Aayas Dhoj Joshi is a Morehead-Cain Scholar and international student from Kathmandu, Nepal, pursuing a career in solutions-focused environmental documentary filmmaking at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Aayas' work includes film and photography projects about indigenous-led conservation of wild buffalo in the Yellowstone ecosystem; buffalo rematriation and cultural revitalization with the Menominee Tribe in Wisconsin; community healing after Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina; conservation of critically endangered North Atlantic right whales on the New England coast; and glacial loss in the Mount Everest region of the Himalayas.

Aayas has contributed to projects featured or forthcoming on HBO, Hulu, National Geographic, NATURE on PBS, and PBS NewsHour. His personal projects have earned honors from the White House News Photographers Association (WHNPA), the Hearst Journalism Awards, and College Photographer of the Year (CPoY).

At school, Aayas serves as president of Visual Storytelling at Carolina (VisCom) and UNC’s chapter of the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA); head of multimedia and executive team member at the OhWell; a senior photojournalist at The Daily Tar Heel; and a resident advisor with Carolina Housing.

Aayas will graduate from UNC Chapel Hill in Spring 2026. with a B.A. in Media and Journalism.