Nawal Shrestha holds a PhD in Botany from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. He began his academic career as a Postdoctoral Researcher at Peking University before becoming a Young Professor at Lanzhou University and a Research Associate at Harvard University, the world's most prestigious academic institution. Dr. Shrestha is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Agriculture at Kathmandu University. His scholarly output comprises 69 published scientific papers in prestigious journals (with nearly 2300 citations), including Nature Communications, New Phytologist, Ecology Letters, Current Biology and Global Ecology and Biogeography. Dr. Shrestha has led and contributed to several national and international research projects funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, The Rufford Foundation, WWF Nepal, International Association for Plant Taxonomy (IAPT), and others. Dr. Shrestha's impact includes delivering over 20 talks at national and international platforms, and supervising one PhD, four Master’s, and one Bachelor’s thesis. Notably, he is the esteemed recipient of the Science Award 2079 from the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST). Beyond his research and teaching roles, Dr. Shrestha contributes to the scientific community as the editor of the Nepal Journal of Botany and holds active memberships in various global societies.
2023: Science Award 2079, Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), Khumaltar, Lalitpur, Nepal.
2018: Excellent Oral Presentation Award of Young Scientist, International Conference on the Pharmacology of Traditional Medicine of the Belt and Road Initiatives, May 6-9, 2018, Beijing, China.
2016: Nepal Vidhya Bhusan Class “A”, Ministry of Education, Government of Nepal.
2012: Excellent Student, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, China.
2011: UCAS PhD Fellowship, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, China.
2009: Teacher of the Year, AlfaBeta Institute, Kathmandu, Nepal.
2002: NIIT Best Student of the Year, NIIT Biratnagar Centre, Nepal.
Research Grants
2023-2025: Response mechanisms of biodiversity to biological invasions and ecological restoration of damaged ecosystems (The National Key Research & Development Program of China, Ministry of Science and Technology, China) – Participant
2020-2021: Spatio-temporal dynamics of species' diversification rates: deciphering the Humboldt's enigma. (Research Fund for Central Universities, Lanzhou University) – Principal Investigator
2019-2020: Comparison between diversity patterns of woody and herbaceous species in continental Asia. (Russian Foundation of Basic Research (RFBR), Russia) – Participant
2017-2022: Impacts of global changes on woody plant diversity in the Northern Hemisphere. (The National Key Research & Development Program of China, Ministry of Science and Technology, China) – Participant
2019-2020: Seed plant diversity patterns and their drivers in eastern Eurasia: comparison between woody and herbaceous plants (National Natural Science Foundation of China) – Participant
2018-2019: Identifying priority areas for Rhododendron conservation in China (IdeaWild, USA) – Principal Investigator
2017-2018: Climatic and historical mechanisms of large-scale species diversity patterns: Evaluation using Chinese Rhododendron (National Natural Science Foundation of China) – Principal Investigator
2015-2017: Biodiversity, ecology and conservation of Rhododendron (Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, Ministry of Education, China) – Principal Investigator
2014-2015: Sustainable utilization and management of threatened medicinal plants in Tinjure Milke Jaljale Area, Eastern Nepal (The Rufford Foundation, UK) – Principal Investigator
2012-2014: Taxonomic revision of Lycopodiaceae P. Beauv. ex Mirb. of the Pan-Himalaya (International Association for Plant Taxonomy, Slovakia) – Principal Investigator
2006-2007: Vulnerability assessment of threatened medicinal plants in Langtang National Park, Central Nepal (WWF Nepal) – Principal Investigator
2023-2024: Research Associate, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge,Massachusetts, USA
2019-2023: Young Researcher (Professor), College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China
2015-2019: Postdoctoral Researcher, Institute of Ecology, Peking University, Beijing, China