The Soils of Nepal

Roshan Babu Ojha (M. Sc. Ag., 2014; B. Sc. Ag., 2012 Tribhuvan University), a Ph. D. candidate at the University of New England Australia, is a soil scientist to the National Soil Science Research Centre, Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) since 2015. Before joining NARC, he worked as an assistant professor at Purwanchal University and teaches several courses of soil science. Soil fertility, soil carbon, and pedology are his field of expertise. As a national focal point from Nepal, he represented the Global Soil Partnership (GSP) program of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UNFAO), Rome, Italy from 2016 to 2018. He is an awardee of ‘Young Scientist’ award (2017) presented by Society of Agriculture Innovation and Development, India and ‘Outstanding Contribution Scientist in Soil Conservation’ award (2018) jointly presented by the GSP, UNFAO, Italy and the organizing committee of soil health and sustainable development international symposium, China. Realising the immense potentiality of soils in our life, he is keen to learn and share soil science language to the scientific and local community. Besides, he is fond of having expeditions and excursions, tasting new foods, triumphing with nature, and understanding people and culture.

Dinesh Panday is a Post-doctoral Research Associate at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, United States since 2020. He completed his undergraduate studies at Tribhuvan University (B. Sc. Ag., 2012) in Nepal and went on to graduate studies in Environmental Sciences at Lincoln University of Missouri (M.S., 2015) and Soil and Water Sciences at University of Nebraska-Lincoln (Ph.D., 2020) in the United States. Soil fertility, soil nitrogen, biogeochemistry, greenhouse gas emissions, and digital soil mapping are his field of expertise. He received Alltech Young Scientist Awards in 2010, 2011 and 2012. He also received 2018 Maize-Asia Youth Innovators Awards, organizedby CGIAR Research Program on Maize and Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD). He serves as Coordinator at Maize Youth Task Force and Communication officer at YPARD Asia and Pacific region. He also serves as an Editor in Journal of Nepal Agricultural Research Council, Nepal and Reviewer in many journals, including Nature Scientific Reports, Journal of Environmental Quality, Agronomy Journal, PLoS ONE and Remote Sensing. As a researcher, he is interested in deeper understanding of soil biogeochemical controls of greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate carbon footprint of agricultural systems. He is fond of music, travel, and nature.