Theme: Deciphering Reality

TEDxBITSPilani is an event that aims to broadcast and organize numerous TED talks at BITS Pilani. The event aims at celebrating the mission of TED – ‘Ideas worth Spreading’ at Pilani campus of BITS Pilani. We believe ideas have the power to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. We aim to provide a platform that brings together people from all walks of life under one roof.

The Birla Institute of Technology &Science, BITS Pilani is an all-India Institute for higher education. The primary motive of BITS is to "train young men and women able and eager to create and put into action such ideas, methods, techniques and information". BITS Pilani offers degrees in engineering, sciences, technology, pharmacy, management and humanities. It is widely known as the best private engineering institute of India.

BITS Pilani
Vidyavihar Campus
Pilani, Rajasthan, 333031
India

Aashna Shroff

Lifestyle & Fashion Blogger

An Indian fashion, travel and lifestyle blogger and perhaps the one of the most known fashion vlogger and YouTuber in India, she studied Fashion Business at London College of Fashion. Ever the entrepreneur, she also has an online store The Snob Shop that is an extension of her own approach to fashion. Winner of the People’s Choice Award for Best Urban Style 2017 also the nominee for Cosmopolitan India Blogger Awards 2018, and has a swarm of 400k+ followers on Instagram.

Abhas Mitra

Indian Astrophysicist

A pioneering Indian astrophysicist, the former head of Theoretical Physics Section at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, and currently an (Hon) Adjunct Professor at Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai.Known for his distinct views, Dr Mitra has regularly questioned the mainstream cosmological concepts such as the Big Bang, Dark Energy and Black Holes; his claims have been backed by several scientists across the globe. Scientists have come to favour his claims over resolution of the “black hole information paradox”, which was presented 13 years before Stephen Hawking. On July 25, 2006, Center for Astrophysics, Harvard, issued a Press Release mentioning his original idea.It is extremely rare in Indian Science in post-independent India, that a fundamental idea developed within India has been the topic of a press release by Harvard or any Ivy-league institute.

Andrea Thumshirn

German Hockey Player | Hockey Village India

Andrea Thumshirn, the name might not be a household name in Indian hockey, but her work to develop the sport at the grassroots level is unmatched. Also a German Premier League hockey player, Andrea came to India as a tour operator and in the next 2 years, moved permanently to India to living a very basic lifestyle, in rural and remote Rajasthan. When she had suffered an injury, she quit playing professional hockey. So, she started coaching kids in the sport in Germany. She brought the same passion and love of the game to India, as the founder and head of Hockey Village India and also started a primary English medium school to provide better education to the kids. Hockey Village India, Andrea's organisation, was first started in Garh Himmat Singh village. She has coached 7 kids from the NGO to play in junior German league and took 5 of her students to Germany to practise in professional playgrounds and meet other players.

Daniel Doan

Co-Founder & CGO at Black Shell Media

He is a game designer and inbound marketing expert based in California. He is an accomplished growth marketer and has experience in building brands and growing communities for independent game developers and game companies worldwide. With his sound business acumen and his expertise in engaging audiences, he has achieved great success with his company, Black Shell Media, which has shipped more than 2.1 million copies of games on Steam! Also the author of 550+ articles ranging from marketing and productivity to game design and behavioural psychology, his articles have been featured on LinkedIn Pulse and Gamasutra. He is the lead developer behind the award-winning video game SanctuaryRPG on Steam, The world's first ASCII role-playing game on Steam, and has work featured in Forbes, IGN, PC Gamer, and many other leading publications.

David Belo

Artisanal Chocolatier

David began his career as a cocktail bartender, mixing drinks at some of London’s most prestigious cocktail bars, restaurants and clubs, including the London’s LAB bar as well as venues abroad before retraining as an artisan bread baker and pastry chef. On a visit to India in 2013 with his partner, found high-quality cocoa growing in Karnataka, which kickstarted his career as a chocolatier. David studied the alchemical healing arts, sacred geometry and music, and went on to bring those principles to his work with food when envisaging the Earth Loaf project. Currently, the co-founder, head Chef and General Manager at Earth Loaf -a dream of artisan project, with raw organic chocolate sourced face to face, unifying people with nature, and craftsmanship with creativity and nutrition. From ‘bean to bar’, as David is fond of saying, it’s a local Indian product — but it took a Londoner with Greek roots to make it and for David, it's simply his vision, translated through fine chocolate.

Dhrupad Karwa

Co-Founder & CEO HaikuJam

He is a 25-year old budding entrepreneur from Kolkata, India. He is a graduate in Economics from University College London (UCL), and is currently leading an enthusiastic team of 12 at HaikuJAM, an app which has profiled in Forbes,The New York Times and many other international media outlets.HaikuJAM is a social app for writing poetry with people from all over the world you don’t even know! Founded with the mission to realise a more meaningful universe by helping you speak up with people whom you haven’t even met, the app is helping people in over 120 countries collaborate to bring out each other’s creativity. Additionally, Dhrupad Karwa has pursued work for the European Parliament, alongside pursuing his degree at UCL, and has worked to strengthen relations between the Indian Government and the European Union. Dhrupad is also an avid reader, writer and a regular yoga practitioner.

