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INK Fellows 2013

INK Fellows

Alicia Souza
Illustrator
  • Arts & Culture

Alicia Souza

Illustrator

2013

Often called “Happiness Illustrator”, Alicia Souza is an artist known for her quirky designs. Based in Bengaluru, India, she has built a loyal fanbase through her distinctive, lighthearted illustrations that capture everyday life, humour, and emotions. She runs two online stores, selling a wide range of illustrated products, including planners, stationery, home decor, and accessories. Her work is often inspired by her personal experiences, her pets, and the little joys of daily life.

Alicia has collaborated with major brands like Google and Netflix. She has illustrated five published picture books and was published as a solo author-artist with Penguin for Dearest George, a beautifully illustrated book based on letters exchanged between her and her husband.

Her unique artistic style and entrepreneurial spirit have earned her multiple accolades, including being featured in Forbes India’s 30 Under 30 list.

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Anand Gandhi
Filmmaker, Screenwriter
  • Arts & Culture

Anand Gandhi

Filmmaker, Screenwriter

2013

Anand Gandhi is an Indian filmmaker, playwright, entrepreneur, and thinker known for his groundbreaking work in cinema and storytelling. He gained international recognition for his debut feature film Ship of Theseus (2012), which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film and was widely acclaimed for its philosophical depth and visual storytelling. His work often explores themes of identity, consciousness, and the intersection of science and art. He has also created genre-shifting films like Tumbbad and impacted documentary cinema with An Insignificant Man. He executive produced the groundbreaking sci-fi comedy series OK Computer for Disney+. His films have premiered and won awards at eminent festivals including Toronto, Venice, London BFI, and Mumbai.

Beyond filmmaking, Anand Gandhi is deeply involved in science communication, artificial intelligence, and immersive storytelling. Anand founded SAFER, an informal network of scientists assisting governments during the pandemic. He co-founded Memesys Culture Lab, a studio that produces films, shows, board games, brand stories and science communication.

He produced the tabletop games SHASN and SHASN:AZADI, now played in over 75 countries. Anand founded ElseVR, one of the world’s first VR journalism channels. In addition, He heads the pioneering mythological storytelling studio Department of Lore.

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Andrea Colaço
INK Fellow from The MIT Media Lab
  • Science & Technology

Andrea Colaço

INK Fellow from The MIT Media Lab

2013

Dr. Andrea Colaco is a computer scientist, inventor, and entrepreneur known for her pioneering work in gesture-recognition technology and real-time 3D sensing. She co-founded 3dim Tech, a company dedicated to integrating low-power, real-time depth sensing into consumer electronics, significantly enhancing gesture-based interaction. Google later acquired 3dim Tech, incorporating her technology into its advancements in computer vision and AI-driven user interfaces.

Her research focused on real-time 3D sensing for mobile devices, enabling seamless, touch-free interaction. In 2013, she won the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition, one of the most prestigious startup competitions, for her innovative work in mobile 3D gesture recognition.

Andrea Colaco’s work has had a profound impact on computer vision, augmented reality (AR), and AI-driven human-computer interaction.
Andrea works at Google, specializing in computational sensing technologies. She has also been involved in Project Astra, a research prototype exploring future capabilities of a universal AI assistant that can understand the world around users.

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Anirudh Sharma
Entrepreneur Graviky Labs
  • Entrepreneurship

Anirudh Sharma

Entrepreneur Graviky Labs

2013
Anirudh Sharma is an Indian inventor, entrepreneur, and technologist known for his innovations in sustainable technology. He co-founded Graviky Labs, a startup that developed AIR-INK, an innovative technology that captures air pollution and transforms it into ink for artistic and commercial use. This invention has scaled to 14 countries, licensed IP to Heineken, DELL, Diageo, Mastercard, Mont Blanc, and several hundreds of thousands of printmakers across the globe. The Rolling Stones band made ‘Paint it Black’ cover art with it.

In November 2022, Graviky Labs collaborated with Johnnie Walker to launch the “Keep Walking City Collection.” This initiative engaged street artists worldwide to create city-inspired art using AIR-INK.

Passionate about taking things beyond the lab, he has been involved in the sketch to the scaling of new products used in healthcare, and sustainability industries.

