Filtered Himself Out for Years. A Facebook Post Led to Chevening

Bishwaraj Bhattarai knew about Chevening for years before he applied.

He wasn't unaware of it. He wasn't waiting to discover it. He had seen it, read about it, looked at the profiles of people who had won it, and quietly, consistently, filtered himself out. His experience as an engineering lecturer in Kathmandu, he told himself, was probably not the right fit for the kind of Masters he wanted to pursue. The profiles of Chevening awardees seemed, in his own words, "way above" his. (Fun fact: And most people self-filter themselves without even applying!)

In October 2015, he was in Europe for a funded international conference on sustainable development, his first serious exposure to the global energy and sustainability community. Think about what that moment actually represented: someone who had told himself he wasn't Chevening material had just been selected, funded, and flown to Europe to participate in an international conference on the exact subject he wanted to study. The evidence of his profile was already there. He just hadn't seen it that way.

He was heading to the airport to fly back to Kathmandu when he saw a Facebook post: Chevening applications were open for 2016.

Something shifted. The conference energy still fresh. A decade of online courses, published articles, and genuine interest in energy and sustainability suddenly visible, not as scattered pursuits, but as a coherent body of evidence. The same profile he had been discounting for years looked different from this vantage point.

He didn't commit at the airport. But he stopped filtering himself out.

———

Back in Nepal, the hesitation returned in full.

He had two strong leads for funded PhD programmes in North America, that path felt more aligned with his academic profile. He had excellent grades but limited conventional professional experience: barely two years post-graduation, working as an engineering lecturer, with research assistant experience from his undergraduate years. He looked at the profiles of Chevening awardees and saw what appeared to be a different league entirely.

Two forces pulled him back from applying: the profile comparison, and an unresolved question about whether his work experience even met the requirements.

He did something practical. He went to an information session at the British Embassy in Kathmandu. (Very much recommended if you are also confused!)

Walking out of that session, the work experience question was resolved, unpaid internships and research assistantships counted. And a different thought had solidified: if he left for a PhD in the US the following year, as planned, his chances of working professionally in Nepal's energy sector for any meaningful period would become extremely slim. This was, in a real sense, now or never.

On the way home from the Embassy, he decided to apply.

Bishwaraj's decision to apply wasn't just about whether he was good enough. It was also about timing, and a very specific calculation about the next five years of his life.

He had two strong leads for funded PhD programmes in North America. Both were in energy-related research fields, the kind of academic track that, once entered, tends to absorb you entirely for five to seven years. He had been building toward exactly that path.

But there was a problem with that plan, one he had been sitting with, not quite articulating, until this moment. If he left Nepal for a PhD in the US in 2016, he would be away during what was becoming an increasingly critical period for Nepal's energy sector. The country was at 20 hours of daily load shedding. The infrastructure investment needed to fix that was beginning to mobilise. The policy conversations, the projects, the institutional changes, all of it was happening now, and would have happened by the time a PhD graduate returned.

Chevening offered something the PhD didn't: one year. International education, a world-class programme, the network, and then back to Nepal. Not in five years. In one.

"The notion that it was now or never," he says, "helped overcome the hesitation about my profile." If he didn't apply in 2016, he almost certainly never would. The PhD track would close the door on meaningful professional work in Nepal's energy sector for the better part of a decade. And the window for contributing to the transformation of that sector, from the inside, on the ground, would be gone.

That clarity, about what he would lose by not trying, not just what he might gain by succeeding, is itself worth holding. Most applicants think about Chevening in terms of what it offers. He thought about it in terms of what its absence would cost.

Bishwaraj's approach to the application is the most analytically complete advice in this series. It's worth reading twice.

He spent 80% of his preparation time not writing, but thinking. Reflecting on his background, his journey, his aspirations, and how to present them in a way that would let a committee member reach a conclusion rather than be told one.

