Dr. Dhiraj Gyawali is the Research Manager for Disaster Modelling at UNU-EHS. His expertise focuses on providing technical insights for policymaking on contemporary issues of water and climate, and the associated risks. Within MCII's Climate Risk Analytics team at UNU-EHS, Dhiraj is primarily engaged in research coordination across different projects with an emphasis on climate risk modelling. Additionally, he is also coordinating and supporting fundraising and networking efforts for different research initiatives.
Dhiraj holds a Doctor of Engineering (Dr.-Ing) degree from the University of Stuttgart, with a focus on snow hydrology and remote sensing in the data-scarce mountainous regions. Additionally, he holds a M.Sc. degree in Water Resources Engineering, specializing in hydrological and hydro-systems modelling, and a Bachelor's degree in Agricultural Engineering with majors in hydrology and watershed management, both from the Institute of Engineering at Tribhuwan University in Nepal.
Dhiraj brings over a decade of national and international professional experience across diverse sectors encompassing water, climate and food security, demonstrating a blend of academic and project-based research. His core expertise stems from spatiotemporal modelling of environmental variables, mainly traversing around floods, hydrology and climate change assessment. Before joining UNU-EHS, Dhiraj worked with the World Food Programme (WFP) in Tajikistan, overseeing the implementation of natural hazard risk assessment to align WFP’s thematic interventions for reducing food insecurity and climate-related disaster risk. He has also served with WFP Nepal as a technical lead, establishing a dynamic modelling-based early warning system (CRAFT) to enhance food security monitoring for in-season weather risk management in Nepal. In his capacity as a Senior Research Associate at the Nepal Development Research Institute (NDRI), he has acquired significant experience through engagement in a broad spectrum of policy-oriented research portfolio, revolving around climate change impacts on water availability and associated risks, hydropower development, and food security.
Proficient in scientific programming with Python, Dhiraj has a strong background in stochastic modeling and geostatistics. He is highly interested in innovating research pathways through new concepts and serves as a reviewer for international journals focusing on hydrology. He has an adept track record in proposal design, resource mobilization and capacity building.