Introduction

The Nepal Polymer Institute (NPI) is a national, nonprofit, professional organization registered under the Kathmandu District Administration Office of the Nepal Government. The institute was founded in 2010 by a team of enthusiastic chemists and physical scientists working at different academic institutions and government bodies under the leadership of Dr. Rameshwar Adhikari, Professor of Chemistry at Central Department of Chemistry, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal.

The NPI has been striving to develop as a research institute devoted to promote science, technology and innovation in Nepal, particularly focusing on advanced materials synthesis and applications. The institute carries the name of the versatile material of life, the polymer, but manifests its mission in wide areas of chemical, physical and biological sciences as well as engineering. Currently, about 40 scientists are directly linked to the institute, with broad outreach to the national chemistry community.

In February 2013, Nepal Polymer Institute joined International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) and became the Union’s 61st National Adhering Organization (NAO). NPI has thus become the first professional organization in Nepal to expose the nation’s chemistry community to the international arena. Since then several IUPAC sponsored activities have been organized in Nepal and the Nepalese chemists have represented in many international IUPAC organized forums. 

The NPI has a dream of establishing an international advanced materials center utilizing nation’s local resources through participation of young scientists.

Recently, the NPI has taken initiatives to strengthen networking of materials scientists from Nepal with South Asian Countries and with those from the rest of the world with the motto Cross-Linking Science and Virtues. Kathmandu Symposia on Advanced Materials (KaSAM), a biannual series of conferences, have been serving this mission.