Dr Laxmi Prasad Pant moved to NRI in January 2020 from Canada, where he worked at the University of Guelph, the University of Waterloo, and Queen’s University. He holds a PhD from the University of Guelph in Canada.

Dr Pant has contributed to the academic field of human geography through research, teaching, and development practice, specifically in the areas of food and agricultural innovation, local food systems, food, and nutrition security, dietary risk factors of chronic non-communicable diseases, food justice, and just sustainability transitions in regional and rural contexts. Dr Pant’s research has appeared in reputed international journals, such as Agriculture and Human Values, Regional Environmental Change, the Journal of Rural Studies, and Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability.

Dr Pant serves on the advisory boards of many leading agencies, including the Regional Environmental Change journal and the UK Commonwealth Scholarship Commission, and holds fellowships with learned societies, such as the Higher Education Academy and the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG).

Dr Pant has extensive experience in planning, monitoring, and evaluation. He has used classical program logic models and their alternatives, such as outcome mapping and reflexive interactive assessment, particularly in developing area contexts. He is also engaged in various national and international communities of scholars and practitioners working on developing effective strategies for agricultural innovation and sustainable development, including his role as a contributing author of the IPCC Sixth Assessment’s Special Report on Climate Change and Land.

• Bhattarai, Kiran Kumari, FitzGibbon, John and Pant, Laxmi (2023) Rethinking collaborative governance: contested legitimacy of the Melamchi inter-basin water transfer for municipal use in Nepal. Regional Environmental Change, 23:161. ISSN 1436-3798 (Print), 1436-378X (Online) (doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-023-02157-5)
• Dyer, Sarah, Hill, Jennifer, Walkington, Helen, Couper, Pauline, McMorran, Chris, Oates, Yvonne, Pant, Laxmi, Rink, Bradley and West, Harry (2023) Courageous and compassionate teaching: international reflections on our responses to teaching geography during the pandemic. Journal of Geography in Higher Education. ISSN 0309-8265 (Print), 1466-1845 (Online) (doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/03098265.2023.2266999)
• Bhattarai, Kiran Kumari, FitzGibbon, John and Pant, Laxmi Prasad (2023) Rethinking collaborative governance to enhance legitimacy co-production: a multipurpose rural-urban water transfer in Nepal. International Journal of Water Resources Development. ISSN 0790-0627 (Print), 1360-0648 (Online) (doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2023.2218492)
• KC, Krishna Bahadur, Tzadok, Edan and Pant, Laxmi (2022) Himalayan ecosystem services and climate change driven agricultural frontiers: a scoping review. Discover Sustainability, 3 (1):35. ISSN 2662-9984 (Online) (doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-022-00103-9)
• Devkota, Rachana, Pant, Laxmi Prasad, Odame, Helen Hambly, Paudyal, Bimala Rai and Bronson, Kelly (2022) Rethinking gender mainstreaming in agricultural innovation policy in Nepal: a critical gender analysis. Agriculture and Human Values, 39 (4). pp. 1373-1390. ISSN 0889-048X (Print), 1572-8366 (Online) (doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-022-10326-1)
• Bhattarai, Kiran Kumari, Pant, Laxmi and FitzGibbon, John (2020) Contested governance of drinking water provisioning services in Nepal’s transboundary river basins. Ecosystem Services, 45. ISSN 2212-0416 (doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2020.101184)
• Pant, Laxmi Prasad (2020) Transforming industrial food systems to prevent future disruptions. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 9 (4). pp. 1-3. ISSN 2152-0801 (Online) (doi:https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2020.094.023)
• Eidt, Colleen M., Pant, Laxmi P. and Hickey, Gordon M. (2020) Platform, participation, and power: how dominant and minority stakeholders shape agricultural innovation. Sustainability, 12 (2):461. ISSN 2071-1050 (Online) (doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/su12020461)