Insia Dariwala

Activist | Filmmaker

Insia Dariwala is an Advertising and Mass Communication graduate from F.I.T New York and today, an award-winning international filmmaker who effectively uses her 14 years of expertise as a writer, director and executive producer to highlight social evils like child sexual abuse (CSA) in her hard-hitting films like 'The Candy Man' and 'Cock-Tale'.A social change maker, through her storytelling and visual arts, the founder of 'The Hands of Hope Foundation' and also the co-founder of an organisation called 'Sahiyo',Insia uses the medium of Art & Films to train the lens on social issues. While one organisation creates awareness in schools, communities & slums in India regarding CSA the latter empowers Asian communities to end female genital cutting (FGC). Actively involved with the WCD Ministry of India, in formulating effective Preventive Measures & Advocacy efforts on Child Sexual Abuse has won Insia many prestigious awards and accolades.

J Gopikrishanan

Journalist

An Indian journalist who unearthed the 2G Scam. Gopikrishnan has bagged several prestigious awards like CNN-IBN television channel’s ‘Indian of the Year’ in December 2010. He also presented a paper on ‘Telecom scandal of India” in coveted international journalists’ conference in Norway – SKUP in March 2012. He shifted to Delhi, to join "The Pioneer", an English newspaper, in 2008, where he went on to expose: the hidden list of companies floated by the relatives of then telecom minister A.Raja, midnight letters involving the 2G Scam exchanged between then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and A.Raja, hidden minutes of the meetings between then Finance Minister P.Chidambaram and Telecom Minister A.Raja. Gopikrishnan's major reports on the 2G scam, rocked the ruling Congress-led UPA Government and ultimately led to it's pummeling in 2014 elections, making J.Gopalakrishnan one of the most successful Investigative Journalist the country has ever seen.

Nabila Jamshed

Global Governance & Security | United Nations

Born in India, Nabila is an international security and global governance professional currently working with the United Nations. She has previously served as a political analyst with multilateral agencies and the UN in The Hague, in India, and with the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in South Sudan. She studied in Delhi, and did her Master’s in Global Governance and Diplomacy from the University of Oxford, England. Nabila’s career in the United Nations system began with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, where she worked as a Political Affairs Specialist. She joined the OPCW during the organisation’s work on chemical disarmament in Syria, for which it was later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. With the UN, she co-authored the UN Environment Programme and UNU’s Inclusive Wealth Report for 2014, written articles in various newspapers and specialises in the UN’s work on preventing conflicts, crisis response, and outlawing weapons of mass destruction.

Sahej Rahal

Artist | Sculptor

Sahej Rahal, born and brought up in the sprawling Mumbai metropolis, Rahal graduated from Rachana Sansad Academy of Fine Arts, trained in painting but branched out into other mediums of artistic expression. In early 2017, Rahal worked on art installations spread out across Liverpool city, with objects made using scrap metal and wood that he found. Followed by, exhibitions in Glasgow, Scotland, which were featured in 'The Week's Top Exhibition' in the UK.Art might be his first love, but storytelling is equally integral to this 28-year-old’s practice. Working with film, performances and installations, Rahal’s eclectic style has created waves both across the Indian art scene as well as internationally as he travels the world telling tales about everything from history and culture, to religion, science and fantasy. He has been a recipient of many prestigious international residencies and won the Forbes Award for Debut Solo Show, 2014.

Shraddha Shashidhar

Miss India Universe 2017

Shraddha hails from Chennai and is an Indian model, who was crowned Miss Diva 2017 and represented India at Miss Universe 2017, held in Las Vegas. Shraddha did her schooling at Army Public School and pursued a degree in Mass Media from Sophia College, Mumbai. She has been a sprinter, a national-level basketball player, a trained classical dancer. She has also taken up the noble cause of teaching Tibetan refugees at the Lha charitable trust and is one immensely talented woman.

Ujjwal Anand

BITSian Fluteboxer

Ujjwal Anand, a self taught fluteboxer, will be talking about how to push yourself and make things happen. He is a 3rd year undergraduate from BITS Pilani. He is currently the Team Leader of Electrical Power System, Team Anant. A technical team of students designing their own nano-satellite. He has also been the captain of BITS Athletics team.

Varun Sheth

CEO & Co-Founder Ketto

A former chartered financial analyst, working with ICAP, Varun Sheth left his job, and founded 'Ketto' in 2011, a crowd-based fundraising platform along with the Bollywood actor Kunal Kapoor.Today, this social entrepreneur is a part of Forbes 30 under 30, 2017 list and his Mumbai-based company Ketto works with 3,500 non-profit firms and has raised over Rs 100 crore for various causes through 30,000 campaigns. Born and brought up in Mumbai, Varun did his schooling from Jamnabai Narsee School and college in Narsee Monjee. Over the years, he worked with many a number of charitable organisations like Save the Children, Akshara centre and Mijwan Welfare Society, and went on to create Ketto, a platform, that gives people a chance to connect to and support different charities, anytime and from anywhere. Known as a very dapper Founder and CEO amongst his employees, Varun has proved to be a finance and foregrounding genius, heading a company which has raised nearly $5 million in 2017.