Manish Thapa

Manish Thapa is an Assistant Professor of Peace Studies in the Department of Conflict, Peace & Development Studies at Tribhuvan University in Nepal, where he teaches courses on non-violence, human rights, peace-building and conflict transformation. He is also a Doctoral Research Candidate in International Studies at the University of Tokyo, where he is working on a research project entitled From Bullet to Ballot: The Politics of Peacemaking in Nepal. He is a recipient of the prestigious Robert McNamara Fellowship (2009-2010) from the World Bank and the RONPAKU Fellowship (2008-2011) from the Japan Society for Promotion of Sciences (JSPS). He was Robert McNamara Visiting Research Fellow (2009-2010) at the Department of Peace & Conflict Research at Uppsala University, Visiting Research Fellow at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame, USA (2008-2009) and a Sauvé Research Fellow at McGill University, Canada (2006-2007). He received his bachelor's degree in Development Studies from Kathmandu University, and a master's degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from Austria's European University at the Centre for Peace Studies. He was a founding Executive Director of the Asian Study Centre for Peace & Conflict Transformation (ASPECT). In 2005, Manish founded the Nepal Peace Initiative Alliance, which was instrumental in the establishment of the Ministry of Peace & Reconstruction in Nepal. He is co-chair of the Internal Conflicts Commission at the International Peace Research Association (IPRA).