Walker Institute strengthens research links with Himalayan University Consortium

Picture (From left to right: David James Molden, Director General, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD); Prof Prem Kumar Khosla, Vice Chancellor, Shoolini University of Biotechnology & Management Sciences; Professor Rosalind Cornforth, Director of Walker Institute ; Mrs Saroj Khosla, President, Shoolini Institute of Life sciences and Business Management)

The Walker Institute attended the Himalayan University Consortium (HUC) Annual Meeting 2018 in Nepal, in order to strengthen research links with the group of Universities aiming to develop joint collaborative programmes on the understanding of climate change and its impact on the fragile mountain ecosystems.

Walker are associate members of HUC and are building a number of connections with researchers and projects within the consortium. At October’s meeting in Nepal, Walker and the Shoolini University of Northern India signed an MOU undertaking to foster opportunities for collaborative research as well as the enrollment of qualified students.

Earlier in 2018 Walker hosted Professor Moti Rijal, from the Geology Department of Tribhuvan University, Nepal in order to link up on groundwater research, introducing his team to our partners at the British Geological Survey. Professor Rijal and other HUC members also participated in the final Srigangabrahma proposal development meeting, a proposal addressing climate change and variability in the Ganga and Brahmaputra river basin in South Asia. Seed funding for the development of the proposal comes from the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and is supported by the Walker Institute, lead of the HUC Climate Change Thematic Working Group. An MOU with Tribhuvan University is currently in development.

Meanwhile, Grady Walker, a Postdoctoral Research Associate for Walker, represented the Institute at the Water Research Group, supporting the development of an interdisciplinary agenda engaging with both social and natural sciences. Walker will build on these links in the coming months, actively supporting HUC partners in order to promote research and learning into sustainable mountain development.