• Devkota, Rachana, Pant, Laxmi Prasad, Gartaula, Hom Nath, Patel, Kirit, Gauchan, Devendra, Hambly-Odame, Helen, Thapa, Balaram and Raizada, Manish N. (2020) Responsible agricultural mechanization innovation for the sustainable development of Nepal’s hillside farming system. Sustainability, 12 (1):374. ISSN 2071-1050 (Online) (doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/su12010374)
• Rotz, Sarah, Gravely, Evan, Mosby, Ian, Duncan, Emily, Finnis, Elizabeth, Horgan, Mervyn, LeBlanc, Joseph, Martin, Ralph, Neufeld, Hannah Tait, Nixon, Andrew, Pant, Laxmi, Shalla, Vivian and Fraser, Evan (2019) Automated pastures and the digital divide: how agricultural technologies are shaping labour and rural communities. Journal of Rural Studies, 68. pp. 112-122. ISSN 0743-0167 (doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2019.01.023)
• Pant, Laxmi Prasad (2019) Responsible innovation through conscious contestation at the interface of agricultural science, policy and civil society. Agriculture and Human Values, 36 (2). pp. 183-197. ISSN 0889-048X (Print), 1572-8366 (Online) (doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-019-09909-2)
• Pant, Laxmi Prasad and Hambly-Odame, Helen (2016) Broadband for a sustainable digital future of rural communities: a reflexive interactive assessment. Journal of Rural Studies, 54. pp. 435-450. ISSN 0743-0167 (doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2016.09.003)
• Pant, Laxmi Prasad (2016) Paradox of mainstreaming agroecology for regional and rural food security in developing countries. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 111. pp. 305-316. ISSN 0040-1625 (doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2016.03.001)
• KC, Krishna Bahadur, Pant, Laxmi Prasad, Fraser, Evan D. G., Shrestha, Pratap Kumar, Shrestha, Dinesh and Lama, Anga (2015) Assessing links between crop diversity and food self-sufficiency in three agroecological regions of Nepal. Regional Environmental Change, 16 (5). pp. 1239-1251. ISSN 1436-3798 (Print), 1436-378X (Online) (doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-015-0851-9)
• Pant, Laxmi Prasad, Adhikari, Bhim and Bhattarai, Kiran Kumari (2015) Adaptive transition for transformations to sustainability in developing countries. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 14. pp. 206-212. ISSN 1877-3435 (doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2015.07.006)
• Pant, Laxmi Prasad, KC, Krishna Bahadur, Fraser, Evan D. G., Shrestha, Pratap Kumar, Lama, Anga Bahadur, Jirel, Santosh Kumar and Chaudhary, Pashupati (2014) Adaptive transition management for transformations to agricultural sustainability in the Karnali mountains of Nepal. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, 38 (10). pp. 1156-1183. ISSN 2168-3565 (Print), 2168-3573 (Online) (doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/21683565.2014.942022)
• Pant, Laxmi Prasad (2014) Critical systems of learning and innovation competence for addressing complexity in transformations to agricultural sustainability. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, 38 (3). pp. 336-365. ISSN 2168-3565 (Print), 2168-3573 (Online) (doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/21683565.2013.833157)

Dr Pant’s research broadly attempts to answer overarching questions, such as: Why is modern science, technology, and engineering alone insufficient to improve the livelihoods of the world’s poorest, most vulnerable, or marginalized current and future generations?

Dr Pant’s current and future research interests involve the following three overlapping streams of work.

Geographies of regional and rural innovation

This stream of research is the latest in the field of agricultural and environmental sustainability. The innovation and development performance of a region depends not only on scientific research excellence and technological innovations but also on how the public, private, and non-profit private actors, in their effort to co-create and use knowledge, interact with each other and with the enabling environment (e.g., policy and infrastructure). Dr Pant’s research and development practice aims to promote justice in sustainability transitions through stakeholder participation in the co-creation and development of healthy, low-carbon, and climate-resilient food systems.

