Dr. Kundan Aryal is a senior media scholar, journalist, and academic administrator with over three decades of experience at the intersection of journalism, human rights, and communication policy in Nepal. He holds a Ph.D. in Journalism from Tribhuvan University (2016), where his doctoral dissertation examined the transition of newspaper journalism from partisanship to commercialism in post-1990 Nepal. He also holds an M.Phil. in English with a Media Studies focus from Pokhara University (2007) and an M.A. in Mass Communication and Journalism from Purwanchal University (2003).
Dr. Aryal brings an exceptionally broad professional background that bridges academia, media practice, and public policy. He served as Press Advisor to Rt. Hon. KP Sharma Oli, Prime Minister of Nepal (2018–2019), accompanying official state visits to India and Europe. He served as Executive Chairperson of Nepal Television (2009–2011) and as Editor of Himal Newsmagazine (2007–2008). Earlier in his career, he edited several prominent Nepali publications including Budhabar Weekly (1995–2002) and Drishti Weekly (1995), and was a founding coordinator of the Human Rights Radio Programme on Radio Nepal (1995–1999). He also served as a Member of the Government of Nepal’s High-Level Committee for Drafting Mass Media Policy (2016) and the Public Service Broadcasting Taskforce (2015).
Dr. Aryal has represented Nepal in over 30 international seminars, conferences, and training programs across Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Recent highlights include convening the Kathmandu Conference on Combating Misinformation 2026 at Tribhuvan University, serving as a speaker at UNESCO-affiliated workshops on digital platform governance in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka (2025–2026), co-chairing the 3rd Trans-Himalaya Communication and Social Development Conference (2025), and serving as Visiting Professor at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu (2025). He is a recipient of the Kwanhun-KPF Press Fellowship, South Korea (2014), and has presented at the International Criminal Court’s Assembly of State Parties (2006) and the UN Committee against Torture session in Geneva (2005).
