Dr. Arnico K. Panday
Trustee and College Planning Team Leader
A Ullens parent for the past nine years, Dr. Arnico K. Panday served Ullens Education Foundation as a Trustee from June 2018 to January 2020, and then became the Foundation’s first CEO in February 2020. From February 2022 onwards, he has resumed his duties as a Trustee, while continuing to lead the team that is planning the Foundation’s upcoming College of Liberal Arts, Science and Technology in Nala, Kavre. Dr. Panday is passionate about improving the quality of education in Nepal.
Dr. Panday’s academic background and professional experience cover a range of interlinked issues from environmental science and ecology to air pollution, climate change, international policy and urban development. Dr. Panday holds a Bachelor’s degree with highest honors in Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard University; a Masters in Land Resources from the University of Wisconsin-Madison; and a Doctor of Science in Atmospheric Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Following postdoctoral research at MIT and Princeton, he served on the faculty at the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia, before returning to Nepal to build up ICIMOD’s Atmosphere Programme where he led a team working on research, mitigation and policy of air pollution and climate change in and across mountain areas of Asia.
Dr. Panday is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Integrated Development Studies and a senior advisor at Nepal’s National Planning Commission. He continues to supervise PhD students and publish research. He is also on the Advisory Board of Nepal Economic Forum, on the Governing Council of Future Earth South Asia, and on the Advisory Group for the Asia Co-Benefits Partnership at Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, Japan. His past experiences include co-designing a climate observatory in Rwanda as well as serving on the Steering Committee of UN’s Climate and Clean Air Coalition, on several Government of Nepal task forces, and on the Expert Working Group of the Government of Nepal’s Sagarmatha Sambaad.