Political ecology of food systems

Powerful actors within food systems, from primary production to processing, exchange, and consumption influence institutional processes and policy choices. Dr Pant’s research examines the contested political ecology of new and emerging technologies (e.g., alternative proteins, plant-based milk, and synthetic meat). He is always prepared to listen and share his passion and yet remains critical to the controversial nature of many interventions to address grand challenges of our time, such as poverty, hunger, malnutrition, dietary risk factors of chronic non-communicable diseases, ecological degradation, and climate change.

Just sustainability transition

The sustainability transition, also known as the net-zero transition, has become a contentious issue, particularly regarding the potential injustices a proposed transition could cause to the world’s poorest, most vulnerable, or marginalized current and future generations. Dr Pant’s research examines sustainability transition policies, processes, and outcomes to achieve transformational changes in food and agricultural systems toward healthy, just, low-carbon, and climate-resilient alternatives.    

Global Sustainable Development, MSc

TOWN 1058 Planning for Sustainable Development

Global Environmental Change, MSC/Agriculture for Sustainable Development, MSc

AGRI 1335 Agricultural and Natural Resources Innovation for Development

CoDiRECT Nepal: a community-based diet programme for remission of type 2 diabetes and amelioration of non-communicable disease risks. This project is funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) to work in urban and peri-urban areas of Nepal to assess the role of traditional healthy diets, including the promotion of forgotten foods, on type 2 diabetes remission. This project has opened our collaboration with the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD, https://www.gacd.org), which brings together major international research funding agencies to address the growing burden of non-communicable chronic diseases. Through this project we have collaborated with Kathmandu University and Dhulikhel Community Hospital in Nepal and the University of Glasgow, and University of Edinburgh in the UK.

DeSIRA-LIFT (Leveraging the DeSIRA Initiative for Agri-food Systems Transformation), a service facility supporting the DeSIRA (Development Smart Innovation through Research in Agriculture) initiative funded by the EU's Directorate General for Internal Partnerships (DG-INTPA). DeSIRA aims to bridge the gap between research and policy making towards resilient, sustainable, and equitable agri-food systems in the Global South.

Assessing the impact of climate change on food system diversity in the arid mountains of Nepal. This project involves collaboration with Arrell Food Institute and the Department of Geography, Environment & Geomatics, University of Guelph under the Insight Development Grant of Canada’s Humanities and Social Sciences Research Council (SSHRC).

Georgie Hurst, main supervisor

Thesis title: Navigating Just Transition Pathways to Net-Zero, Livestock Farming in Mid-Wales

Mohammed Aman Ogeto, co-supervisor

Thesis title: Institutional and Policy Options for Promoting the Adoption of Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) in Ethiopia

Georgie Hurst, main supervisor

Thesis title: Navigating Just Transition Pathways to Net-Zero, Livestock Farming in Mid-Wales

Mohammed Aman Ogeto, co-supervisor

Thesis title: Institutional and Policy Options for Promoting the Adoption of Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) in Ethiopia

Dr Pant contributes to the field of human geography/food systems and divides his time between research, teaching, and knowledge exchange activities. He serves on the NRI research ethics committee.

• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
• Fellow, Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)
• Editorial Board Member, Regional Environmental Change
• EDI and Wellbeing Officer, Food Geographies Research Group, Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)
• EDI Champion, UKRI Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Caucus (EDICa)
• Member, Canadian Association of Geographers (CAG)
• Member, panel of academic advisers for the UK Commonwealth Scholarship Commission
• Contributing Author, IPCC Sixth Assessment’s Special Report on Climate Change and Land
• World Accord Advisory Committee Member, World Accord, Waterloo, Ontario
• Study and Development Fellowship, The Office of the Provost (Academic), University of Guelph
• Research Grant Reviewer, Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Canada
• The award of ‘Best Paper 2012’, The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension
• IDRC Doctoral Research Award
• Norwegian Agency for International Development (NORAD) Fellowship
• The Tribhuvan University Chancellor’s Gold Medal