Staff Detail

Ajaya Dixit is a distinguished Nepali engineer and development expert, best known as the founder of both the Nepal Water Conservation Foundation (NWCF) and the Institute for Social and Environmental Transition–Nepal (ISET‑Nepal). He is a Senior Advisor and an executive board member at ISET-Nepal. With a B.E. in Civil Engineering from Regional Engineering College, Orissa, India, and an M.Sc. in Engineering from the University of Strathclyde, UK. His three‑decade career intersects water resource management, climate resilience, disaster risk reduction, and sustainable development. At ISET‑Nepal, Mr. Dixit has led pioneering research on climate‑sensitive infrastructure, flood and drought adaptation, ecosystem‑based planning, and transboundary water governance. He is also an Ashoka Fellow and prolific author of “Nepal maa Bipad.” He also hosts regional policy platforms like South Asia Nadi Sambad. His work continues to shape Nepal’s approach to environmental challenges, combining engineering rigor with community‑focused, resilient solutions.

Mr. Kanchan Mani Dixit, Executive Director of the Institute for Social and Environmental Transition–Nepal (ISET-Nepal) also manages  Iset Nepal Services Pvt Ltd, the sister organization of ISET Nepal. With over two decades of experience, he specializes in climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction, water governance, and urban agriculture. His leadership integrates systems thinking and ethical frameworks into environmental policy and community-based development. Mr. Dixit has managed major multi-donor projects, including the Think Tank Grant and Sustainable Think Tank Project (IDRC, Canada), Political Economy Analysis of the Koshi River (The Asia Foundation), and several USAID-funded initiatives such as the Paani Program and Karnali Water Activity. His work focuses on institutional development, participatory governance, and climate resilience. He holds an MBA in Project Management from Kathmandu University and a B.Sc. in Biology from the University of South Alabama, USA. Mr. Dixit also serves as Co-Chair of CANSA-Nepal and is a 2024 Research Fellow with the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), India.

Ms. Anustha Shrestha, an Environmental Science graduate, has almost 12 years of research experience in various sectors related to disaster risk reduction, climate change, water science and governance, pollution, sustainable cities, and biodiversity conservation. With extensive fieldwork experience in Nepal and Myanmar, she has facilitation skills and rapport-building with local and international stakeholders. Her key interest areas include disaster resilience and water security, and she has visited Koshi, Gandak, Mahakali, Karnali, and Rapti River Basins as a part of her research. She has authored different reports, policy briefs, articles, and book reviews. Ms. Shrestha has established an international network with researchers and CSO members from different countries. In 2018, she was chosen as one of the 24 Young Leaders of think tanks across Latin America, South Asia, and Africa by On Think Tanks. She is a steering committee member of the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) CSO Network and is also a member of the Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA).

Dr. Naresh Rimal focuses on environmental studies and policy and has over 20 years of diverse experience. Holding degrees from top U.S. and Australian institutions, his research covers environmental, social, and food security issues. His transdisciplinary, systems-thinking approach focuses on long-term solutions and transformative change. As a Visiting Professor at Nepal’s Armed Police Force Command and Staff College, he has mentored numerous Master’s and PhD students. At ISET Nepal, Dr. Rimal engages in environmental governance and climate diplomacy, and through his Jiwati Research Center, he pioneers regenerative agriculture initiatives for sustainable farming and global food security.

As a PC, Ashok Maharjan is leading activities in Changunarayan Municipality. As a Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) specialist, Ashok has strong expertise in research, project management, monitoring and evaluation, survey design, and data analysis. His previous assignments includes coordinating more than 150 enumerators during the National Population Census in Godawari Municipality, Lalitpur. Beyond his professional role, he is also an activist in open space management, climate change, and youth-led development movements, contributing actively to sustainable urban resilience and community empowerment.

