THE SMALL EARTH NEPAL

The Small Earth Nepal (SEN) in collaboration with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Fulbright Specialist Program, Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN) and Nepal Development Research Institute (NDRI) and Tribhuvan University (TU) designed a 10-day workshop to enhance the skills and knowledge of the students of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) further providing insights into ways to perform world-class research which commenced on 18th February at the United Nations House, Lalitpur.

The program formally started with welcome remarks from Dr. Dhiraj Pradhananga, Chairholder, UNESCO Chair in Mountain Water Sustainability, Associate Professor, TU, and President of (SEN) who provided brief insights into the program and STEM. Dr. Madan Lall Shrestha, Scientific Panel Group member, (APN) and Academician, Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) and Dr. Anushiya Joshi, Environmental and Social Safeguard Expert, AEPC/DKTI Project, Faculty, Patan Multiple Campus, and Executive Committee Member, (SEN) expressed the need to expose the students to STEM to instigate curiosity and urge to delve more into the topic while understanding the challenges associated with them, further, they addressed gender disparities in STEM and the need to address them with updated curriculum and programs.

The Fulbright Specialist Dr. Juan F. Arratia, the main resource person for 10 days-long training sessions shared insights into how the Model Institutions for Excellence (MIE) and Saturday Research Academy (SRA) promote an equitable future, closing the gap between STEM studies. Furthermore, in the coming days, Dr. Arratia will facilitate the students to enhance their knowledge of research procedures in their respective fields of interest and study. Ms. Sijal Pokharel, Natural Science Officer, UNESCO provided insights into STEM in Nepal and UNESCO’s Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) initiative to address the decline of women in science. Prof. Dr. Rameshwar Adhikari, Research Centre for Applied Science and Technology (RECAST), TU, provided a brief overview of the Young Scientist Summit 2024 which hosted and celebrated outstanding performances of school-level students in science and technology.

The main highlight of this inaugural event was the demonstrations of Young Scientist Summit 2024 Champions on 6 themes chaired by Prof. Dr. Nilam Shrestha Pradhan, Campus Chief, Tri-Chandra Multiple Campus, TU. 1: Computer Science including AI (CS) presented by Prince Raj Chaudhary and Yugant Adhikari, Urbana School of Science who presented voice activation technology in computers for people with difficulty. 2: Life Science presented by Rigbed Khanal and Sujan Shrestha, Janak Secondary School, on Azolla farming and its positive impacts on health and livestock productivity. 3: Engineering and Robotics presented by Sushil Kandel and Nabin Kandel, Angels Heart School who demonstrated an electric motorbike. 4: Indigenous Knowledge and Technology (IKT) presented by Abinash Rai, Swapna Vatika School provided insights into the Nepali architectural houses with temperature regulation capacities that could still be used. 5: Chemical and Environmental Sciences presented by Aashika Shrestha and Rojina Shrestha, Kathmandu Model Secondary School demonstrated their bio-degradable plastic which could be a replaceable solution for the chemical plastic. and 6: Physical Sciences and Mathematics presented by Atimsha Upreti and Looniva Manandhar, Uniglobe Secondary School on producing thin film CdS layer for solar cells by a chemical bath deposition method. All the presenters emphasized the need for collaboration and funding to support their initiatives.

The program formally ended with closing remarks from Dr. Shankar Shrestha, Executive Director, (NDRI) who thanked all the collaborators and participants. Further, he praised the Young Scientist Summit 2024 Champions for their innovative work on STEM.