Beyond the AI hype, Building Radical Futures of Hope with Young People

Aakash Sethi, a visionary leader, is transforming the education-to-employment landscape in India by driving innovative learning solutions that equip young people with 21st century skills and cultivate self-learning mindsets. Under his leadership, Quest Alliance has pioneered experiential learning models that prepare young learners for an evolving world of work, impacting over 2 million learners to date. 

Aakash has facilitated a community of over 40 non profit organisations working in the sector to share knowledge, worked with over 10 state governments to integrate a dedicated curriculum and build capacity of teachers and principals to create a self learning environment.

He has launched the Quest Learning Observatory, a collaborative space that integrates sustainable practices, interdisciplinary experimentation, and emerging trends, where members can reimagine, experiment, and co-create regenerative cultures for their organizations.

Aakash’s vision has shaped Quest 2 Learn, a flagship event into bold, creative, participatory process, co-created with young people in India who are demonstrating critical thinking, self awareness, reimagining career pathways and innovative, community led solutions.

An Ashoka Fellow since 2019, Aakash continues his unwavering commitment to empowering marginalized youth and shaping transformative educational pathways that redefine India’s future of learning and employment.

Anwesha Sen is Assistant Programme Manager for the Graduate Certificate in Public Policy (Technology and Policy) programme at The Takshashila Institution and researches AI governance, open source technologies, and data privacy. She holds a Master’s degree in Human Rights and International Politics from the University of Glasgow.

Bharath Reddy is an Associate Fellow with the High-Tech Geopolitics Programme at the Takshashila Institution. His research interests are at the intersections of technology, geopolitics, and India’s national interests, focusing on AI governance, open-source technologies, and telecommunications. He also manages the Graduate Certificate in Public Policy (Technology and Policy). Before joining Takshashila, he worked in telecommunications, developing software for 4G base stations. He has a bachelor’s degree in engineering and is an alumnus of the programme he now manages.

Fabio Nascimbeni works as Human Capital Development Expert at the European Training Foundation (ETF), where he mainly focuses on digitalisation and learning innovation. He is a Senior Fellow of the European Distance and eLearning Network (EDEN) and a Fellow of the CEST centre of the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and of the Nexa Centre of the Politecnico di Torino in Italy. Fabio has been active in the field of learning innovation and digital education for 25 years, collaborating with different universities and with international institutions such as the European Commission, the ILO and UNICEF. He has designed and coordinated more than 50 research and innovation projects across Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, the South Mediterranean and Southeast Asia. His main research interests are open education, learning innovation, digital literacy, digital inclusion.

Keertan Kini is a Board Advisor of the App Inventor Foundation, where he bridges his background in technology, policy, and education with global impact. He has taught technology, economics, and public policy at Stanford, MIT, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University; advised California on AI regulations; and crafted federal technology policy in Congress. A former founder and McKinsey strategist, he built autonomous-vehicle safety systems, published research on debiasing AI models, and partnered with Bay Area nonprofits on financial literacy–combining deep engineering expertise with policy innovation to shape responsible AI and resilient systems. He received his B.S. and M.Eng. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT, and his MBA and MPP from Stanford University.

Dr. Natalie Lao is the Executive Director of the App Inventor Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded by professors and engineers at MIT and Google with the mission of empowering students to create meaningful technologies that can transform their lives and uplift their communities. She also serves as Expert on Mission for UNESCO’s AI & the Futures of Learning project, where she co-authored the United Nations’s AI Competency Framework for School Students. She received her B.S., M.Eng., and Ph.D. in EECS from MIT at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), where she led research on developing user-friendly AI tools and constructionism-focused education programs across the globe. She was also Co-creator and Instructor of MIT’s Deep Learning Practicum course, and led the trajectory team for the MIT Inclusive AI Literacy and Learning project.

Sowmya is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) at the Takshashila Institution. She has 20 years of diverse experience, combining both the corporate and social sectors. After her HR stint with McAfee Software, she became an independent consultant and soft-skills trainer. This led to heading HR for an aerospace company. As the Chief Impact Officer at Rang De, she was able to drive fundraising initiatives, measure the impact of various community-based projects and interact with various stakeholders. In her current role at Takshashila, she leads all the efforts towards HR, corporate engagement, outreach and partnerships.

A United Nations Senior Executive with 20 years of work experience in managing capacity development programmes with focus on learning innovation and digital transformation. Worked with cross-functional teams on innovation projects across more than 50 countries. Diplomas from the University of Leuven and University of Antwerp (Belgium) and executive certificates from the University of Stanford and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Public speaker on Innovation, Strategic Foresight and digital transformation. Author of different toolkits, publications. Chief Learning Innovation of the Training Centre of the International Labour Organization since 2015. Specialized in providing sustainable learning solutions with the objective to generate impact and organizational change.
As a certified international facilitator (IAF) actively involved in strategy facilitation, participatory knowledge sharing, networked learning and ICT4Development. Passion for complexity adaptive thinking, intentional serendipity, foresight analysis and futures exploration.
The Programme he is leading has a double mandate: to strengthen the Centre’s in-house capacity to apply state-of-the art learning, communication and knowledge sharing methods and technology, and to provide learning, innovation and communication services to outside partners on a global scale. In this context he works closely together with UN agencies, development banks, international organisations, governments and NGO’s.

