INSTITUTE:

UNU-IAS

E-MAIL:

sadhana.shrestha@unu.edu

PHONE:

+81 3 5467 1212

NATIONALITY:

Nepal

Research Interests

• Environmental health risk assessment
• Environmental Monitoring
• Water quality
• Water security

Education

• Ph.D. in Natural Biotic and Social Environment Engineering (Engineering), University of Yamanashi (Kofu, Japan)
• • M.Sc. in International Health, the University of Tokyo (Tokyo, Japan)
• B.Sc. in Veterinary Science, Tribhuvan University (Chitwan, Nepal)

Biographical Statement

Dr Sadhana is an environmental health analyst who has worked in varied thematic domains related to water and health. She has over a decade of research experience in water quality, water microbiology, health risk assessment, determinants of diarrheal diseases, water security, and quality of life. She has coordinated and worked with a multidisciplinary research team focused on improving water security in urban areas under the Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development project in Nepal. Her research project in peri-urban schools of LIC uncovered WASH related ‘menstrual hygiene management facilities’ associated with absenteeism. She is co-principal investigator of a project funded by IAEA under the framework of Coordinated Research Project F33024. At present, she is analyzing ‘challenges and feasibilities of applying wastewater-based epidemiology for COVID-19 control in LMICs’. Her other collaborative COVID-19 related research is ‘Application of a transition model to understand COVID-19 dynamics in Tokyo’ and ‘Knowledge, attitude, practice (KAP) and preparedness study on COVID-I9 among general population in Nepal’. At UNU-IAS, Dr Sadhana’s work concentrates on the impact of water scarcity on agricultural livelihood in periurban areas of a growing tourist city in Nepal.

Prior to joining the UNU-IAS, Dr Sadhana worked as a research officer on water related projects for NGOs in Nepal; a postdoctoral researcher at the Interdisciplinary Research Center for River Basin Environment (ICRE), University of Yamanashi, Japan; and a Project Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Yamanashi.