Basanta Khakurel

Hello, and welcome!

My name is Basanta Khakurel, and I am a computational and evolutionary biologist from Kathmandu, Nepal. I am currently a Ph.D. candidate at Ludwig Maximilians-Universität München (LMU Munich), working in the lab of Dr. Sebastian Höhna. My doctoral research focuses on developing robust statistical models for phylogenetic inference from morphological data. More broadly, I am interested in Bayesian statistics and evolutionary modeling, and in building more realistic and powerful methods for understanding the evolutionary history of life.

I expect to complete my Ph.D. in August 2026, and I am currently seeking postdoctoral positions. If your work overlaps with mine, I’d be glad to hear from you.

My path in phylogenetics began at Southeastern Louisiana University, where I earned both my B.S. (with minors in Chemistry and Political Science) and my M.S. in Biology under the mentorship of Dr. April Wright. For my Master’s thesis, I investigated phylogeny inference from discrete morphological characters, examining the impact of state-space partitioning and using posterior predictive methods to test model adequacy. My undergraduate research culminated in a study of species delimitation in the the Eastern Pinesnake complex (Pituophis melanoleucus).

On this site, you’ll find more about my research, publications, and professional activities. Thanks for stopping by!