Shai Naides is Chief of Youth Engagement and Strategy at UNICEF Innocenti – Global Office of Research and Foresight, where he leads the organization’s Youth Foresight initiative and other youth-centered programmes, contributing to UNICEF’s youth strategy and evidence agenda, through research, foresight, and global reports. With over 15 years of experience across the United Nations and civil society, Shai’s focus has been on rewiring organizations to introduce new functions and ways of working, including models of meaningful youth participation in governance, research, and convening. A trained mediator and facilitator, Shai applies systems thinking, strategic foresight, and human-centered design to reimagine intergenerational policy design and embed child and youth voices in global decision-making.

Cat Zuzarte Tully leads the School of International Futures (SOIF), a not-for-profit international collective of practitioners based in the UK who use futures thinking to inspire change at the local, national and global levels. SOIF has worked with organisations like the UN, Omidyar, NATO, the Royal Society and national governments to build a sustainable and fairer world for current and next generations. SOIF also supports a growing network of Next Generation Foresight Practitioners.

Previously, Cat served as Strategy Project Director at the UK Foreign Office and as Policy Advisor in the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit. She is a non-resident fellow at the US Government Accountability Office’s Center for Strategic Foresight and a member of the Advisory Committee of the Chilean Council of Foresight and Strategy. She is also a board member of Teach The Future, British Foreign Policy Group and Academics Stand Against Poverty.

Cat’s mission is to inspire people, communities, organisations and governments to play with time and steward transformation by being inspired by the future.

Gauri Goenka is a Web and Graphic Designer based in Delhi. She holds a B.Voc in Web Designing from Delhi University and has completed a Commercial Art course from ITI Pusa. Currently, she is pursuing a Desktop Publishing Operator course at ITI BTC. With a strong foundation in design and a keen eye for detail, her work transforms ideas into visuals that stand out. Her design thinking approach and strong communication skills help her bring clarity and creativity to every project she undertakes. Constantly evolving both personally and professionally, Gauri continues to refine her craft and find innovative ways of creative expression.

Gyaneshwar Mehta is an aspiring electronics professional from New Delhi. He is currently pursuing an Electronic Mechanic course at ITI Pusa and a BS in Electronic Systems from IIT Madras. Passionate about both hardware and software, he is keen on exploring fields such as semiconductors, AI, and machine learning. He enjoys learning and experimenting with new technologies, aiming to build a strong foundation in electronics and innovation.

Aravani Art Project is a trans and cis women-led collective that uses art to celebrate identity, reclaim public spaces, and build visibility for the transgender community. Through murals, performances, and collaborations, the project turns friendship and storytelling into acts of social justice and collective healing. Rooted in friendship and resistance, Aravani Art Project collaborates with transgender artists and communities to create public art that transforms walls into voices. Each work is a dialogue on belonging, equality, and love—redefining what it means to be seen and celebrated in public spaces.

Bhargav’s Water Kiosk 2031 focuses on a futuristic waterscape in India, where water is no longer a crisis: the Government of India has ensured everyone has access to free water in the country. However, to correct historical wrongdoing and ensure people using water understand its value, those who have had easy access to water would be charged a privilege tax, or be levied a clear water debt that requires people to exert themselves physically to acces water. Those who have suffered in the past already know the value of water and the tax is nullified for them.

Bhargav is a New Media Designer, Digital Archaeologist, and founder of Studio IF. His multidisciplinary practice involves designing transmedia experiences for the preservation of diverse forms of cultural heritage and exploring how design and cultural thinking can inspire and humanize digital innovations. 

Dhruv’s project is an oracle that claims to reproduce the fraudulent prophecies of discarded futures. Every future emerges from waiting for revolutions to return to their inevitable places in the present. The mere act of counting in time is a prophecy that marks the turns between an expectation and a betrayal. Metronomes in tune and out of tune, bees and pollinators, the sediments of bedrock marking ringed counters in the memory of a planet, are all but clocks waiting to fulfil someone’s divination of time. 

Dhruv Jani is the founder of Oleomingus, an independent games and arts practice studio that operates at the intersections of postcolonial writing, interactive fiction, and digital historiography. His work interrogates the politics of memory and authority, employing hypertext as a tool to construct narratives that challenge dominant colonial frameworks and their contemporary legacies.

