Prabin Khadka

Prabin B. Khadka is a lecturer at the Department of Government, University of Essex. He received his Ph.D. in political science from New York University in 2020, and an M.A. in international security from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in 2011. His current research focuses on social cohesion in counterinsurgency, countering violent extremism, peacekeeping, and development efforts, with a particular emphasis on the Horn of Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and Nepal. Prabin is also a fellow with the Institute for Integrated Development Studies (IID) in Nepal, for whom he runs a monthly webinar series on politics, economy, and public policy.

Before entering academia, Prabin had two distinct professional backgrounds. He graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and served in the Nepal Army (NA) for 14 years as a Combat Engineer Officer, mainly constructing roads and bridges in rural Nepal. During the Maoist conflict, he shifted to bomb disposal operations, which involved extensive work on the removal of improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Prabin has also served as a UN peacekeeper (blue helmet) twice, in the Congo in 2003 and 2008. In addition, he has worked extensively as a civilian staff member for the UN Department of Peace Operations, UN University, UNDP, the World Bank, and the Danish Refugee Council, with extended periods in Somalia, Gaza, Iraq, Eastern Chad, South Sudan, Ivory Coast, Uganda, New York City, and Nepal.