Profile of HIGRADE participants
Name: Pallav Kumar Shrestha (Nepal)
Department Computational Hydro Systems
Research topic
To establish an End-to-End seasonal forecasting chain (for water availability) at several semi-arid regions of the world (Brazil, Iran, Sudan, West Africa, Peru) The end users of this envisioned product are farmers, reservoir regulating teams, water supply authorities, etc. In short, my work mainly includes programming, model development & testing and application.
October 2017
Via a very useful Facebook group page dedicated to graduate degree opportunities in climate change and hydrology [https://www.facebook.com/groups/1723060831257451/about]. Very useful for hunting Post-doc positions as well!!
During my six years at Tribhuvan University, Nepal (Water Resources Engineering, MSc and Civil Engineering, BE) I fell in love with hydrological processes. Later on I realised I enjoyed the fusion of programming in hydrology i.e computational hydrology. At the moment, the department of Computational Hydrosystems (CHS) at UFZ is one of the most dynamic team of modellers and programmers in the world. I came to know that CHS has its own in-house hydrological model (mHM) which has one of the most rapidly growing user communities. Then the decision was simple - I just packed my bags, took the leap-of-faith and flew to Leipzig.
Leipzig at the moment lies somewhere between a fully developed metropolis (expensive city with too many people) and a struggling, yet to grow city (nothing much to offer, static city). Thus, I get the best of both worlds here. I can find peace and yet I can have fun when I want. Lots of young people around, ready to help you in "English" makes it easy for international researchers like me. The food is not spicy, thus good for my health. Getting to feel all the facets of weather (sun, rain, snow, wind, hail, daylight ending at 4 PM in winter to 10 PM in summer) without getting exposed to major hazards (floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis), is making my stay in Leipzig quite special.
Stupendous institution with extremely helpful people everywhere. Communication and social life is easy. I feel really lucky to be a HIGRADE PhD student as I don't need to give exams and am still able to fulfil the credit requirements by participating in awesome capacity building workshops/ courses. Adapting and settling down was super easy. There is nothing that bugs me about my workplace or work at UFZ. It's fantastic.
UFZ: http://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=43697 Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Pallav_Shrestha Software developed (parallel processing module for SHETRAN hydrological model) : https://research.ncl.ac.uk/shetran/PAC.htm Another software developed (calibration analysis tool for SWAT hydrological model) : https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301654937_SCH_v10_Screenshot My first/ master thesis paper: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19475705.2017.1289985
Born in Kathmandu Nepal. Previously worked in Thailand [2014-2017]. Parents are relaxing back in Kathmandu, Nepal. Sister studies in Thailand. Married to a beautiful wife who is a Structural Engineer doing her PhD in New Zealand. Outsiders think I talk too less, insiders know I talk too much. Aim is not to follow a balanced diet but to live a balanced life. Live and let live.
I always enjoy working out, be it in the gym, football field, bouldering gym or cycling. I like to play guitar, especially when others sing or dance to it. I like to sing, provided others sing along. I like to dance when... wait a minute, I don't know how to dance to begin with.