Mr. Yogendra Subedi, ISET-Associate, holds an M.Sc. degree in Applied Development Studies from the University of Reading, England (2005) and a Master’s degree in Economics from Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu. He has 20+ years of work experience in the fields of climate change adaptation (CCA), disaster risk management (DRM) and social development. He also possesses superior knowledge and experience in social development and socio-economic issues such as poverty, livelihood, and inequality (mostly related to infrastructure projects such as rural drinking water supply, road, and hydropower). His current engagement includes research and implementation programs of USAID Paani program, Safer Cities, Ecosystem based Adaptation (EbA), Climate Finance, Hydropower Development, DRR Governance, Food Security and Agriculture. In many of these projects he served as a project coordinator whilst liaising with multiple stakeholders at different levels including government organizations. He worked as consultant in IUCN, JICA, TAEC Consult, ADB, SNV and New ERA in different projects. He has made extensive visits to over 65 districts of the country in and abroad in different projects. He has received a number of training on building capacities of think tanks, constructive writing and project cycle management. He has presented papers at national and international forums on various occasions. He has produced various reports and publications solely as well as a contributing author.

Ms. Rashmi Kiran Shrestha is a Water Resources Development (Hydropower) Analyst. She is a water resource manager, and an anthropologist by training, and graduated from IHE-Delft, the Netherlands through Nuffic Scholarship, and The Tribhuvan University Nepal. She has 15+ years of experience as a project coordinator and research lead. She joined ISET Nepal in 2019 as a project lead for “Expanding Water Dialogues in the Koshi Basin” project. At ISET, Ms. Shrestha helps prepare concept notes and proposals in emerging issues such as resilient rivers, women empowerment in the hydropower industry, and sustainable hydropower development. Prior to ISET Nepal, she worked at ICIMOD, where she led research on Hydropower and Benefit sharing in Nepal and India. She also led ground research on “Hydropower and Gender” for IFC. She has rich insights on the tradeoffs of water resource development from the visit of over 50 hydropower projects in Nepal and India. She has contributed to several published papers.

Mr. Anurag Pokharel is an electrical engineer and currently working as a Research Associate in ISET-Nepal. He possesses good knowledge in the field of energy, electrical safety and lightning and has been involved in various research related to political economy, energy, water, disaster risk reduction. He has visited more than 15 hydropower projects in Nepal for research and case studies. At ISET, he is mainly responsible for field visits and interactions, program coordination, writing, content design, and proposal development. One of his major achievements is successful coordination of the Sustainable Think Tank project (under Think Tank Initiative Support) where he effectively coordinated with the international partners and national academics during the book release program. He also coordinated various field level training funded by USAID Paani Program for the participants of Karnali, Mahakali and Rapti Basins.

Ms. Sushila Ghimire, a recipient of Netherland Fellowship Program holds M.Sc in Urban Development and Management from Erasmus University, The Netherlands and Masters in Sociology from Tribhuvan University, Nepal. She has +10 years working in the development sector. She has experience of working in the areas related to WASH, disaster risk reduction and management, and M&E. She joined ISET-Nepal in 2018 as a Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Officer for the project “Surakshit Sahar (Safer Cities) – Urban DRR to Transit from Risk to Resilience in Kathmandu Valley”. She is responsible for keeping track of project activities, indicators and beneficiaries through use of M&E framework. She is engaged in project implementation and has been conducting training, workshops and meetings with relevant stakeholders. She has sound field experience and has effectively liaised with government officials, donors, media and community for the successful implementation of the project.

Ms. Kopila Wagley, a graduate in Environmental Science from Central Department of Environmental Science, Tribhuvan University is working as a Research Associate and a trainer in ISET-Nepal. With a focus on gender and environment, she explores the nooks and corners of society to pull out the issues that are challenging and harmful to women, marginalized and minority groups and works to enhance their capacity. She has a good experience in carrying out research and is familiar with the research based working environment. She has attended various trainings, conferences, seminars, webinars to share her results. She has also been extensively involved in local level interactions, field visits and capacity building programs. At present she is engaged on a project “Expanding water dialogues in the Koshi basin” funded by The Asia Foundation. This project focuses on maintaining river ecology, understanding the status of women and marginalized groups, disaster management capacity and their accessibility to the Koshi River as a resource.

Mr. Sudip Pathak is a Chemistry graduate with a keen interest in Sustainable Chemistry and Biochemistry. He has been working as an Intern and Research Assistant in ISET-Nepal for the past six months and has helped the organization in documentation, administrative tasks and website management.