He is an alumnus of MIT Media Lab and has worked on projects at the intersection of design, technology, and social impact, focusing on wearable computing and smart materials. He also created Lechal, a smart wearable shoe that provides navigation assistance for visually impaired individuals through haptic feedback. As a researcher, he has authored research papers and posters at ACM/IEEE UIST, CHI, and ICMI. His work has been featured by TED, Fast Company, Forbes, and National Geographic.

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Anu Sridharan
Founder-CEO of NextDrop
  • Entrepreneurship

Anu Sridharan

Founder-CEO of NextDrop

2013

Anu Sridharan is a climate tech entrepreneur with impressive work in improving urban water management in India. Sridharan holds a Master’s degree from the Civil and Environmental Engineering program at the University of California, Berkeley, where her research focused on optimizing piped network systems in developing economies.

She co-founded NextDrop, a social enterprise aimed at addressing the challenges of erratic water supply in urban areas. NextDrop provided real-time information to residents about water availability through SMS alerts, enabling them to plan accordingly. NextDrop’s innovative approach received significant attention, including features in Forbes and a TED Talk by Anu Sridharan titled “When will I get my water next?”

After leading NextDrop for over eight years, Sridharan took her expertise to other startups to help them scale their growth and impact. She currently works with SciSpace to lead partnerships and growth. Their mission is to make science more open, collaborative, and democratized. In December 2024, Sridharan launched “Climate Foresight: Signals and Trends Vol 1,” a newsletter series aiming to explore potential future scenarios in climate technology.

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Balazs Gardi
Photographer
  • Arts & Culture

Balazs Gardi

Photographer

2013

Balazs Gardi is an award winning photojournalist covering conflict, humanitarian crises, and environmental issues. His photography often explores underreported stories that evoke deep emotional responses. Gardi has worked extensively in war zones, documenting the impact of conflict on civilians, and has also focused on global water scarcity, migration, and climate change. His in-depth work during the Afghan war won him numerous awards, including the prestigious World Press Photo award, for his impactful and thought-provoking visual storytelling.

His raw and intimate war-zone photography has been widely published and has received international recognition.

Through a long term project, Stories from the Water Front, he documented global water scarcity and its impact on communities worldwide. This work sheds light on how water access shapes geopolitics, migration, and survival.

His work has been featured in major international publications like National Geographic Magazine, WIRED, TIME, The New York Times, Discovery Channel Magazine, among others.

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Elishai Ezra
Bio Engineer
  • Science & Technology

Elishai Ezra

Bio Engineer

2013

Elishai is the principle investigator of the Neuro & Biomorphic Engineering Lab (NBEL-lab.com) and an Assistant Professor at the Open University of Israel. In his research, Elishai studies the realm of brain-inspired machines, using artificial brains to develop new frameworks for robotics and vision processing. He is also the founding director of NBEL Innovation Workshops at Biohouse, Hadassah Medical Center — a design and engineering company which integrates computer-aided design, electrical and software engineering to develop novel medical solutions.

Elishai is an academic consultant at the Weizmann Institute of Science for Computational Neuroscience and a university lecturer for artificial intelligence, mathematical modelling, software engineering and computational biology. He is a graduate of Singularity University (2012, NASA Ames Research Center, California), INK fellow (2013, India), INK Trailblazer (2014, USA), Aeroli.to speaker (2016, Brazil), and Dean fellow for Neuroscience (2018, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel). Elishai Holds degrees in Life sciences (B.Sc), Philosophy and History (B.A), Computer Science (M.Sc), Bioengineering (M.Sc, PhD) and Computational Neuroscience (Post Doc).

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Girish Ramdas
Entrepreneur
  • Entrepreneurship

Girish Ramdas

Entrepreneur

2013

Girish is the CEO and Co-founder of Magzter, the world’s fastest growing cross-platform digital newsstand selling magazines and books. Girish’s foray into digital publishing comes from understanding first-hand the pain of being a magazine producer and getting people to buy magazines, in today’s difficult publishing world. Magzter is currently the only platform that provides publishers a host of tools that simplifies the digital publishing process, making it easier to offer digital editions globally. With 15 million+ users, 2,500+ magazines and 900+ publishers, Magzter is revitalising an age-old industry.

