Dr. Gyan Nyaupane
Dr. Gyan Nyaupane is a Professor and Associate Dean of Research in the Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions at Arizona State University, USA. He is also affiliated with the Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation as a Senior Global Futures Scientist. He research interests lie in understanding the human-environment interactions, particularly connecting communities and conservation through tourism. He has done research on various topics, including sustainable tourism, ecotourism, protected area management, natural resource management, and community development globally. He has published over 70 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters. He has co-authored a book, “Cultural Heritage and Tourism in the Developing World: A Regional Perspective. His second book entitled, “Tourism and Development in the Himalaya: Social, Environmental and Economic Forces” was published in summer 2022. He served as a Board of Director for the Travel and Tourism Research Association (TTRA) for three years. Currently, he is the Editor-in-Chief of Tourism Review International, an ESCI and SCOPUS indexed peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the advancement of scholarly and managerially oriented knowledge in tourism.
Dr. Brijesh Thapa
Dr. Brijesh Thapa is a Professor & Head, and William E. Davis Distinguished Chair at the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Oklahoma State University, Stillwater. He has conducted and facilitated numerous projects in the U.S. and globally in various capacities and has established a collaborative record of building and sustaining interdisciplinary teams among public, private, and non-government stakeholders. He has an extensive record of academic publications, reports, presentations, grant-funded activities, and mentorship of graduate students. In Nepal, he has engaged extensively with higher education institutions (i.e., curriculum development, training, and delivery), conducted research, and community outreach initiatives.
Dr. Ghana Gurung
Dr. Ghana Gurung is the Country Representative at WWF Nepal, but his contributions in conservation have a longstanding history and diverse roots. With over 30 years of experience in the field of participatory biodiversity conservation, he is a very well-known figure and a noteworthy leader in the local and international conservation fraternity. He is recognized as the “Snow Leopard Champion” in the WWF network, and he is nationally known as the shepherd of snow leopard (Hiu Chituwako Gothalo). He has been conferred with the conservationist medal by the President of Nepal in 2021. He is one of the founders of community-based conservation areas and landscape-level conservation in Nepal and has played a key role in designing and implementing this model which is now recognized globally. His contribution has also been instrumental in establishing Nepal’s first community-based livestock insurance scheme in Kangchenjunga Conservation Area (KCA) managed by local community, now scaled up nationally and replicated in other snow leopard range countries. As the Country Representative of WWF Nepal, he guides the strategic direction of the organization while also steering WWF’s fundraising and partnership initiatives in a bid to achieve its broader mission of the stopping the degradation of the natural environment and building a climate resilient future in which people live in harmony with nature. He has also played a significant role in formalizing trans-boundary cooperation with China and India to control wildlife trade and promoted Himalayan issues among the Asia Pacific CEOs network. He has been identified as one of the 12 incredible conservation heroes in the globe by World Atlas and continues to leave a significant mark in the conservation fraternity.
Dr. Anu K Lama
Dr. Anu K Lama is the tourism specialist at the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). She has over 20 years of experience working in the fields of sustainable mountain tourism development, climate action, and governance at policy, practice and science interface. She is currently engaged in promotion of sustainable tourism development in five out of eight regional member countries within the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region – Bhutan, China, India, Nepal and Pakistan; piloting several climate resilient tourism initiatives through Tourovation (Tourism + Innovation) Hub, digital aggregation for green tourism, climate services and regional eco-, heritage- and homestay-based circuit tourism development. She leads the Innovation, Investment and Entrepreneurship component under the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Capability for the Hindu Kush Himalaya Initiative and Tourism Pilot under Climate Service Initiative. She also serves as the faculty member of the Himalayan University Consortium Academy and Resource Person of the Thematic Working Group (Mountain Tourism and Cultural Heritage). She is the first Nepali to receive the Humboldt International Climate Protection Fellowship for her research work on building understanding of climate change adaptation measures for tourism stakeholders in Mustang, Annapurna Conservation Area.
Dr. Sanjay Nepal
Dr. Nepal is the current President of the Canadian Association of Geographers (CAG), and has been a Visiting Fellow (University of Otago, New Zealand, 2017), and Visiting Professor and Senior International Scientist (Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 2012). He is the recipient of the Roy Wolfe Award for outstanding contributions to tourism and recreation studies (Association of American Geographers, 2012). He has consulted for the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF, Gland) and has lent his expertise to local governments in Nepal, India, China, South Korea, Austria and Canada. He has taught previously at Texas A&M University (2004-2010) and University of Northern British Columbia (2000-2004). He has a PhD from University of Bern (Switzerland), and MSc. from Asian Institute of Technology (Thailand).
Dr. Kalyan Bhandari
Dr. Kalyan Bhandari is a Lecturer in Events, Hospitality and Tourism in the School of Business and Enterprise, University of the West of Scotland, United Kingdom. He began his career in Nepal Tourism Board before moving to the United Kingdom to pursue his Ph.D. studies at the University of Glasgow, where he researched the aspects of ‘nation’ and ‘nationhood’ represented in Scottish tourism. His research interests are on sociology of leisure and tourism, tourism at heritage sites, governments and tourism public policies, and national identity and nationalism in tourism. He has published articles on the above themes in leading peer-reviewed journals and has authored two books: Tourism and National Identity: Heritage and Nationhood in Scotland (Channelview Publishers, 2014) and Tourism and Nationalism in Nepal (Routledge, 2018). He maintains equal research interest on Scottish tourism and on society and culture of Nepal.
Tourism Resilience Forum 