Kaushal Sapkota (he/him/his)

Bio​

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Kaushal Sapkota is a Visiting Researcher at the Chair of Public and Nonprofit Management at the University of Freiburg's Institute for Economics and Behavioral Sciences (Germany), and a Doctoral Candidate (ABD) of Planning and Public Affairs at the School of Planning, Public Policy, and Management (PPPM) at the University of Oregon (UO) (USA). His doctoral thesis (which he plans to defend soon) focuses on the volunteering and prosocial behavior of university students in Nepal.

 

Kaushal is also interested in learning about the Nepali diaspora, nonprofit management, higher education, nonprofit management education, and teaching. Kaushal's work focuses on leveraging the power of higher education and knowledge in empowering mission-driven social impact initiatives. He is a mixed-/multi-method researcher with a pragmatist worldview towards research. At the University of Freiburg, Kaushal is involved in conducting a scoping review on race and ethnicity in organizational change and teaching an undergraduate seminar on Governance and Board Leadership for Nonprofit Organizations. ​Along with teaching and research, Kaushal actively prioritizes voluntary service to academia and nonprofit organizations, whether it is through his engagement in university-level initiatives like the Rehearsals for Life social justice theatre troupe at UO, academic community-initiatives like leading the Teaching & Learning Affinity Group within the International Society for Third Sector Research (ISTR), nonprofit board service in organizations like the Eugene-Kathmandu Sister City Association or individually through philanthropic and social initiatives. 

 

Kaushal’s academic background also includes an Erasmus Mundus joint master’s degree in Research and Innovation in Higher Education from the University of Continuing Education Krems, Austria, and Tampere University, Finland, where his thesis was on developing a framework to evaluate third mission initiatives of a business school in Nepal. Kaushal also has a Master of Nonprofit Management from the University of Oregon and a Bachelor of Business Information Systems from Kathmandu University. He is currently based in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. 

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Kaushal is from Kathmandu, Nepal. In Nepal, he was involved with King’s College (a local business school) in designing and leading their MBA Nonprofit Program, teaching graduate-level nonprofit management courses, and co-founding the Office of Safe and Respectable Learning (OSRL, a DEIB initiative). Beyond his professional engagement, Kaushal was also involved in nonprofit consulting (pro-bono and contracted), governance (as a board volunteer for nonprofit organizations), and fundraising for charitable initiatives.​

 

Kaushal is an ardent Liverpool FC fan, likes photography, loves traveling, and appreciates the arts (theatre, film, and/or any form of expression). He cares deeply about diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice.​

 

​Kaushal is a 2024 Oregon Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund (Sylff) Graduate Fellow and an Erasmus Mundus Scholar (2019-2021).  You can find more about him in his LinkedIn/or you can email him at kaushal.sapkota@vwl.uni-freiburg.de.