazards and risks in Nepal’ exploring how households adjust to living in hazard-prone mountains of rural Nepal.

Rachel is the Project Administrator for Sajag-Nepal and is based within the Geography Department at Durham University. Rachel has worked at Durham University for the last ten years in a variety of administrative roles and has over seven years’ experience in supporting externally funded research projects.

Boguslaw’s research focuses on the design and implementation of complex image analysis and processing, pattern recognition, computer vision and machine learning solutions applied to a wide range of domains

Katie Oven is a Vice Chancellor’s Senior Fellow in the Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences at Northumbria University. Katie is a human geographer researching social vulnerability and resilience to disasters, with a particular focus on earthquakes and landslides. Katie’s research cross-cuts social, political and development geography.

Nawaraj is a faculty member of Department of Geology at Tribhuvan University. Nawaraj’s thesis is entitled; Stratigraphy and structure of tectonic window and adjoining area in Panchthar and Taplejung districts of eastern Nepal. Being born and raised in Kathmandu, Nawaraj found Geology interesting and wanted to learn more about it.

Sarmila Paudyal has been working with National Society for Earthquake Technology-Nepal (NSET) for last three years. Sarmila hold Master’s degree in Engineering Geology from the Central Department of Tribhuvan University Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal.   She has experience in developing the 3D landslide demonstration model as awareness tool and hazard, vulnerability and…

Shobhana is the Country Director of BBC Media Action in Nepal. She has been leading the work on Nepal on building resilience and tackling climate change through media and communications for almost a decade and has worked extensively on disaster risk response and lifeline communications especially following the 2015 earthquake.

Anuradha holds a Master’s degree in Anthropology from Tribhuvan University. Her research interests are on disaster, social inclusion/exclusion and local governance.

Tom’s research focusses on developing a greater understanding of earthquake hazards and disaster risk. Tom is interested in modelling earthquake-triggered landslides and consequent impacts on people and critical lifelines. Tom works on understanding how landslides change and evolve following an earthquake and how this affects the longer-term post-earthquake recovery.

Nick’s primary research is focused upon the recognition of the role of material deformation characteristics in controlling the spatial and temporal nature of rockfalls and landslides. Nick is interested in exploring theoretical models which underpin recent developments in the understanding the mechanics of slope failure.

Sara is a socio-cultural anthropologist with long-term ethnographic commitments in the Himalayas and South Asia and emerging research in British Columbia, Canada. Sara is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology and School of Public Policy & Global Affairs. Her research explores the relationships between political and environmental transformation.

Ram is a geomatics engineer who graduated from Kathmandu University. Ram has worked at the National Society for Earthquake Technology-Nepal (NSET) for the past 6 years. Since the 2015 Gorkha earthquake, he has contributed to the development of an inventory of landslides for the most earthquake-affected districts in Nepal.

Surya Narayan Shrestha is the Executive Director of NSET. Mr. Shrestha holds a master’s degree in Structural Engineering and has two decades of experience in Disaster Risk Management. Specific skills include natural hazard assessment, disaster risk assessment, DRM Planning and DRM advocacy at the national and local levels.

Sweata Sijapati is an environmental engineer and researcher involved in DRRM and its advocacy, urban climate and its effect on the local scale. She holds a Ph.D. degree in Disaster Mitigation and Management Studies from Ehime University, Japan. Sweata’s current role is Research Associate in Disaster Preparedness and Response.

Subash is a Faculty Member of the Department of the Environmental Sciences, Trichandra Multiple Campus. Subash is a Ph.D. scholar researching cascading hydrological hazards in the Himalayan range; A case study from the Melamchi watershed of Sindupalchowk, Nepal. Interests include geo-disaster management, early warning systems, flood, landslides and climate change.

Sunil Tamang holds a Master of Applied Science with First Class Honours in Disaster Risk Management from Lincoln University, New Zealand. His research interests include indigenous practice and knowledge to build resilience, participatory disaster governance, computational social science and geospatial technologies.

Rita is an Executive Secretary at National Society for Earthquake Technology-Nepal (NSET) and a Network Coordinator for the Asian Disaster Reduction and Response Network (ADRRN) working in DRR and humanitarian response in 20 countries of the Asia-Pacific region. Rita holds a master’s degree in Crisis Management and in Business Studies.

Max is a Senior Research Associate at the University of Oxford. He completed his PhD at the University of Minnesota on the monitoring and modelling of geohazards in glaciated landscapes. His current work focuses on integrating remotely sensed, ground-based, and model datasets to improve disaster risk management in Nepal.