8 Aug 2018 | Cryosphere

Three students graduate from KU’s glaciology programme

Given the importance of the cryosphere for the downstream communities in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH), capacity building has been identified by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) as a crucial initiative to address the knowledge gaps in cryosphere research in the region. Accordingly, ICIMOD’s Cryosphere Monitoring Programme (CMP) annually offers scholarships to four students in the MS by Research in Glaciology programme at Kathmandu University (KU) as a direct intervention to produce glaciologists and cryosphere experts in the region. The two-year programme, which began in 2011, produces young professionals with interdisciplinary skills and capacities in glaciology. Most graduates are employed in related fields, with the exception of a few pursuing PhD studies abroad.

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Students present their ongoing research works to cryosphere experts at ICIMOD in August 2018. (Photo: Chimi Seldon/ICIMOD)

In December 2018, three new students – Aman Thapa, Anushilan Acharya, and Reeju Shrestha – graduated from this MS programme with the CMP’s scholarship, taking the total graduates produced thus far to 44. On 1 August 2018, they had presented their research on glaciers in Nepal, which involved field-based and remote-sensing datasets, to glaciology experts at ICIMOD, receiving feedback on how they could further improve their research methods and data analysis and interpretation.

The MS by Research in Glaciology programme is coordinated by Rijan Kayastha, Professor at KU, and hosted by the university’s Himalayan Cryosphere, Climate and Disaster Research Center (HiCCDRC), Department of Environmental Science and Engineering. The programme is also supported by the Government of Norway.

In addition to providing scholarships for this programme, ICIMOD’s Cryosphere Initiative also conducts thematic trainings and bi-annual field expeditions with its regional partners as a part of the CMP.