A Brief History:

Central Department of Environmental Science (CDES) was established on 26 October 2001 under the aegis of Institute of Science and Technology, Tribhuvan University (TU). Since its establishment, the CDES-TU has been constantly working with a mission of generating knowledge and developing qualified human resources in the field of environment through teaching-learning and research, and establishing itself as a center of Academic Excellence. In the course of its academic pursuit, in 2018, the CDES-TU has been certified with a Quality Assurance and Accreditation from the University Grants Commission of Nepal. 

The CDES-TU envisions to become a Centre of Excellence upholding scientific values and social responsibilities, an inspiring place of learning, developing skills, reflective global citizens and leaders, and accessible to everyone.

In the 24 years history of its academic journey, as the Head of the Department, the CDES-TU has been led by several distinguished academic personalities in the sequence: Prof. Dr. Umakant Ray Yadav, Prof. Dr.  Madan Koirala, Prof. Dr. Siddhi Bir Karmacharya, Prof. Dr. Kedar Prasad Rijal, Prof. Dr. Rejina Maskey Byanju, Prof. Dr. Sadhana Pradhanang Kayastha, and Prof. Dr. Chhatra Mani Sharma. At present, Prof. Dr. Udhab Raj Khadka is the Head of the Department. The department is provided with 15 faculty members and eight administrative staff. All the faculty members in the department have earned their PhD from different universities of international repute across the world.

Achievements:

The CDES-TU has already produced about 1000 M.Sc. graduates in Environmental Science. Likewise, it has completed one cycle of M.Sc. in Environmental Health in Disaster. Similarly, from the department, till date eleven PhD researchers have successfully defended their thesis. Currently there are 25 PhD researchers in the CDES-TU. In terms of academic achievements, faculty members of the CDES-TU have published their research outputs in highly reputed journals of national/international repute. In the last five years, more than 200 journal articles have been published by the researchers and faculty members. In addition, the CDES-TU has been regularly publishing Nepal Journal of Environmental Science since 2013. Besides, the department is periodically publishing its Annual Reports, Strategic Plans, Communication Reports to the Government of Nepal, Research Reports, Books, etc.

Scopes:

The CDES-TU, after its establishment in 2001, initially started Master’s in Environmental Science making itself as the first institution offering the academic (M.Sc.) course in Environmental Science. Every year it enrolls 48 students on merit basis from the different parts of the country. The department started PhD program from 2008. Since 2020, the CDES-TU has started offering Masters of Science (M.Sc.) in Environmental Health in Disaster. At the CDES-TU, besides regular teaching-learning activities, students are given exposure to the field studies, community works, internships, case studies, and dissertation. In addition, the students are also acquainted with various skills and knowledges through regular training and skill development activities.

Strength:

The CDES-TU is provided with the well qualified faculties with having Doctoral and Post-doctoral research experience. These faculties are of diverse academic background including the thematic areas like Aquatic Ecosystems, Terrestrial Ecosystems, Geo-spatial Science, Ecological Restoration. In order to support the field experiment/research, the different is laden with different field equipment with necessary field gears. For indoor experimental works, the department has separate wet- and dry-laboratories for M.Sc. and PhD researchers. In addition, to avail with the advance research facilities, the department work in collaboration with the academic institutions and universities within and beyond the country. Currently, the department has collaboration with more than 25 institutions worldwide including universities, government institutions, research organizations, INGOs, and NGOs. The collaborative activities include the exchange of faculty and students, joint research and publications, invited guest lectures, workshops, and seminars.

In connection to research projects, the faculties in the department have several collaborative research grants including grants from University Grants Commission of Nepal, National Priority Area Research Grants from the Research Directorate of Tribhuvan University, Innovative Research Grants from Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Government of Nepal, and research grants from the Kathmandu Metropolitan City. In addition, the professors in the department also have received international collaborative research grants. The major thematic areas of the research projects include climate change, environmental pollution, biodiversity conservation, forest management, disaster risk reduction, etc.