Girish has also earned six Indian national gold medals in rifle shooting, holds the national record in one event, runs 5 – 10 kms every day, and is an avid tennis player and golfer!

Isha Sharvani
Dancer
  • Arts & Culture

Isha Sharvani

Dancer

2013

Isha began her journey in dance at the age of 8 under the guidance of her mother and Guru, Daksha Sheth. She trained in yoga, gymnastics, and various movement traditions from different states of India, including Kathak, Kalaripayattu, Malkhamb, Aerial ring technique and Mayurbhanj Chhau. Today, she is one of India’s most prominent young dancers. She has also acted in both Bollywood and Malayalam films, and has films like “Luck by Chance”, “David” and “5 Sundharikal” to her credit. She has performed at various venues, including “Lets Dance” Festival in Leicester, Jamshed Bhabha Theater in Mumbai, The Perth International festival and at The South Bank Center in London.

Karthik Reddy
Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Blume Ventures
  • Business Leadership

Karthik Reddy

Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Blume Ventures

2013

Karthik B. Reddy is a prominent venture capitalist and the co-founder of Blume Ventures, one of India’s leading early-stage venture capital firms. With a background in finance and business strategy, he has played a crucial role in shaping India’s startup ecosystem by backing and mentoring numerous high-growth companies across technology, consumer, and enterprise sectors.

Under his leadership, Blume Ventures has supported innovative startups in fintech, SaaS, healthcare, and deep tech, fostering entrepreneurship and driving economic growth. A Wharton School graduate, Karthik worked in investment banking, consulting, and strategy roles across global firms before launching Blume Ventures.

He has played a key role in backing startups like Printo, Instamojo, Dunzo, and many more. As a thought leader in the startup space, Karthik actively shares insights on venture capital, startup scaling, and market trends, making him a key influencer in India’s entrepreneurial landscape.
He is frequently featured in media for his expert takes on India’s startup scene and what it takes to build a high-growth business in current times.

Kelli Swazey
Anthropologist

Kelli Swazey

Anthropologist

2013

Kelli is an American-born cultural anthropologist based in Indonesia, whose work focuses on the role of the media in the construction of religious identity. With a strong belief in the potential of new media to change perspectives, she is launching a collaborative platform to facilitate the circulation of stories and voices from the communities of Eastern Indonesia. Her work has landed her in interesting situations – she once lived with and studied the Toraja people of South Sulawesi, whose practice it is to live with the mummified bodies of their deceased relatives.

Krithi K. Karanth
Conservation Biologist
  • Science & Technology

Krithi K. Karanth

Conservation Biologist

2013

Dr. Krithi Karanth is a renowned conservation scientist, environmentalist, and Chief Conservation Scientist at the Centre for Wildlife Studies (CWS) in India. She is known for her extensive research on human-wildlife conflict, land-use change, and biodiversity conservation.

With over 27 years of experience, she has conducted pioneering studies on the impact of habitat fragmentation, voluntary resettlement of forest communities, and the effectiveness of wildlife corridors. She has collaborated with global organizations such as National Geographic and the Wildlife Conservation Society and has received numerous accolades, including being recognized in the BBC’s 100 Women List and the Rolex Awards for Enterprise. Her work has been featured in over 1000 media outlets including Washington Post, Time magazine, among others.

Apart from research, she has led projects that focus on educating and engaging local communities in conservation efforts. One of her notable projects, Wild Shaale, aims to educate children in rural India about wildlife and conservation, nurturing a generation that values and protects biodiversity. In recognition of her innovative approaches, Dr. Karanth was honoured with the 2021 WILD Innovator Award by the Wild Elements Foundation, becoming the first Indian and Asian woman to receive this accolade.

She also co-starred in Save This Rhino: India by Disney Hotstar and National Geographic.

