Kumar Paudel is the Founder and Director of Greenhood Nepal. He oversees the overall operations of Greenhood Nepal, including research, program development and implementations, policy advocacy, quality control and supervision. His work primarily involves interdisciplinary conservation research covering law enforcement, wildlife trade, community-based conservation, conservation strategy and policy. He uses a range of outreach and public engagement to share conservation research in simpler ways and undertake interventions to inform conservation policy and actions on the ground. 

Previously, he worked as a Research Associate at Lancaster University and as a Biodiversity Fellow at the University of Oxford. He holds an MPhil in Conservation Leadership from the University of Cambridge and an M.Sc. in Environmental Management from Pokhara University. 

Kumar is active in Nepal’s conservation community — working to curb illegal wildlife trade, scale up plants and pangolin conservation efforts and develop the conservation capacity in Nepal. He co-leads the Nepal Conservation Research Fellowship and contributes to the IUCN SSC, CITES and other policy groups. He was also awarded many prestigious national and international awards, including Pangolin Champion 2021, National Geographic Explorer 2023, and Future for Nature 2025.