Ishwari Bhattarai

Ishwari joined ICIMOD as a migration analyst on 9 June 2025. He focuses on understanding the drivers, patterns, and impacts of migration across the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region.

Ishwari has over a  decade of research experience  in Nepal and India.

Prior to  joining ICIMOD, he worked as a researcher at Democracy Resource Center Nepal, where he worked on several research projects supported by international organisations such as The Asia Foundation, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the World Bank, and Westminster Foundation for Democracy among various others. His work focused on the implementation of federalism in Nepal, the functioning of subnational governance, gender and social inclusion, community identities, indigenous knowledge systems, and natural resource management issues.

He has published both scholarly articles in peer-reviewed journals as well as op-ed pieces in prominent national dailies in Nepal.

He holds a PhD in Sociology from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.