Women Scientists Forum Nepal (WSFN)
Brief Introduction
Women Scientists Forum Nepal (WSFN) was established in 2020 in Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), under the patronship of the Vice Chancellor of the Academy.The Forum has its own guidelines and mode of operation (Karyabidhi) to carry its functions . It was officially announced and launched on 11 February, 2020 by organizing an Interaction Program on "Role of Women Scientists for Prosperity of the Country", as its first activity. The Forum is being established with the aim to work in close collaboration with other Women Scientists Associations existing in Nepal, create networking with women scientists in the country and together, contribute in the country's notion of making "Prosperous Nepal and Happy Nepali". WSFN works not only for the scientific communities but also for others under the Program "NAST with Citizens" preferably joining hands with concerned stakeholders.
Objective
The Forum has been developed with an objective to support the women scientists of the country, encourage them to actively participate and contribute in the advancement of science, technology and innovation. This objective is supported by various activities, together with S&T publicity and popularization programs and projects for all communities.
Founder Members
Prof. Dr. Dilip Subba : Patron
Prof. Dr. Anjana Singh : Co-ordinator
Prof. Anjana (Maharjan) Singh is the Professor at faculty of Central Department of Microbiology (CDM), Tribhuvan University (TU), Nepal, 1994. Her PhD is from Jawaharlal Nehru University, India, 2004; post-doctoral from University of Virginia in 2008-09; has 12 national/international awards. She served as the head of department from 2004-2008; 2012-2016. She is an academician of Nepal Academy of Science & Technology. She is involved in various committees at NAST: Management, Biological, Research and Publications. Further involved in editorial board of Nepal Science and Technology Journal and is president of Women Scientists Forum, Nepal, NAST. Her national/international publications are 121; has supervised-99 Masters’ thesis; 'produced 3 PhDs and 6 ongoing PhDs'; peer reviewer of 6 journals. She is an executive board member of AASSA-WISE committee since 2015. Attended few important workshops organized by AASSA and IAP in India, 2013; India 2014, 2019 and Turkey 2014; Korea, 2015; Bangladesh 2016; Malaysia, 2018. She was an executive member of Board of Studies, South Asian University from 2016-2018. She has attended 64 national and international workshops/conferences/symposiums. She was also a member of cluster committee of University Grants Commission, Nepal from 2015-2019.
Email: [email protected]
Prof. Dr. Sangeeta Rajbhandary : Member
Prof. Dr. Sangeeta Rajbhandary is the Professor, at Central Department of Botany, TU. She obtained her PhD degree in Botany (Plant Systematics and Phylogenetics) from TU. Her research work for PhD was carried out at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, UK (2008-2010) and completed her Post – Doctorate from RBGE, UK in 2014. She is the member of Nepal National Commission for UNESCO (NNCU), Science Committee, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology from 2020-2022; Member of the Institution Review Committee, IOST, TU (2019-2021); Member of the Research Committee of IOST, TU (2016-2022) and an Academic Coordinator of Erasmus Program: Inter-institutional agreement 2017-2019, between University of Padua, Italy and TU. She is recipient of several awards including National Plant Resource Award -2019, Nabil Science and Technology Award 2015, Two Gold Medal in 2012 and 1992 and Fellow of Linnaean Society, London, UK since 2014. She has attended 90 national and international workshops and conferences. Besides teaching experience, she also has research experience on several projects funded by national and international organizations. She has three PhD students and has supervised around four dozen M.Sc. theses, and published one book, ten edited books, and over 90 research papers in national and international journals.
Email: [email protected]
Prof. Dr. Nilam Shrestha Pradhan : Member
Nilam Shrestha Pradhan is the first woman Professor in Physics in Nepal and has almost three decades of teaching experiences. She is a faculty member of Research Center for Applied Science and Technology (RECAST), Tribhuvan University (TU); member of Advisory Committee Board of Nuclear Radiation at Government of Nepal, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST), and member of Editorial Board of Journal of Institute of Science and Technology (JIST), TU. She was the head of the Department of Physics (2014-2018) at Tri-Chandra Multiple Campus, TU. She has been the country team leader, representing Nepal in International Conferences on Women in Physics (ICWIP), IUPAP since 2008. She has supervised more than 200 project works and 26 theses of Master level. She has attended many national and international workshops and conferences. She has specialized in Solid State Physics with a focus on Atomic and Molecular Physics, and holds a PhD degree in Multiphoton Ionization of Hydrogen Atom from Tribhuvan University (TU). A part of her research work for PhD was carried out at Cochin University of Science & Technology (CUSAT) India. She has authored more than 2 dozen of publications in national and international journals.
