Walk the Talk Field Conference

From 10th to 21st December, Himalayan Research Center, in collaboration with Nepal Geographical Society and Kathmandu Center for Research and Education organized a field confe rence in different parts of Khumbu region. The idea behind the conference was to build a bridge between the researchers and scientists and locals.



For a long time, Khumbu region has remained as one of Nepal's most popular tourist and research destinations, and many researchers from a variety of disciplines have completed their Masters and Ph.D.s based on field studies conducted in the region. Unfortunately, the sharing of research results and findings, both between researchers as well as with local people, has been chronically limited. Local people have been largely unaware of the findings of major research projects within their own homeland, information which likewise rarely finds its way into the development planning process.

The Walk the Talk conference was an innovative field-based initiative organized for researchers and practitioners to discuss contemporary environmental, cultural, and developmental themes of the Khumbu while in the field instead of in an office. It also provided opportunities to educate and inform participants about the environment in which they are in, while directly experiencing that environment for themselves.



So, the main objective of the Walk the Talk was to provide a platform for scientists to share their research experiences with other scientists, as well as between scientists and local people. It was a huge success as researchers had opportunity to verify, validate, or enhance their research findings through discussions with other experts participating in the conference, as well as through interactions with the local people. Local people benefited as well, as they gained research-based knowledge about their local environments.