Congratulations to Ananya Tiwari, PhD candidate in Educational Psychology, for winning the 2020 Illinois Innovation Prize! The Illinois Innovation Prize (IIP) of $20,000 is awarded annually to a creative and passionate student working towards innovative solutions that could have a positive societal impact.
Tiwari is the co-founder of SwaTaleem Foundation, which strives to transform government schools in remote parts of India into model schools to solve the complex problem of child marriage and increase educational outcomes for young girls.
By using a human centered transformative approach, along with integrating socio-emotional learning with school education of girls and the teachers, SwaTaleem aims to enable constructive engagement of the primary stakeholders (adolescent girls, teachers, government officials, and funders) towards driving educational outcomes through active participation, feedback, and creating opportunities to collectively problem-solve. The Foundation fosters participatory development by enhancing leadership capacities of the primary stakeholders towards driving their own transformation.
Tiwari was one of four finalists considered by the Grainger College of Engineering's Technology Entrepreneur Center (TEC), that hosts the annual competition. Since 2007, over $300,000 has been awarded to student innovators. The awards ceremony was held virtually on Thursday, April 2.
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