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Luke Iseman
Director of Hardware at Y Combinator
  • Science & Technology

Luke Iseman

Director of Hardware at Y Combinator

2013
Luke Iseman is an entrepreneur and innovator known for his work in hardware startups and climate technology. He is the co-founder and CEO of Make Sunsets, a startup focused on solar geoengineering to mitigate climate change.With over a decade of experience in hardware innovation, Iseman has founded and led multiple sustainability-focused startups, including Boxouse, a company repurposing shipping containers into affordable housing, Growerbot and Soil IQ, which developed smart agricultural solutions, and re:char, a venture dedicated to carbon sequestration through biochar technology. His expertise in scaling hardware ventures was further honed during his tenure as Director of Hardware at Y Combinator, where he mentored and accelerated the growth of numerous deep-tech startups.

Passionate about solving environmental and social challenges with innovative technology and design, Iseman is on a mission to “Cool the Earth.”

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Neville Mars
Architect & Urban Researcher
  • Sustainability & Conservation

Neville Mars

Architect & Urban Researcher

2013

Neville Mars is a Dutch architect, urban planner, and researcher renowned for his work in sustainable city design. As the founder of MARS Architects, an award-winning firm with over two decades of expertise, Mars has been at the forefront of integrating data-driven design, green infrastructure, and adaptive architecture into urban planning.

His work addresses the critical challenges of climate change, overpopulation, and resource scarcity, with a focus on creating sustainable, livable cities in rapidly urbanizing regions like China and India.

He designed China’s first China-Dutch Ecocity and Asia’s first large-scale carbon-negative, land-use positive community-centered retreat in Bali. This ambitious project led to the creation of prefab sustainable villas tailored for construction in even the most remote and challenging environments.
Mars’s innovative approach proves that sustainable living is possible in the most difficult locations.

Mars is a lecturer at Diponegoro University. His writings, including the critical exploration “The Chinese Dream: A Society Under Construction”, delve into the complexities of urban expansion in China. He also published, “A Manifesto of Mistakes”, an exploration of evolutionary planning principles for pressured urban landscapes. Mars also leads The Dynamic City Foundation (DCF), a non-profit research platform dedicated to studying the impact of rapid urbanization in Asia and exploring innovative solutions to its many challenges.

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Param Jaggi
Eco Innovator
  • Entrepreneurship

Param Jaggi

Eco Innovator

2013

Param Jaggi is an environmental entrepreneur and inventor known for his innovative work in sustainable technology. His entrepreneurial journey began early; as a teenager, he gained recognition for inventing the Algae Mobile, a device that utilizes algae to convert carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles into oxygen. His passion for clean technology and sustainability has driven his career in green innovations. Jaggi also founded Hatch Technologies, a company focused on developing solutions at the intersection of environmental sustainability and emerging technology.

Beyond tech innovations, he also created two viral card games, 2016 Election Game & Done With 2020, both of them got featured in Forbes.

In 2024, he founded Agora, an AI-powered search engine designed to enhance e-commerce experiences by enabling users to search, purchase, and track products across numerous online stores. He has been featured in Forbes 30 Under 30 for his contributions to energy and environmental solutions.

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PS Jalaja
Visual Artist
  • Arts & Culture

PS Jalaja

Visual Artist

2013

Born and brought up in Kerala, Jalaja secured BFA and MFA in Fine Arts from RLV College, Kochi. Through her work, she tries to trace the history of ‘man’ within the collective ‘human’ history. This history has much importance in her works. Jalaja offers a counter vision of a wide laugh and a deep cry within the canvas of many histories of man.

Her most recent exhibitions inlcude, Mattanchey, curated by Riyas Komu, Uru Art Harbour, Kochi in 2017. Dissonant Image, three solos, Gallery exhibit 320, New Delhi in 2016. Face it: HERstory, curated by Bose Krishnamachari, Kashi Art Gallery Cochin in 2014. Walking on the Planet curated by Pietro Gagliano, Casa Masaccio, San Giovanni Valdarno, Italy in 2015. Being in her Shoes – ‘Celebrating Women’s Creativity’ Kalakriti Art Gallery in Hyderabad, 2015. People without Memory is a People without Future curated by Sumesh Sharam and Sererna Trinchero, Casa Masaccio, San Giovanni Valdarno, Italy (2013).

