Prospective MSc Student in Precision Agriculture and Remote Sensing: Bishal Neupane

Who is Bishal Neupane?

Bishal Neupane (written Bishal Nneupane on this site) is a BSc Agriculture graduate of Agriculture and Forestry University (AFU), Rampur, Nepal (2021–2025, GPA 3.12/4.0), based in Pokhara. He is looking for MSc supervision and a graduate research assistantship in precision agriculture, remote sensing and geospatial data science, at a university in the USA or Australia.

His profile combines two things that are often found in separate people: hands-on field experimentation in Nepali farming systems, and computational work with satellite imagery, GIS and statistics. This page is written for professors and research groups deciding whether he would fit their lab. It sets out the questions he wants to work on, the evidence behind his application, and what he could contribute in the first months.

What research questions does he want to pursue?

His research-fit page describes three themes. Each one builds on work he has already done.

The common thread is connecting what happens in a plot with what can be seen from orbit, and making the analysis reproducible enough that others can check it.

What is the evidence? Publications

Neupane has nine peer-reviewed articles published in 2026. He is first author on three and corresponding author on all nine; on the other six he is second or third author, with the student who led the trial or survey as first author. Three further manuscripts have been accepted by the Turkish Journal of Agriculture – Food Science and Technology and are in press, two of them as first author.

Summaries with DOIs are on the publications page; examples include the mango growth-regulator study and the Gulmi maize mechanisation survey. The complete record is also on ResearchGate.

Field research experience

• Agricultural Research Intern, PMAMP Morang (January–July 2025). Designed and ran an RCBD field experiment on okra with three hormone concentrations (NAA and GA₃), more than 50 plants and over 200 morphological and yield observations, analysed in R with ANOVA and LSD. GA₃ at 100 ppm was the most effective treatment. The study is now an accepted first-author manuscript. Managing the plots also meant dealing with problems such as overwatering, which taught him how fragile a field season can be.
• Open Mapping Guru, Open Mapping Hub Asia Pacific (2024–present). Validated more than 5,000 geographic data points and corrected over 300 across 15+ regional datasets using Python-based GIS tools, coordinating with eight international researchers.
• Independent precision agriculture research (2024–present). Multi-temporal Sentinel-2 analysis in Google Earth Engine across more than 500 hectares, computing NDVI, NDWI, SAVI, GCI and PSRI, and a multi-temporal NDWI study of Pokhara Lekhnath.

Full details are on the experience page and in the academic CV.

Technical skills

Certifications include Basics of Crop Modeling: Fundamentals and Applications (NAXA with YES Agriculture, February 2025), Associate Data Scientist with Python (DataCamp), the Google Data Analytics Certificate and an end-to-end Google Earth Engine course. Worked examples of his methods are on the methods page, including the Sentinel-2 vegetation index guide, and code is on GitHub.

What can he contribute to a lab from day one?

• Field trial support. Laying out and randomising RCBD plots, managing treatments, and collecting growth and yield data to a protocol.
• Statistical analysis. Cleaning trial data and running ANOVA, assumption checks and mean separation in R, with publication-ready figures.
• Satellite data pipelines. Building Sentinel-2 composites and vegetation index time series in Google Earth Engine for a lab's field sites.
• GIS data work. Digitising, validating and cleaning spatial datasets, from experience with OpenStreetMap quality control.
• Writing and submission. Drafting methods and results sections, handling journal submissions and revisions, which he has done as corresponding author on nine papers.
• Software. Python and web development experience that is useful for lab tools, dashboards and data apps.

He would also bring direct knowledge of smallholder farming in Nepal, from field trials in the Terai and farmer surveys in the hills, which is useful for groups whose work involves South Asian or other smallholder systems.

Where he is still growing

His remote sensing work so far is self-directed and largely exploratory; the Kaski land-cover project, for example, is explicitly flagged as needing field validation before operational use. None of his published papers yet uses remote sensing or crop modelling; his record there is projects and training, not peer-reviewed output. Those are precisely the skills an MSc in a precision agriculture lab would develop, and the reason he is seeking supervision rather than working alone.

How to contact him

Bishal Neupane is open to MSc positions, funded graduate research assistantships and collaborations in precision agriculture, remote sensing, climate-resilient crop systems and geospatial data science, in the USA or Australia.

• Email: [email protected]
• Phone: +977-9807477734
• Location: Pokhara, Nepal
• CV: academic CV page, with a downloadable PDF

A first message is most useful when it mentions the group's research focus, the project or funding in mind, and the intake being recruited for. He can send his CV, a thesis summary and samples of satellite and statistical analysis on request. For a sense of how he built this record, see how an agriculture student in Nepal can build a research portfolio.

Professors and research groups with a suitable opening can reach him through the contact page.