Email: [email protected]
Archetect Anju Pradhan Malla : Member
Architect Anju Malla has 25+ years of professional experience and is the first woman President of Society of Nepalese Architects and is the founder member of Women in Architecture, Nepal. She graduated in 1993 from Jadavpur University, Kolkata and started private practice from 1999 with residential, commercial and institutional projects. With an MA in Rural development in 2012, TU, she was also Awarded 1st Prize in the 1st National Design competition in 1995 for the office Building of KMC. She was a Jury for the Building Permit Department (KMC) from 2017 to 2019, Thesis guide to B.Arch. Students, KEC (2006 to date) and visiting faculty at KhEC. She attended UIA council meeting, Baku, 2019 as council member. She has 2 publications, post Gorkha earthquake and was a panelist+ jury for WADe Asia, Delhi, 2017 to 2019 and a keynote speaker at IIA NATCON, Bhubaneswar, a Jury member for the 28th JK Cement design Awards 2019 and panelist at GEM international Sustainability Conclave & Expo2020- Technical session “Reviving Regional Wisdom in Present Sustainable Architecture” (Jan, 2020). She is Advisor for Build Change Nepal and consultant for: Independent Monitoring and Verification of health infrastructure in Nepal DAI for DFID, NHSSP.
Email: [email protected]
Dr. Tista Prasai : Member
Dr. Tista Prasai Joshi is a scientist in Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST). She is consistently working in NAST since last 16 years with key focus on the drinking water quality research. She received M.Sc. degree in Environmental Microbiology and M.A. degree in Anthropology in the year of 2001 and 2005, respectively from Tribhuvan University, and Ph. D. degree in Environmental Engineering in 2017 from University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS). Her research work associated with water quality and treatment has appeared in many leading journals, such as Water Research, Chemical Engineering Journal, Journal of Hazardous Materials, Science of the Total Environment, Chemosphere, RSC advances, Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering. She has registered a patent in China and also writes several science awareness articles. She has presented her work at many national and international conferences. She mentors research work of the post-graduate students and delivers guest lectures at university colleges in her field of expertise. Except for academic research, she is active in community, governmental and industrial consulting activities. She has awarded UCAS Excellent International Student award, 2017, OWSD-Elsevier foundation award in Biological Sciences from Asia Pacific region 2019 and OWSD early career fellowship 2019.
Email: [email protected]
Dr. Prativa Pandey : Member
Dr. Prativa Pandey, Founder/CEO of Catalyst Technology and Herveda Botanicals, is a researcher and a science entrepreneur. Her research is focused on the value addition of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAPs) of Nepal. She is a researcher at Research Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology and a visiting faculty at RECAST, TU. She completed her MS/Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Northwestern University in 2013 and Management Certificate from the Kellogg School of Management. She returned to Nepal in 2015, after a decade of research and industrial experience in the US. She has published several research reports, articles, and holds three US patents. She is appointed as a council member in STI Policy Implementation and Promotion Council 2020 by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MOEST), and a board member of Agriculture Promotion Committee 2020 (Nepal-USA) by NRNA. She co-founded Engage Nepal in Science (2018) to support and sensitize public school students in the field of STEM. She is an active member of Intellectual Property Protection Society Nepal (IPPSON). She received prestigious UNESCO-OWSD Early Career Fellowship 2019 and NAST-NABIL Science and Technology Award 2019 in recognition of her leadership and excellence in STEM.
Email: [email protected]
Ms. Jyoti Giri : Member
Ms. Jyoti Giri is an Assistant Professor at faculty of Central Department of Chemistry, Tri-Chandra Multiple Campus, Tribhuvan University, Nepal, since 2016. She is doing her PhD from TU. She has received Carl Klasson award, IUPAC fellowship in 2017 and best poster awards in international conferences KaSAM-2012 and POLYCHAR-2017. She served as the chemist at Environmental Assistment and Material Testing Division, Soil Test (Pvt. Ltd.) from 2000-2008. She is a founder member of Nepal Polymer Institute and is treasurer since 2016. She is actively involved in conducting various international, nation conferences, Microsymposium, Young scientist summits to promote nepalese scientific research and researchers in international forum; KaSAM-2012, KaSAM-14, KaSAM-2016, KaSAM-2018, POLYCHAR-19, POLY-CHAR 2019, Homboldt Kolleg, ICIDN-2012, ICIDN-2015 and many more. She is also scientific committee member of International Forum for Polymer Characterization [POLY-CHAR]. She has 15 national/international publications; has supervised-15 Masters’ thesis and more than 30 Bachelors’project works in different emerging issues such as E-waste, polymers degradation, natural fibers, ayurbedic medicine. She was executive member of Nepal Chemical Society. She had Attended AGM of IUPAC in 2015, Busan, Korea and 2019, Paris, France and has participated in national and international conferences.
Email: [email protected]
Ms. Luna Vajra : Member Secretary
Ms. Luna Vajra is working for Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) as a senior promotion officer in the Department of Promotion. She has obtained Masters Degree in Chemistry, specializing in Organic Chemistry and is the co-ordinator of Science Awareness Campaign Unit. As a Coordinator she has the task of organizing awareness creating activities such as science fair, science writing trainings, science dialogues, interaction/seminars/ workshops and organizing the National Conference on S&T. She is an Associate Managing Editor of Nepal Journal of Science and Technology. She is also a Member Secretary of Science City Committee, formed with a concept to develop a hub of the institutions working for science and technology, residing around the premises of NAST. She has carried the study on the status of sick industries of Nepal and published reports, under the program Technology Transfer conducted by NAST and University of Strathclyde, Glassgow UK. She has been awarded Letter of Appreciation twice by NAST. Besides NAST, she has worked for Water Aid Nepal as a Consultant, LUMANTI as an evaluator of the project for slum settlements and conducted study on the status of leather industry and published a report for UNIDO.
Email: [email protected]