Ilina Singh

I'm an artist and scientist who believes that these are just two different ways to experience our reality and to make the world a better place. I love cycling, air pistol shooting and my dog Uzi. I am left handed and believe ice cream can make everything better. I am seventeen and have loved books since my parents cut the cable to wean me off my daily diet of cartoons.

My newly released book - The Gutsy Girls Of Science (Harper Collins, 2022) - is written in partnership with the UNESCO and tells the stories of Indian women scientists through my art, poems, essays, interesting games, quizzes and activities. I'm very excited to have this dream come true. All money I make from the sale of this book as well as my speaking engagements will be used to further the cause of girl child education in India

I am delighted to be one of the Indian women in science to be featured in UNESCO Delhi's flagship publication: "A Braided River". The publication examines barriers, biases and challenges for women in science in the Indian context and provides actionable recommendations to promote and retain women in science education and careers.

I dabbled in writing earlier - my essays won the UNESCO contest in 2020 and 2022 and are part of the books "Inside the Millennial Mind" and "Year 2 AC( After Coronavirus) : A Future Imagined by Youth" published by Takhte & UNESCO. I was one of the winners of the "Write India" contest which was judged by Ruskin Bond.

I started an initiative called Ilina's Art Throb over three years ago to speak out about issues close to my heart.

My ML tool - www.ilinasartthrob.com - identifies gender bias in stories and textbooks to flag content that educators, parents and of course children might want to reconsider.

The art created under this initiative has featured in two WHO publications on Alcohol Addiction and Suicide Prevention. The art series "Crayons & Labels" dealt with mental health among teens. It was converted into a film by the WHO and I acted in it as well so I guess that makes me an actor too.

I love coding and creating tech solutions to problems. I won the national Google Code2Learn Contest in 2021 for my ML project on identifying tigers using camera trap data. Also, I was the national finalist for three years in grades 6, 7 and 11.

I am currently undecided about what I want to study in the future, but I do know that it will combine my love of art and science.