Rohan Dixit
Neurotechnologist
  • Entrepreneurship

Rohan Dixit

Neurotechnologist

2013

Trained in classical neuroimaging at the Harvard-MIT-MGH Martinos Center and Stanford Medical center, Rohan started a company called BrainBot which helps people be more mindful through biology. His work is based on his first-hand research with sadhus and monks in the Himalayas, where he recorded their brainwaves and heartbeat patterns during meditation. This culminated in a forthcoming consumer wearable device for increased calm and emotional self-awareness

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Ronak Samantray
Co-founder, NowFloats
  • Entrepreneurship

Ronak Samantray

Co-founder, NowFloats

2013

Ronak is the co-founder of NowFloats, a start-up aimed at make the internet relevant for India’s innumerable small businesses. NowFloats helps business owners without access to the internet or a computer set up and update their own websites entirely by SMS. An inventor at heart, this 2013 INK Fellow is also the co-inventor and chief advisor of Bolt, the world’s first smartphone charger for bikes, and the co-designer of a ‘Speech Glove’ which recognises finger gestures and converts them to speech

Sanvar Oberoi
Agricultural Entrepreneur

Sanvar Oberoi

Agricultural Entrepreneur

2013

Sanvar Oberoi is the Co-Founder and Director of Finance and Digital Technology at Bombay Hemp Company (BOHECO), a hybrid social enterprise transforming agriculture in developing economies. BOHECO is South Asia’s pioneering help company and is working with governements, scientists, farmers, industry and consumers globally to build an end-to-end ecosystem and self sustaining model which unleashes the supercrop’s tremendous socio-economic and environmental benefits at large scale.

He leads the BOHECO Innovation Lab, the organisation’s moonshot and fundamental research and nanotechnology domain. He has always been deeply affected by the growing number of farmer suicides and their state. He has mafe it his life’s mission to reinstate the status-quo of farmers, women artisans and producers in society and develop interventions to continually and sustainably improve their quality of life significantly. He’s a Ph.D research scholor in Business Economics and has been awarded the INK, Rajeev Circle and Ashoka Fellowship

Satya Hinduja
Sound Artist
  • Arts & Culture

Satya Hinduja

Sound Artist

2013

Satya’s 9 year long journey has ranged from scoring for Indian films to collaborating with Indian artists and musicians. While her artistic footprint has evolved from eastern traditional to western electronica, Satya’s spiritual vision is moulded by a blend of the two. Her label, Tabula Rasa, hopes to play a key role in revolutionizing the electronica movement.

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Shruti Ganguly
Producer & Director
  • Arts & Culture

Shruti Ganguly

Producer & Director

2013

Shruti Ganguly is an award-winning filmmaker and writer dividing her time between Oslo and New York City. She was a member of Obama’s ECCO committee of 30 leaders and creators in entertainment, chairing its Asian Caucus, and is on the Creative Council for Emily’s List. Shruti has made videos for Google, Unilever, Nike, Conde Nast, Chanel, and crafted the #MySentence series on prison reform for the Obama Administration. She has produced several films that have gone to Sundance, Venice, Tribeca and Berlin.

In late 2017, Shruti started honto88, a production company that works in a variety of formats – from narrative and documentary features to series, and branded content. She launched it with a narrative feature, Green Dolphin, by director Chris Kenneally and EP Keanu Reeves. Shruti worked for several years with James Franco on films, and produced an experimental art performance with him and Marina Abramovic, called Bird Shit, which premiered at the MoMA. Previously, Shruti worked at NYLON, MTV, and Conde Nast, producing the CLIO-winning 73 Questions series. Shruti is currently writing a genre film for Sony, and is developing a multi-generational drama for Netflix. She is a co-founder of the Resistance Revival Chorus and a Contributing Editor for Vogue India.

Shruti received her Bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University, and went to NYU’s dual MFA/MBA program at Tisch and Stern. She hails from India, by way of Oman.

Snigdha Manchanda
Tea Sommelier
  • Lifestyle & Life Skills

Snigdha Manchanda

Tea Sommelier

2013

Having grown up collecting exotic teas from around the world in her father’s old trunk, Snigdha went on to train as a Tea Taster in Sri Lanka. Under the tutelage of Tea Master Nao Kumekawa from Japan, Snigdha specialised in crafting hand-blended teas, and finally set up her own line named after her childhood treasure chest – Tea Trunk. Snigdha works closely with a number of tea estates across India to promote quality Indian teas – to her, India without tea is like France without wine. She next plans to launch a global learning hub for tea in India.

