Purna Bahadur Nepali (Nepal): Dr. Nepali is currently a Fulbright Visiting Research Fellow in Global Development and Sustainability at Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, US. Dr. Nepali is conducting his research on Reorienting Political Economy of Agrarian Transformations, focusing on marginalized communities in Nepal. Previously he was the Regional Project Coordinator, Regional Food Security Governance Project in South Asia and East Asia (Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar) at DanChurchAid (DCA), funded by the European Union. For the past decade he has researched land rights and food rights, and advocates for evidence-based policy and reform in South Asia from a civil society perspective.
Dr. Nepali did his Ph.D. at the Human and Natural Resources Studies Centre (HNRSC), Kathmandu University, and the Human Geography programme, University of Zurich. In 2011, he completed his Ph.D. research on ‘Landlessness, Livelihood Insecurity and Social Conflict with special focus on Dalit Community’ with financial support from the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR), North-South. He was a founding member and executive director of the policy think tank called Consortium for Land Research and Policy Dialogue (COLARP) from 2011-2014. In addition, he teaches graduate courses for masters and PhD students as an adjunct professor at Kathmandu University and Agriculture and Forestry University, including classes such as dynamics of rural society, agrarian transformation, land governance, land policy and management. He has gained various grassroots experience and exposure while working with UNDP, DFID, IUCN and national NGOs and policy think tanks such as the South Asian Institute for Advance Studies (SIAS) etc. As lead editor, he recently edited a special issue of the peer reviewed journal New Angle called Agrarian and Land Issues that can be found here: http://www.nepalpolicynet.com/new/new-angle/new-angle-december-2016/