Nepal Programs
Nepal Study Abroad
InterAction Nepal | Design, Development, Global Health | Spring | 2020
InterAction Nepal is an immersive, interdisciplinary study abroad program offered with the support of the UW Department of Landscape Architecture, the JSIS South Asia Center – Nepal Studies Initiative, and the Department of Global Health. The program will challenge you to delve into contemporary issues surrounding urban development in the Kathmandu Valley and respond to them at a local scale through community-based human centered design, project implementation, and assessment. You will work with Nepali students and residents of an underserved community to design/invent/prototype and build a small-scale project and evaluate its impacts on human and environmental health. You will also have the opportunity to pursue your own design or research interests through independent study. Program activities include lectures and discussions, language instruction, organizational site visits, field trips within and outside the Kathmandu Valley, community workshops and hands-on design/fabrication/construction.
Information Sessions;
Thursday October 31st @ 12:30pm – Thomson Hall 317
Friday November 8th @ 12:30pm – Harris Hydraulics Small Conf. Room
Thursday November 14th – Study Abroad Fair @ 10am-12pm
Applications:
https://studyabroad.washington.edu
Priority Application Deadline: November 15th
Applications submitted by November 15th will be given preferred consideration. Applications submitted after November 15th will be considered on a rolling basis, if space is still available.
Contact: Ben Spencer, bspen@uw.edu
Bioengineering Nepal: Technology Development for Global Health – Nepal – Early Fall 2019 Exploration Seminar
Work with doctors, health workers and local students in Nepal to understand global health challenges and identify needs that could be addressed in new technologies.
InterAction Nepal | Design, Development, Global Health | Fall | 2019

Previous study abroad programs:
Winter/Spring 2018
Landscape Architecture Nepal: International Design Activism | Nepal
International Design Activism | Nepal (IDA|N) is an immersive, interdisciplinary 1-2 quarter (1 semester+) study abroad program offered by the Department of Landscape Architecture’s Informal Urban Communities Initiative (IUCI) with the support of the UW Jackson School of International Studies, Nepal Studies Initiative (NSI). The program will challenge students to delve into contemporary debates surrounding urban development, and respond to them through community-based, participatory design, project implementation and assessment. Students in the IDA|N program will work with local students from Tribhuvan and Kathmandu Universities to explore the social and environmental drivers and impacts of rapid urbanization in Kathmandu Valley and undertake a planning/design intervention in collaboration with community members. The program will include four general areas of study – 1) Social, Cultural, Ecological and Urban Context 2) Participatory Planning, Design, Implementation and Assessment 3) Technology and Practice 4) Local Language – and will place particular emphasis on the analysis, planning, design and construction of urban infrastructure and public space in underserved communities.
Read more about the program here on the UW Study Abroad site!
JSIS/LARC Nepal: Design and Development in Nepal
The Design and Development in Nepal exploration seminar was a unique, 28-day program offered jointly by the Nepal Studies Initiative and the Informal Urban Communities Initiative. The seminar challenged students to delve into the ideas and contemporary debates surrounding development, and respond to them through community-based participatory design. Students in the seminar explored historical and contemporary conditions as key drivers of change in the country and engaged in a small scale design intervention in an underserved urban neighborhood in the Kathmandu Valley.
Early Fall 2016: JSIS Nepal: Critical Development Studies in Nepal
This 3.5 week exploration seminar provided UW students an immersive opportunity to explore some of the ideas and contemporary debates surrounding development as a set of shifting practices and contested ideal that animates contemporary Nepali society; particularly in the wake of the 2015 earthquakes.
Check out the Seattle Times piece on NSI’s first Exploration Seminar!