Meet the TED Fellows

Zahra Al-Mahdi

Multimedia artist (Kuwait)

Artist using satire, dark humor and tactile collage techniques to reveal the unintended impacts humans have on their societies and ecosystems.

Feras Fayyad

Documentary filmmaker

(Syria + Germany + Denmark)

Filmmaker documenting the lives of his fellow Syrian citizens as they struggle to survive and save their neighbors.

Madame Gandhi

Activist (US)

Electronic musician and gender-rights advocate blurring the boundaries between art, performance and activism.

Kathy Hannun

Geothermal entrepreneur (US)

Cofounder of Dandelion, a green energy startup pioneering novel drilling techniques to make geothermal installations less expensive and intrusive.

Aparna Hegde

Maternal health innovator (India)

Urogynecologist and founder of ARMMAN, an organization leveraging mobile technology to empower, inform and serve the more than 14 million Indian women and children plagued by gaps in healthcare infrastructure.

Daniel Alexander Jones

Theater artist (US)

Performance artist creating unique and ritualistic dramatic experiences through music, monologue and improvisation by channeling Jomama Jones, a mystical alter ego.

Katie Mack

Cosmologist (US)

Theoretical cosmologist and scientific storyteller unraveling the connections between the smallest particles, largest interstellar objects and various ways the universe might end.

Itamar Mann

Human rights lawyer (Israel)

Author and litigator defending the rights of refugees who flee their countries and cross violent borders.

Barbara Maseda

Data transparency advocate (Cuba)

Data journalist exploring and creating ways to collect and share data in places where information is often manipulated and restricted, especially in Cuba.

Matthew Mazzotta

Urban community designer

(US + Canada)

Artist and activist creating unexpected built environments in order to engage communities in public dialogue.

Aaron Morris

Immunoengineer (US)

Scientist developing implantable technology to create an early-warning system for autoimmune disorders, organ transplant rejection and cancer.

Naomi Mwaura

Transportation activist (Kenya)

Transport entrepreneur working to end sexual harassment on Kenyan public transit by advocating for a gender-balanced workforce and training transit workers.

Rohan Pavuluri

Legal aid entrepreneur (US)

Founder of Upsolve, an organization helping low-income Americans file bankruptcy for free and navigate an increasingly complex and expensive legal system.

Gowri Shankar

King cobra conservationist (India)

Ecologist studying the king cobra and educating the people of India on the importance of this feared, maligned and now threatened reptile species.

Khalil Ramadi

Medical hacker (US)

Biomedical researcher developing hair-thin brain probes, ingestible medical devices and other innovative technologies to help us better understand how the gut and brain are interconnected.

Sarah Rugheimer

Astrophysicist (UK + US)

Astrophysicist studying the telltale chemical signatures on distant planets that could someday reveal the presence of extraterrestrial life.

Peter Schwartzstein

Climate journalist

(UK + US + Greece)

Journalist reporting on the immediate, present-day violence and disruption caused by climate-related environmental change.

Almudena Toral

Visual journalist (US + Spain)

Journalist reporting stories about migration, violence and trauma through documentary films. Currently tracking the difficulties and exploitation faced by immigrants and asylum seekers in the US and Latin America.

Bianca Tylek

Prison reform activist (US)

Criminal justice advocate and founder of Worth Rises, a national nonprofit working to dismantle the prison industry through policy advocacy, corporate activism, and community organizing.

Brittany Young

STEM educator (US)

Engineer-turned-teacher creating pathways for young people to careers in science, technology, engineering and extreme sports -- all around a shared passion for dirt bikes.