Dr. Maheswar Rupakheti
Research Group Leader
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Dr. Maheswar Rupakheti has led the research group Regional Air Quality and Climate in Southern Asia since 2012. An atmospheric scientist, he focuses on air pollution, climate change, and sustainable development - particularly in South Asia, one of the world's most polluted and vulnerable regions.
Dr. Rupakheti's research integrates satellite data, ground observations, reanalysis products, atmospheric simulations, surreys, and stakeholder dialogues to better understand air quality and climate challenges. He actively promotes interdisciplinary collaboration and capacity building, fostering partnerships that connect science, policy, and community. Dr. Rupakheti focuses on co-designing and promoting effective, practical, evidence-based mitigation strategies and actions that are both scalable and locally grounded.
He brings a global perspective to regional challenges and ensures that regional insights inform international efforts to tackle air pollution and climate change - working toward cleaner air, and safe and just futures for all.
In July 2023, Dr. Rupakheti was elected to serve as vice-chair of Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change (IPCC) for its Seventh Assessment Cycle. He is also a member of the scientific steering committees for both the International Commission on Atmospheric Chemistry and Global Pollution (ICACGP) and the Atmospheric Composition and the Asian Monsoon (ACAM).
He earned his PhD in Atmospheric Science from Dalhousie University, Canada, in 2006. From 2006 to 2012 he was a senior program officer at the UNEP Regional Resource Center for Asia and the Pacific, based in Bangkok, Thailand.
Groups
- 2012- Current: Scientific Project Leader at RIFS (formerly IASS) Potsdam
- 2010-12: Coordinator Asia-Secretariat of Project Atmospheric Brown Cloud (ABC) of UNEP, Thailand
- 2006-10: Senior Program Officer, Project Atmospheric Brown Cloud (ABC) of UNEP, Thailand
- 2001-06: PhD in Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University, Canada
- 2000-01: Research Associate, Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand
- 1999-00: MSc in Environmental Technology and Management, AIT, Thailand
- 1997-98: Assistant Professor, Central Department of Physics, TU, Kathmandu, Nepal
- 1995-97: Msc in Physics, Central Department of Physics, TU, Kathmandu, Nepal
- Air pollution-climate interaction [Diagnosis of scientific and societal knowns and unknowns of air pollution, including short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs), in a given region; Ground-based and airborne atmospheric measurements; Assessment of impact of black carbon and other air pollutants on health, crops, water including Himalayan mountain glaciers and regional climate change]
- Co-benefits from mitigation of air pollutants [development of emission inventory of air pollutants and greenhouse gases, evaluation of the anticipated benefits of sector-based reductions of air pollutants (technological, financial, legal, political) that are firmly grounded in science]
- Capacity building in developing countries [setting up and running atmospheric observatories, and training local scientists and technicians in atmospheric issues]
Publications at the RIFS
Publications prior to joining the RIFS
- E.A. Stone, L. Yang, L.E. Yu, M. Rupakheti (2012). Characterization of organosulfates in atmospheric aerosols in Asia. Atmospheric Environment, 47:323-329
- ICIMOD (2011). Climate Change in the Hindu Kush-Himalayas: The State of Current Knowledge [Full Report].
- M. Rupakheti and T. Nakajima (2011). Satellite view of particulate pollution in the Hindu Kush-Himalayas. Sustainable Mountain Development, 60:13-16, ICIMOD
- UNEP/WMO (2011). Integrated assessment of black carbon and tropospheric ozone. [Summary for Decision Makers] [Full Report]
- V. Ramanathan et al. (2008). Atmospheric brown clouds: Regional assessment report with focus on Asia [Summary] [Full Report]. UNEP
- M. Rupakheti, W.R. Leaitch, U. Lohmann, K. den, P. Brickell, G. Lu, S.M. Li, D. Toom-Sauntry, J.W. Bottenheim, J.R. Brook, R. Vet, J.T. Jayne and D.R. Worsnop (2005). An Intensive Study of the Size and Composition of Submicron Atmospheric Aerosols at a Rural Site in Ontario, Canada. Aerosol Sci. & Technol., 39(8): 722-736
- M. Rupakheti, W.R. Leaitch, U. Lohmann, K. Hayden, P. Brickell, G. Lu, S.M. Li, D. Toom-Sauntry, J.W. Bottenheim, J.T. Jayne and D. Worsnop (2004). Chemically-speciated size and composition of ambient aerosols at Egbert, Ontario, Canada. Nucleation and Atmospheric Aerosols (Eds. M. Kasahara and M. Kulmala), 710:713
"Transport, Black Carbon and Climate Change" at the 5th Regional Environmentally Sustainable Transport Forum in Asia: A New Decade in Sustainable Transport, Bangkok, UNCRD, 23-25 August.
- Nepal Bidhya Bhusan - Ka: Government of Nepal - 2009
- Dalhousie Graduate Fellowship (PhD): Dalhousie University, Canada-2001
- Queen Sirikit Scholarship for Asian Environment Development (MSc) : Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Bangkok, Thailand - 1999
- Students' Best Paper Award (MSc): West Coast Section - Air and Waste Management Association (AWMA), USA-2001
- Amrit Gold Medal (BSc): Amrit Science Campus, Nepal -1994
- Harihar Raj Lohani Science Award (BSc): Nepal Chemical Society, Nepal - 1994