Rajyashri’s work, presented here at Q2L 2025, attempts to address anxieties over food security in the future, based on research done by the Regenerative Futures team. It also brings to attention historically marginalized groups that have been struggling with food and water security for centuries already, thus leaving them in an even more vulnerable position in the coming years. A set of 12-15 leaf plates sits on top of a long, narrow wooden table. Ceramic objects resembling food items like rice and rotis, pieces of meat, elements in nature like leaves, stones, petals, and pebbles, lie on the leaf plates. Some of the plates remain empty.

Rajyashri Goody is originally from Pune and now calls Goa home. Her research interests include food and water politics, religion, literacy and literature, mobility, and place-making in the context of caste-based violence and Dalit resistance in India. She works with found objects, paper pulp, clay, text, photographs, printmaking, and performance.

Shwetha’s work focuses on foraging as a collective social experiment for sustainable food futures. One of the key items in her foraging kit is the foraging apron, made from naturally dyed yarns and fabric that is hand-woven from hand-spun yarn made of indigenous cotton. It will be made by the Gram Art Project’s natural dyeing and stitching studio. After the foraging activity, the participants will make a booklet from foraged materials that talks about our experiences and learning from foraging.

Shweta Bhattad is a visual artist, sculptor, and performer. She’s a founder member of the Gram Art Project Collective, which is a group of farmers, artists, women, and makers. These are people with different ideas and identities, but they are connected by living and working in and around a village they all care about. This village is Paradsinga, situated in Sausar Tehsil of Pandhurna district of Madhya Pradesh, India.

composition and sound design for theatre and films. This experience opened up his interest in longer format storytelling and led eventually to the creation of Portal Waiting during the lockdowns of 2020; a time when the global pandemic forced us all to stop and take a second look at the disparity around ourselves and to reconsider our own roles in the economic machine that drives it. Portal Waiting is both a theatrical performance as well as a music album available on major platforms.

Madhura Ghane, aka Mahi G, is a rapper and poet from Kalyan, Maharashtra.
She uses her voice to spotlight real, raw, and often ignored issues. Her rap reflects the pulse of the people — from environmental justice to tribal identity and gender inclusivity.
Mahi G dropped her debut track “Jungle Cha Raja” just three years ago, with music by Rapboss. The song is a powerful anthem celebrating the spirit and struggles of Adivasi communities. It resonated widely, earning retweets from artists like Badshah and Vishal Dadlani, and was also shared by Raftaar, Dia Mirza, and IncIndia’s official page. Rooted in themes like Jal, Jungle, Zameen, the track refuses pity and instead celebrates resilience.

Since then, she has written and performed songs on the Hijra community, the Hasdeo jungle protest, rape culture, and the destructive obsession with development. For Mahi G, rap is more than entertainment — it is activism, storytelling, and truth-telling.

First Drop Change Foundation, a Section 8 company, endeavours to use Applied Theatre and Expressive arts to engage in social and cultural welfare of different communities including socially and economically underprivileged groups, healthcare professionals, caregivers, patients, in the space of disability, and more. The foundation uses Applied theatre as a tool of expression for groups and individuals trying to integrate with the mainstream including people with disabilities, women who have undergone abuse, victims of discrimination and more, and also to train community workers in the use of theatre as a medium for community engagement and capacity building.

Wild Wild Women is India’s first all-women hip-hop collective, a crew born out of Mumbai’s underground and raised on raw honesty. Five rappers, five distinct voices,
one unstoppable force – together, they flip the script on what Indian hip-hop can sound and feel like. Their verses cut through with grit and grace: stories of survival, resistance, identity,
and joy. Each member carries her own world into the music, but when they come together, it’s a wildfire – unapologetic, charged, and impossible to ignore.
Since their debut, Wild Wild Women have been breaking ceilings on stages across the country, from intimate cyphers to festival crowds, proving that hip-hop isn’t just a boys’ club. Their performances are part protest, part celebration, and wholly electrifying – a reminder that representation isn’t a trend, it’s a revolution. For them, rap is more than music. It’s community. It’s solidarity. It’s a promise to every girl watching from the crowd that her voice belongs here too.Wild Wild Women aren’t just artists. They’re architects of a movement – carving space, spitting truth, and making sure the mic stays in the hands of those who have something real to say.

Azeem Banatwalla is one of India’s most critically acclaimed comedians, known for his sharp writing and satire for over 13 years. He was a member of the iconic comedy troupe ‘East India Comedy’, and an instrumental part of writing their news comedy shows, comedy sketches, and viral song parodies. He is also the host of two of India’s cult sports entertainment podcasts, 4-4-Two and The SidePod.
This year he became the first ever Indian comedian to have a completely sold out run of 12 shows at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, with his critically acclaimed special ‘Generational’
He has two stand-up specials on Amazon Prime Video, as well as two more on YouTube, and his stand-up comedy videos have garnered over 10 million views to date.