"I tried to frame my anecdotes such that the reader would likely reach the conclusion themselves, 'oh, he likes this, he'll probably do that', rather than me simply saying 'I like this, I'll do that'. The difference is enormous."

The framework he built his essays around has three parts, and each one is doing different work:

First: where you are now and how you got there.

Not just a list of accomplishments, but an honest account of your journey, given your specific context. What challenges have you navigated? How have you grown? What does being a driven person look like when you come from your particular background and set of opportunities? This looks different for a bank manager in Kathmandu than for a research assistant in Pokhara, and both can be compelling.

Second: where you would be without the scholarship.

This is the question almost no applicant thinks to answer, and it is one of the most powerful. What is your trajectory if Chevening doesn't happen? Does the scholarship meaningfully change your career path, or would you get there anyway through other routes? The more genuinely transformative the scholarship is for your specific situation, the stronger this answer becomes.

Third: what you can do with it, your impact multiplier.

Not just what you will do for your own career, but what the scholarship makes possible for the people around you. Does this opportunity extraordinarily improve your outcomes in ways that benefit society at a scale that would otherwise be unlikely? That is the question a Chevening selector is asking when they read your leadership essay.

His message to anyone who feels their profile doesn't fit the conventional mould:

"Programs like Chevening tend to look at candidates in aggregate, not just as the sum of individual criteria. A real or perceived shortfall in one area can be managed by exceptional performance or potential in another. Please do not be hung up on traditional definitions of what an impressive profile looks like. Your experiences matter, both life experiences and professional ones. That is, if you can communicate them appropriately."

He walked into his Chevening interview with something that surprised even him: genuine confidence.

Partly because he was prepared, he had compiled every interview question he could find online and built a bank of anecdotes and examples he could draw on for any behavioural or situational prompt. But also because he had already received offers from all three UK universities he had applied to, and was at the final stages with two North American programmes. He had options. That changed the stakes.

He used the interview with deliberate intent. Knowing that his professional experience was thinner than most candidates at that stage, he focused on demonstrating the attributes that didn't show up on paper: broad reading, a genuine interest in global geopolitics and policy, a self-directed approach to learning that had produced dozens of completed online courses across energy and sustainability.

"As applicants, we get limited opportunities to express our strengths. The interview is where you should try to communicate the message about who you are, especially if you are not as strong on the traditional criteria. The fact that you have been invited means they already like your profile. Now show them you are real, and why you are unique."

His specific advice for shortlisted applicants: identify one to three qualities or attributes you want the panel to take away that may not be obvious from your essays. Are you an avid photographer? Have you trekked to the base camps of multiple eight-thousanders? Do you moderate a large online community? Are you a competitive chess player? Weave those attributes into the conversation in a way that connects to your programme, your goals, your sense of leadership.

The interview, he says, comes down to two questions the panel is really asking:

Are you for real? And why are you unique?

In 2016, Nepal was experiencing approximately twenty hours of daily load shedding.

The Nepal Electricity Authority had just trialled a single Laxmi Puja without load shedding, one night of uninterrupted electricity during the country's biggest festival of lights, and the public response was euphoric. Twenty hours of cuts a day was the reality. One night without them was news worth celebrating.

Bishwaraj was sitting in a wind energy class at the University of Edinburgh when the discussion turned to NIMBYism.

Not In My Backyard. The phenomenon of local communities, in the UK, in Germany, across Europe, actively opposing the installation of wind farms, solar projects, and other renewable infrastructure in their areas. Clean energy. The kind Nepal was desperately building toward. And communities in some of the world's wealthiest countries were taking their local councils to court to stop it.

He sat with that for a long time.

"That moment was quite stark, in terms of the social priorities and perspectives between Nepal and advanced economies, and just how far we need to go to catch up."

And then he added something that turned out to be prescient: "NIMBYism may have arrived in Nepal much faster than the rest of social progress."

