Prof. Shanker Thapa is a Professor and formerly Head of Department at the Central Department of History, Tribhuvan University. He is the First Dean at Lumbini Buddhist University
He pursued MA in history (1980), Bachelor in Law (1990) and PG Diploma in Buddhist Studies (2000) from Tribhuvan University (Kathmandu) and Ph. D. (1994) from Patna University in India. Trained in modern history in the beginning, Prof. Thapa later concentrated to Buddhism and started to work on different aspects of Buddhism of Nepal focusing on cultural history of Newar Buddhists and literary heritage of Vajrayana Buddhism of Nepal.
Prof. Thapa started academic career at Tribhuvan University in 1981 as an Asst. Lecturer and taught in various campuses. At the same time, he also pursued researches on various aspects of Newar Buddhism and its historical contexts in Nepal as well as Buddhism in China. Dr. Thapa also served as a Senior Research Fellow at the Academy of Korean Studies (Seoul) in 1987 and 1997, Long Term Research fellow at the ICSK, Seoul in 1989, Faculty Development Research Fellow at Patna University, India in 1991-94, Visiting Research Fellow at The Korea Foundation in 1998 and 2005, and Research Fellow of the Sumitomo Foundation, Tokyo in 1999.
Some of his books on Buddhism are- Agrarian Relations in Nepal, Peasant Insurgence in Nepal, Buddhist Monasticism in Theory and Practice, Ratnakar Mahavihara: A Vajrayana Buddhist Monastery of Patan etc.