IRDR young scientist Dr. Basanta Raj Adhikari has been nominated for “Young Affiliates” by the The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) for 5 years. He has received this award in the 28th TWAS annual meeting from Prof. Dr. Bai Chunli, President, TWAS held in Trieste, Italy. He received this prestigious award for his outstanding contribution in the field of natural science. This award is given to those scientists who are 40 years of age or less and are living and working in a developing country for at least the past three years. Dr. Adhikari has completed his PhD degree at the University of Vienna, Austria in 2009 provided through the North-South Dialogue Scholarship program financed by the Austrian Development Cooperation. He has published more than 20 peer-reviewed journals, five books, two book chapters and many technical reports.

Moreover, Dr. Adhikari is an outstanding researcher who has dedicated his research to find out the interaction between earthquake and landform with mega structures in the Nepal Himalaya. He is one of the authors of the outstanding research entitled “Repeated catastrophic valley infill following medieval earthquakes in Nepal Himalaya”. The study has recorded medieval earthquakes in the sedimentary signature, which was a long hanging discussion in the Nepal Himalaya. Dr. Adhikari worked with more than 20 research teams around the globe just after the tragic Gorkha earthquake in 2015 and he has done tremendous research work in earth risk assessment and slope stability.