Basanta Khakurel

Hello, and welcome!

My name is Basanta Khakurel, and I am a computational and evolutionary biologist from Kathmandu, Nepal. I am a Ph.D. candidate at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU Munich), where I carried out my doctoral research in the lab of Prof. Dr. Sebastian Höhna. My dissertation, Toward More Realistic Models of Morphological Evolution in Bayesian Phylogenetics, develops statistical models for phylogenetic inference from morphological data, including models that let characters change their rate of evolution over time (heterotachy). 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 have submitted my dissertation and will defend it in November 2026. 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 Eastern Pinesnake complex (Pituophis melanoleucus).

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