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Pick up the Baton

2018-10-31

It is a late October afternoon in the program office of Third Pole Environment (TPE) at the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ITPCAS). Dr. Dambaru Ballab Kattel, associate professor at ITPCAS, is discussing research methods with Tina Rai, one of the 41 Nepalese students currently studying at ITPCAS. As commonplace as it is for ITPCAS now, this is not something Dr. Dambaru Ballab Kattel could have imagined 9 years ago when he became the first international student at ITPCAS.

It all started in 2008 when Kattel first met Prof. YAO Tandong, TPE Chair and Honorary Director of ITPCAS. "Prof. YAO delivered a keynote speech on a science conference held by the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology, where I was working as a scientific officer. I was fascinated by his research and his vision for TPE, as my research interest is mountain climate system over the Third Pole and my background and goal fits well with his vision."

Three months later, Kattel found himself on his first international journey to China. After working for 45 days as a visiting scientist at ITPCAS, he applied for Ph.D program and was duly accepted.

"That year only three Nepalese students got accepted by CAS, and I was the first international student at ITPCAS" Kattel recalled. But that is no longer the case. Including him, twenty-four international students have already graduated from ITPCAS. ITPCAS currently hosts 72 international students, among them, 41 are Nepalese.

Most Nepalese students at ITPCAS today are enrolled through the Kathmandu Center for Research and Education (KCRE) jointly built by CAS and the Tribhuvan University (TU) in Nepal. And Kattel has witnessed the establishment of KCRE first hand.

"When I started my Ph.D in 2009, ITPCAS was initiating the TPE program, which promotes international collaboration on Third Pole research. I contacted my university teacher, Prof. Lochan, who was then the Head of Central department of Hydrology and Meteorology (CDHM) at TU to see if he was interested. It turned out that Prof. Yao and Prof Lochan had known each other 25 years ago from a training course in the U.S." Things went quite smoothly from there, an MoU was signed between ITPCAS and TU to build a TPE Center in Kathmandu, which, over the years, has developed into the Kathmandu Center for Research and Education (KCRE).

 

Dr. Dambaru Ballab Kattel, Prof. BAI Chunli and Prof. YAO Tandong at the inaugural ceremony of KCRE 

 

Kattel installing the first Automatic Weather Station in KCRE 

After obtaining Ph.D from ITPCAS, Kattel worked as a post-doc in Germany and then a university faculty in Pakistan. In 2016, he was informed of the CAS President's International Fellowship Initiative (PIFI), a program designed to support outstanding international scientists and post-docs to work at CAS institutions. He applied successfully for the PIFI Fellowship for Visiting Scientists, and came back to work at ITPCAS.

"PIFI enabled me to work on climatic characteristics, mechanisms and processes for their variation on the southern slope of the Himalayas, which is crucial for understanding Third Pole Environmental changes. The framework of Third Pole Environment also allows me to work with the best-minds on these topics." Kattel added.

As an expat who has lived in China for 6 years in total, Kattel describes his role as "picking up the baton" of the China-Nepal friendship and collaboration. "Around 600-650 CE, Nepalese Princess Bhrikuti got married to Songtsan Gampo, the earliest known Emperor of Tibet. The famous Nepalese Architect Araniko was invited to China in 1260 CE to design and build Stupa in Beijing, who may be the first Nepalese expert to work in China. Now we are standing in the modern era, where science and technology play a key role in our future. As scientists, it is our turn to pick up the baton. With the establishment of KCRE and more Nepalese students coming to China, I believe there will be more to follow us."

(Editor: LI Yuan)