He was right. Nepal has since resolved its load shedding crisis, a remarkable achievement, and is now exporting electricity to India. But in that same period, community opposition to hydropower projects, transmission line routes, and infrastructure development has grown significantly. The NIMBYism classroom wasn't just a contrast between two worlds. It was a preview of the exact tension he would spend his career navigating: the gap between the technical and financial feasibility of sustainable infrastructure and the social, political, and community realities that determine whether it actually gets built.

Those are the moments a year abroad gives you that no course curriculum can plan for. You don't go looking for them. They find you.

Bishwaraj returned to Nepal and has since built a career at the intersection of capital projects, sustainability, and consultancy. He is currently Managing Consultant for Capital Project Delivery at ERM, a global sustainability and environmental consultancy operating in some of the most complex infrastructure and energy contexts in the world.

His MSc in Sustainable Energy Systems at Edinburgh gave him a technical foundation that sits underneath everything since, the ability to engage with energy infrastructure questions not just as a policy matter or a finance problem, but as a systems challenge that requires understanding how generation, distribution, storage, and community engagement interact.

The NIMBYism classroom moment was, in retrospect, not just an observation about Nepal versus Europe. It was a preview of the complexity he now works in professionally, the gap between the technical feasibility of sustainable infrastructure and the social, political, and community realities that determine whether it actually gets built.

———

There is a version of Bishwaraj Bhattarai who never applies.

Who looks at the profiles of Chevening awardees, decides they are in a different league, and gets on a plane to a PhD programme in North America instead. Who filters himself out, again, and misses the window that was already closing.

What broke that pattern was not confidence. It was information and timing, a conference that reframed his evidence, an Embassy session that resolved a practical concern, and a clear-eyed assessment of what he stood to lose by not trying.

"Sometimes the biggest barrier between us and our goals are our own doubts and scepticisms, especially when they prevent us from even trying."

If you are looking at this application and telling yourself your profile is non-traditional, or your experience doesn't fit the mould, his advice is precise and worth holding:

"Your experience, your journey, and your challenges are your strength. Please do not discount yourself if you do not fit the traditional box of an impressive profile. That might actually be your unique competitive advantage."

Read that last line again. Not consolation, strategy. An unusual profile, communicated well, is not a weakness to be explained away. It is a differentiator. The committee is not looking for the most decorated CV in the pile. It is looking for the most compelling case for why this specific person, with this specific journey, deserves this specific opportunity.

Do your research. Talk to people. Find out for yourself.

Then apply.

Applications for the 2026–27 Chevening Scholarship open in August 2026.

Is Your Story Next?

Every story on ScholarsNext began with one honest answer to one honest question. We are not looking for polished narratives or highlight reels — we are looking for the real journey. The doubt before the application. The moment the email arrived. What the year actually did to you. What you came home to build.

If you are a Chevening Scholar and you believe your story could change how someone sees their own chances, we would love to hear from you. Download the ScholarsNext Chevening Scholar Questionnaire or make a copy, fill it in at your own pace, and send it to [email protected]. We will draft your story, share it with you for review, and publish it only when you are happy with every word.

And if you are not a scholar yourself, do you know one whose story deserves to be told?

Forward this story to a Chevening Scholar you know. Share the questionnaire with them. Tell them ScholarsNext is looking for real stories, not the exceptional few, but the honest many. Every person who filtered themselves out for years, who walked out of an Embassy session with a decision made, their story matters to someone out there who is still deciding whether to try.

Your story belongs to you. We just help you tell it.

Bishwaraj Bhattarai is a Chevening Scholar (2016), Managing Consultant for Capital Project Delivery at ERM, and an MSc graduate in Sustainable Energy Systems from the University of Edinburgh. Connect with him on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/bishwarajbhattarai

Story #010 — ScholarsNext | Chevening Nepal Series

Know a Chevening Scholar whose story deserves to be told? Send them the questionnaire or drop a line at [email protected]