Theme: Revelare

Revelare, in latin, means to unveil. This year, through our theme, we seek to put the spotlight on topics and conversations that are plagued with misconceptions, taboos and incomplete knowledge and unveil the reality behind them. Our goal is to help our audience see through the stereotypes that society has constructed and ergo, leave with an enlightened mind and a rejuvenated outlook of the world around them.

Amphitheatre, Ekya School, ITPL Campus
#2851, Friends Layout, ITPL bypass Road, Doddanekkundi Extension
Bangalore, Karnataka, 560037
India

Col. Dr Navaz Shariff

Conservation activist

Colonel Dr. Navaz Shariff retired with 33 years of decorated service from the Indian army. He was also deployed in an active role with the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in Sri Lanka in hostilities against LTTE. He was selected as the first Deputy Inspector General(Veterinary) in the Indo Tibetan border police force. His qualifications include masters in Veterinary medicine and a diploma in equine medicine and surgery from the prestigious Indian Veterinary Research Institute. He is a certified horse and Dog trainer, having judged many equestrian competitions and dog shows. Presently, he is the General Manager and Chief Veterinarian with People for Animals Bangalore, which is a wild life hospital and rescue centre.

Dr. Rohini Balakrishnan

Professor

Dr. Rohini Balakrishnan is a Professor at the centre for Ecological Science at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and Prior to this, she was an Assistant Professor. She completed her MSc., PhD. and postdoctoral research through 1985-1998. In addition to all this, Dr.Balakrishnan has been an active member in The Orthopterists’ Society and the Internal Society for Neuroethology. She also has given lectures at undergraduate colleges in the city on animal behaviour and produced an education bilingual audio-visual CD together with Samira Agnihotri on the birds of the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Sanctuary. Dr.Balakrishnan has published a large number of refereed papers, book chapters and general articles such as the Journal of Experimental Biology and PloS One. She is interested in how Orthopteran insects use a repertoire of acoustic signals for long and close-range communication in the context of mate attraction.

Dr. Shrisha Rao

Research

Received his PhD in computer science from the University Of Iowa and before that his M.S. in logic and computation from Carnegie Mellon University. His primary research interests are in artificial intelligence, bioinformatics and computational biology, as well as algorithms and approaches for resource management in complex systems such as that used in cloud computing. Mr. Shrisha Rao has worked on Agent-based Modeling of Emergency Evacuations considering Human Panic Behaviour, Agent-Based Modeling, and a Deep Neural Network for Fake News Detection, and in many more types of research in Artificial intelligence and related topics.

Dr. Vishwakirti Bhan Chhabra

Co-founder of The Mind Research Foundation

A visionary and a role model for youth, Dr. Vishwakirti Bhan Chhabra is the Co-founder of The Mind Research Foundation, a behavioural health organisation dedicated towards enhancing the mental well being of youth. With more than 14 years of experience in the field and a strong academic background, she has completed her PhD in Management with Research in Entrepreneurship Development. After more than a decade of working with companies abroad such as Trident Industries, Noted Careers, TCIS; along with the Government of India — Dr.Vishwakirti came to the conclusion that her deeper purpose in life was to give foundation to her motto of making “Every Mind Matters.” Through her foundation, she has created innovative interventions which has helped people develop their mental health capacity and foster a more resilient and emotionally healthy population.

Mr. Suhas Navarathna

Stand-up Comedian

Suhas Navarathna, born in an ultra conservative part of Bangalore, has been a rebel from the start. Dropping out of college, taking up stand-up comedy and disappointing his parents have been the key achievements of his life. Spanning a career of close to 4 years and has been travelling across the country to do standup comedy. His stand up focuses on the train wreck that is his life and the ramifications of his liberal beliefs in the face of ultra conservatism. "Suhas has the tightest bits in the country!" said Kanan Gill, as Suhas held a knife to his throat.

Ms. Malini Parmar

sustainable menstruation activist

Alumni of IIM Kolkata and Delhi College of Engineering CE, Delhi, Ms.Parmar has Global IT work experience spanning 25 countries and17 years. She now runs a social enterprise called Stonesoup.in which aims to make sustainable living easy while creating employment for women and has been volunteering for responsible waste management since 2011. She is a part of Green the Red - a team that promotes sustainable menstruation and strongly believes that Swachh Bharat is a possibility. She also received 20th Beti FLO GR8 Women Awards2018 for Sanitation and Menstrual Hygiene for Women.