Key Personnel

Dr. Jagannath Adhikari has congregated colossal specialized experience from his 26 years of working practice in diverse sectors of development like agrarian change, natural resource conservation, food security and labor migration. He also holds honorable positions in numerous firms. Dr. Adhikari has also bagged significant publications in varied issues. He has PhD in Agrarian Change from Australian National University, Australia and M. Sc. from Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand.

Dr. Ganesh Gurung, the founding Chairperson of NIDS, was a Member of the National Planning Commission. A sociologist by training, he holds a PhD. He served as the Executive Chairperson of Policy Research Institute (Think Tank of Government of Nepal). He was also the Vice Chairperson of Social Welfare Council, a government body to administer NGOs and INGOs in Nepal (2003-2004) and Chair of CARAM Asia (2005-2007). He also served as a Task Force Member and Convenor in Ministry of Labour (2007-2008) and National Planning Commission (2009). He is the former Chair of Nepal National Network of Safe Migration as well. Dr. Gurung has been involved in research on migration issues since 1990 and has to his credit several books and research articles on issues related to migration.

Ms. Durga Gurung did her Master’s in Public Health. She possesses long working experience with Ministry of Health, Nepal and now has been serving in NIDS coordinating various programs under NIDS, basically Safe International Migration and Health related projects. She is presently working as a Senior Program Co-ordinater at NIDS.

Jan Sharma holds a PhD in Political Science from the Tribhuvan University. His main area of interest is state and democracy building in Asia. He has contributed research papers to various international and regional political science journals including the International Political Science Review. He has also commented widely on Nepal’s political developments in national and foreign newspapers. He is the author of ‘Democracy Without Roots’ and ‘Nepal Japan Relations: Time for Strategic Partnership’.

Professor Dr. Hari Prasad Shrestha a researcher in NIDS, is a retired Professor of Tribhuvan University. He worked as an acting Campus Chief in Public Youth Campus, Faculty of Management. He holds a PhD in Tourism Marketing in Nepal and Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Tribhuvan University. He was a central executive board member of Nepal mountaineering association, a treasurer of Nepal education supports Nepal, (NESA),Japan and a representatinve for Nepal in Kinderhilfe Nepal e.V.(Germany). He was awarded by Mahendra Vidya Bhushan in 1999.

Dr. Yogendra B. Gurung is working in NIDS as a Social Demographer. He has been involoved in many researches with NIDS. He has earned his Master’s Degree in Development Studies from Institute of Social Studies (ISS), The Hague, The Netherlands; and Population Studies from Central Department of Population Studies, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu. He has also been associated in many publications of national and international levels. He is a Professor in Central Department of Population Studies, Tribhuvan University.

Associate Professor Dr. Padma Prasad Khatiwada a researcher in NIDS, is a core committee member of South Asia Alliance for Poverty Education (SAAPE), general secretary at Human Rights Alliance and an executive member at National Institute of Development Studies(NIDS), has been a trainer for MoHP officials regarding population health issues emphasizing migration. He has a lifetime membership at Nepal English Language Teachers’ Association (NELTA) and holds a PhD in Humanities and Social Sciences from Tribhuvan University. Also, an editor at Nepal Population Journal, he has been involved in ample of published and unpublished researches and evaluation studies even before 2000 B.S. on issues regarding migration, demography, health and sociology.

Mr. Mahendra Kr. Bantawa is affiliated to NIDS as a Researcher and Data Management Expert/Data Analyst. As an advocate and policy reviewer, Mr. Rai has more than 15 years of research experience, data analysis, report writing and data management in migration, socio-economic and development sectors. An Assistant Professor of Population Studies at Tribhuvan University, Mr. Rai holds M.A. in Demography & Political Science and M.Ed. in Curriculum & Evaluation. He also holds an LL.B. and LL. M. degree from Nepal Law Campus, Tribhuvan University and now he is M Phil lead PhD Scholar. Mr. Bantawa was a research fellow of SOSIN-2018 under the theme of ‘Local Governance: A Inclusive Perspectives’ and also the research fellow of JDR-3 Scholar Program of USAID 2022 under the theme of ‘Reintegration Approaches and Practices of Victims of Human Trafficking in Nepal’.

Mr. Mahendra Subedi is a researcher on labour migration in NIDS. His major jobs in NIDS include research on legal, safe, secured and dignified labour migration besides media studies and Right to Information (RTI). An MA graduate in English Literature and one-year B.Ed. in English, Subedi is also a media practitioner for more than a decade. He has penned a number of articles and book reviews in labour migration, remittance and the related issues.

Chiranjivi Baral is the Executive Director of Nepal Institute of Development Studies (NIDS). He has already worked in the leadership position in several organizations, including academic and research institutes. Both academic and development issues on migration, education and self-employment are the areas of his interest. An M.A., M.Ed. and M.Phil., Mr. Baral has also been working as a visiting faculty at Kathmandu University since 2015. In addition, he has worked extensively on translation and editing. He can be reached at chiranjivibaral123@gmail.com.