Kathmandu Institute of Applied Sciences

Ms. Chandni Gupta defended her thesis research for MSc. in Biotechnology from National College, Tribhuvan University. Title of her thesis was "Determination of doxicycline and oxytetracycline antiobiotics in veterinary samples using smartphone-assisted thin layer chromatography method". She carried out her work at KIAS supervised by Dr. Giri Basant and was supported by TWAS grant.

Congratulations, Chandni!

Kathmandu Institute of Applied Sciences (KIAS) co-organized a workshop on Remote Sensing at the Department of Geomatics Engineering, Kathmandu University, on 2 May 2026. The workshop covered key topics including optical remote sensing, as well as supervised and unsupervised image classification, among others.

More than sixty students participated in the session. The workshop was led by KIAS Research Associate, Mr. Arjun Lamichhane, who served as the resource person.

KIAS researchers have published a new paper titled "Living with floods: risk and resilience in Nepal’s Koshi River communities" in Journal Regional Environmental Change published by Springer Nature.

Congratulations to all authors of this important contribution!

Full paper:

Living with floods: risk and resilience in Nepal’s Koshi River communities - Regional Environmental Change Riverine areas have long been avenues for the evolution and fostering of human civilization worldwide. Such areas are crucial for agriculture, fishing, navigation, and irrigation, but routinely face natural hazards like floods, sediment deposition, and channel shifts, putting local communities at ri...

KIAS researchers, in collaboration with several other researchers from Nepal, Bangladesh, Thailand, USA, have published a new research paper titled "Village mobility and local resource utilisation are adaptation strategies in Nepal’s Koshi floodplain" in APN Science Bulletin published by The Asia Pacific Network, Japan.

Congratulations to all authors of this important work!
Full text:

www.apn-gcr.org

Mr. Arjun Lamichhane, Research Associate at KIAS, delivered an invited talk titled “Urgent Conservation Priorities for the Red Panda Across the High Himalayan Region” at the BIO-RETHA Conference held in Diktel, Khotang, Nepal (April 17–19, 2026). In his presentation, he highlighted spatial analyses of red panda habitat fragmentation across five countries—Nepal, India, Bhutan, China, and Myanmar.

Congratulations, Arjun!

KIAS researcher Ms. Aayusha Upreti delivered a talk on "Microplastic Accumulation in Mountainous Agricultural Soils: Assessing the Impact of Plastic Mulch Use", at the Regional Conference on Deep Regenerative Agriculture 2026(April 6–8, 2026), in Lumbini, Nepal. The conference was organized by Lumbini Buddhist University, Nepal. bringing science to the forefront of one of the region's most pressing environmental conversations.

Ms. Upreti highlighted a largely invisible threat quietly building up in the very soils that sustain our food systems in her talk. As regenerative agriculture gains momentum across South Asia, work like this reminds us that going back to the earth means understanding, and protecting, what we've already put into it.

Congratulations Aayusha!

In a recent pre-print publication on bioRxiv (not yet peer-reviewed), researchers at the Kathmandu Institute of Applied Sciences (KIAS) have uncovered a concerning public health issue:

🧪 More than 37% of vegetable samples collected across Nepal were found to be contaminated with parasitic (oo)cysts of Giardia and/or Cryptosporidium.

👶 These microscopic parasites are among the leading causes of diarrhea in children in low- and middle-income countries, posing a serious challenge to child health and food safety.

🔍 While this is an early-stage finding (pre-print, awaiting peer review), it raises important questions about how we handle and consume fresh produce in Nepal.

👉 KIAS remains committed to advancing research that directly addresses public health challenges and contributes to safer communities.

Congratulations to the authors - Retina Shrestha, Basant Giri and Bhanu Bhakta Neupane.

Pre-print link: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04.06.716709v1

Listen the paper on Science Cast: https://sciencecast.org/casts/tglrquhacbpv

We hosted Mr. Manoj Kandel from National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan. He delivered a talk on CuSe nanoparticles for colon cancer therapi.

Thank you Mr.Kandel!

In collaboration with the Central Department of Geography, Tribhuvan University, KIAS co-organized a three-day SWAT training course from 15 - 17 March 2026 at the department’s premises in Kirtipur, Kathmandu. The training was led by KIAS Research Associate Mr. Arjun Lamichhane, who served as the resource person.

Approximately 30 participants—including professors, PhD scholars, and master’s students—actively engaged in the program. The sessions were highly interactive and effective, with the majority of participants expressing satisfaction with the training.

🌍 SWAT Training in Kathmandu!

Kathmandu Institute of Applied Sciences (KIAS) is proud to co-organize a hands-on training on the Soil & Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) in collaboration with the Central Department of Geography, Tribhuvan University.

📅 Dates: March 15–17, 7AM to 11AM
📍 Venue: Central Department of Geography, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu

👨‍🏫 Instructor: Arjun Lamichhane, Research Associate, KIAS

🔎 What you’ll learn:
• Setting up and running SWAT
• Analyzing watershed processes
• Calibrating & validating the model

This training is designed for researchers, students, and professionals eager to strengthen their skills in watershed modeling and environmental analysis using SWAT and ArcGIS.

👉 If you want to join, please contact, Mr. Lamichhane at arjun.lamichhane333gmail.com.