Bala Nikku

Bala Nikku, PhD, hails from an agricultural family in India. He joined Thompson Rivers University School of Social Work and Human Service as an assistant professor in 2018. He served as a teaching fellow of the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) and co-chair of the Human Rights Committee of the TRU faculty association. Dr. Nikku served in academia and grassroot social work practice in India, Nepal, Malaysia, and held adjunct positions in the United Kingdom and Thailand. He served as founding director of the Nepal School of Social Work (2005–2011). Dr. Nikku received his PhD from the Wageningen University in 2006 and was awarded with a COFUND Senior Research Fellowship at Durham University, UK, in 2015. He served on the executive boards of the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW) and the Asian and Pacific Association of Social Work Education (APASWE). His research interests include green social work, wildfire disasters, pandemics, international social work, comparative social policy, and university community engagement. Dr Nikku currently serves as a member of the editorial advisory boards of International Social Work Journal and Practice: Social Work in Action. He is also associate editor of Social Work Education: The International Journal.