WEBSITE: teatrunk.com

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Sunil Khandbahale
Linguistic Enabler
  • Diversity & Inclusion

Sunil Khandbahale

Linguistic Enabler

2013

Sunil’s goal is to help Indians bridge the ‘language’ and ‘digital’ divides, due to the dominance of English on the internet and in technical published texts. He has developed digital dictionaries for mobile phones and computers with a repository of 9.6 million audio and textual words in 16 domains, like Legal, Agriculture and Pharmacy, in 22 different Indian languages. Educated in Marathi-medium in a village near Nashik, Sunil believes the root of the rural inferiority complex is the linguistic divide, due to which many abandon their education. He hopes to reverse this with his free platform

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Tendekayi Katsiga
Founder-CEO
  • Diversity & Inclusion

Tendekayi Katsiga

Founder-CEO

2013

Tendekayi Katsiga is the Co-Founder of Deaftronics-Botswana, a company which produces high quality, low cost solar powered hearning aids made by people who are deaf for people with a hearing loss. He is part of a team which developed the first rechargeable hearing aid battery, which lasts for 2-3 years and can be used in 80% of hearing aids on the market today. It is solar powered and can be charged via the sun, household light, or a cell phone plug.

The Solar Powered Hearing aid is an open source product. Tendekayi focuses on responsible and value based leadershop relation to sustainable business. He is an INK Fellow but he also calls himself an ‘unreasonable’ fellow.

He studied at the Microniks Technical College, Dorval in Canada. He is a PACE Certified Instructor/Examiner. Featured in Newsweek, BBC, Wired. Daily edventures Post, I am Youngpreneur, The Heretic, and Smart Planet. Recipient of a South African Desginers Awards (DISA) and National Design for Development Award (NDDA). He has worked in Zimbabwe, Canada, Brazil, Jordan, South Africa and Botswana. Recently received Potential for Societal Impact Award in the 2015 GIST Tech-I Competiton.

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Tushar Vashisht
Health Entrepreneur
  • Entrepreneurship

Tushar Vashisht

Health Entrepreneur

2013

In 2011, along with a friend, Tushar Vashisht conducted a lifestyle experiment living at the government-stipulated poverty line of Rs 32/day. The experiment and its documentation gave scientific voice to the poor, creating empathy amongst India’s privileged, and providing concrete policy solutions to the government. It also inspired him to co-found HealthifyMe, the world’s first Indian nutrition and calorie tracker for healthy living. HealthifyMe has gone on to serve 15 million users and has raised $35M in equity capital.

Prior to this, Tushar worked as a banker, and also helped initiate the Indian Government’s Unique ID project.

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Uma Ramakrishnan
Scientist, TIFR
  • Science & Technology

Uma Ramakrishnan

Scientist, TIFR

2013

Uma uses genetic data to understand the history, present and potential future of populations. Her early research explored how choosiness for mates impacts genetic variation, and the relationships between African click-speaking hunter-gatherer groups. Uma now applies her research to wildlife, using non-invasive DNA sources (like poop!) to investigate tiger population sizes over the last 200 years, connectivity between populations, and how species came to the Indian subcontinent, given their recent arrival to Asia. She is a National Board for Wildlife member, Ramanujan fellow and DAE Outstanding Scientist.

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Vandana Srinivasan
Musician
  • Arts & Culture

Vandana Srinivasan

Musician

2013

Vandana Srinivasan is a Playback Singer, Indian Semi-classical Musician, Independent Artiste & Live Performer based in Madras. She has been working in the Indian Film Industry for over a decade with many notable film numbers across languages to her credit, as well as Live Concerts around the globe. She has had the honour of representing Indian music at the London Olympics 2012 through a detailed live performance at the Olympic Village. She & her partner Anand Pattathil run Madras Mehfil, a Music Collective specializing in Ghazal, Sufi, Semi-classical, Devotional & Retro genres across all Indian languages. She is also keen on exploring the business side of things & is involved in a few interdisciplinary ventures. As for her current & future plans, she hopes to make traditional art forms more accessible by creating relatable frameworks through her collaborative musical explorations.

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