NIRI Annual Research Symposium 2023 is NIRI’s initiative to gather people from different parts of the world on various areas and to provide a platform to have a meaningful discussion. This year, we have focused our symposium on “Education for Entrepreneurship and Employment.” This symposium aims to bring researchers and practitioners working in the field of education together to discuss our education system, current challenges and future directions. We intend to prepare a summary of our symposium and share with the government authorities and interested individuals. The programming is happening on June 17, 2023 from 5:45 PM – 9:00 PM Nepal Time.
We would love to have you registered for the symposium.
Registration link: tinyurl.com/238tmvcv
Keynote Speaker: Prof. Ammaraj Joshi, VC, Far Western University
Prof. Ammaraj Joshi is the Vice-Chancellor of Far Western University. Prof. Joshi is an expert in higher education, research, and curriculum development and has served Tribhuvan University for 32 years since 1988. He has served as a Professor of English and head of the Central department of English at Tribhuvan University. He is also a poet and author of textbooks on creative writing, essays on English literature and linguistics; recently he published a collection of stories from Sudurpaschim.
Student Speaker: Miss Sonam Tsokid Lama, AUW Scholar
Ms. Lama is an AUW scholar originally from Humla, Karnali Province, Nepal. She completed her school education at Humla and moved to Kathmandu for her higher education with the Samaanta Foundation Fellowship. Self-motivated Lama got a full scholarship to pursue her undergraduate in Asian University for Women, Bangladesh. She is now doing her undergraduate in computer science.
Speakers:
1. Ms. Reshu Aryal, Education Advisor, KMC
Ms. Aryal is an educator and organizational development leader dedicated to improving equity and access to quality education. With 20 years of experience in the education sector in Nepal, Ms. Aryal is now serving as an Education advisor for Kathmandu Metropolitan City. As the Chair of the Board of Teach for Nepal she worked to guide the executive team and fellows serving over 15,000 public school students in rural communities. Additionally, as the former Executive Director of the Fulbright Program in Nepal, she promoted mutual understanding and global citizenship through scholarly exchanges.
2. Dr. Shrochis Karki, Director of Impact & Influence, UnLtd; and Executive Director, Samaanta Foundation
Shrochis is passionate about equity, inclusion, and social justice for all. He has extensive experience of working on social entrepreneurship, education and employment systems, organisational development, and policy reform in over 20 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Pacific. He is the Director of Impact and Influence and sits on the Executive Team at UnLtd, a charity that finds, funds, and supports social entrepreneurs in the UK. He is also the Executive Director of Samaanta Foundation, which provides comprehensive higher education scholarships to meritorious public school graduates from underserved communities in Nepal. He serves on the Board of Proteknôn, an international feminist development research institute focused on children and young people. He has a D. Phil. in International Development from the University of Oxford.
3. Ms. Prakriti Mainali, Cofounder, Shakti Milan Nepal
Ms. Prakriti Mainali is an entrepreneur and a co-founder of Shakti Milan Nepal(SMN), an upcycled-focused social enterprise. She also served as a founding board member of the Social Entrepreneurship Development Fund (SEDF), under the Social Welfare Council, Ministry of Women, Children & Senior Citizens, GoN. Her works focused on the conceptualization, best practices, and policy reform to foster entrepreneurship culture in Nepal. Ms. Mainali is an awardee of “National Youth Talent Award -2020″ on the entrepreneurship category by the GoN, “Priyadarshini-Made A Difference 2022″ award by the Government of India and Federation of Indian Women Entrepreneurs and “Social Entrepreneurship Award 2022” by Nepalese Business Fraternity. She has her Masters’s degree in Business Administration and currently pursuing her second Masters’s degree in International Relations and Diplomacy.
Panelists:
1. Hon. Sobita Gautam, MP
Sobita Gautam, the youngest female parliamentarian in Nepal’s history, has gained popularity for championing the rights of the underprivileged and injecting new energy into parliamentary practice. She has played a key role in combating corruption and has contributed to the Rastriya Swatantra party’s rise as the fourth largest in the country. Prior to her political career, Gautam worked in media, law, and youth activism, positively impacting lives in Nepal. Her popularity has sparked youth engagement in politics, inspiring hope and encouraging positive transformation within the country.
2. Mr. Narayan Sigdel
Mr. Sigdel is the headmaster of Janjyoti School in Baddichaur, Surkhet. His vision, enthusiasm, and commitment to teaching and training students to be successful in earning while studying have been well-known across the nation. Recently this innovative idea has been perceived and acknowledged by the Government of Nepal. Students at Janjyoti School can earn skills and knowledge during their free time and can start earning money from their products. The school provides financial assistance for its students if they have a business idea that is feasible locally.
3. Dr. Dipak Khadka, Senior Research Fellow at PRI
Dr. Khadka, is a Senior Research Fellow at the Policy Research Institute (PRI), a think tank of the government of Nepal, which conducts policy research and provides the government with policy advises on all sectors of public policy in Nepal. He heads the Center for Natural Resources and Technology Policy at PRI. Before joining PRI, he served as the Chief Scientific Officer at Janta-Deurali Pharmaceuticals and the Research Director at the University Grants Commission, Nepal. He has a PhD degree in life sciences from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, and experiences in research and development in agricultural biotechnology, biodiversity, developmental biology, and quality assurance of research programs in the higher education sector and policy research in agriculture, environment and science and technology, from the US and Nepal.
4. Dr. Rajendra Pangeni, Chairperson, NIRI
Dr. Pangeni is an assistant professor of Genomics in Southeastern University Florida, and serves NIRI Nepal as the Founding Chairman. Dr. Pangeni has been working in the field of education and research for the past 20 years. Apart from his research works in Cancer biology and genomics, he has been actively involved in teaching, mentoring, training youths in Nepal and abroad, and transferring skills to Nepal.