About Us

The Himalayan Policy Research Consortium (HPRConsortium) is a group of scholars from across the North American universities collectively coming together since 2005 to create a knowledge transfer platform to develop, share, restore, and promote policy-oriented research on issues that are not only pertinent to countries around the Himalayan region but are translatable to other countries with similar geographical, socio-demographic, and economic backgrounds.

The Consortium was formally known as the Himalayan Policy Research Conference (HPRC, est. 2006) designed and operated by the Nepal Study Center of the University of New Mexico (est. 2005) in collaboration with the scholars from various North American universities. Please see the details about the evolution and various activities of the organization here.

The three main activities of the Consortium are described below.

Himalayan Policy Research Conference (HPRC)

Starting in 2006 and in collaboration with faculty scholars from North American universities, the Nepal Study Center of the University of New Mexico began its Himalayan Policy Research Conference (HPRC) at the South Asia Conference venue of the University of Wisconsin--Madison. The tradition to bring together scholars with research interest on the Himalayan region and the surrounding countries has continued ever since, going with the virtual format in 2020. Interdisciplinary in nature, the conference welcomes presentations on a wide range of topics such as environmental economics, food security, glacier geomorphology and hydropower development, carbon sequestration, green economy, smart city, contemporary environmental changes, health, development, gender equity, trade, inequality, resiliency, education, conflict processes, democratization, good governance, and others. This platform bridges between the hard and soft sciences. The papers are expected to have important implications for public policy in one or more countries of the Himalayan region and/or South Asia. The HPRC event is generally held in Fall. Going beyond the traditional research presentation, the conference also uses various panels to promote graduate and undergraduate research as well as the work of the research-practitioners.

Graduate Student Research Seminar

This seminar follows our mentorship initiative launched with collaboration from academic scholars who support research among their own students. It is a webinar event designed with a mission to help graduate students at North American and South Asian institutions, which, in the spirit of the South-South global theme, may be extended to African and Central and South American regions. The students come together to share their research experiences under the guidance of the respective research mentors. This is a summer event that showcases graduate student research, and offers them opportunities to interact with scholars from other institutions.

Feed the Mind: Faculty Development Lecture and Workshop Series

The reorganized platform, HPR Consortium, hopes to offer, in addition to its activities detailed above, a series of Faculty Development Workshops to help junior faculty members and Ph.D. students. The workshops will cover several areas including research design, grant writing, navigating academic life, and accessing network support through round-table discussions, seminars, and workshops dovetailing multidisciplinary areas.

e-Portal: Himalayan Policy Research Paper Archive

Nepal Study Center (UNM)'s research repository initiative – Himalayan Research Papers Archive – is designed to showcase policy research related to the Himalayan region and the countries in South Asia. The topics are broadly defined to cover research areas in applied economics, social sciences, and related interdisciplinary fields, including political science, behavioral sciences, geography, and social changes. The Archive follows the American Economic Review's classification of areas.