New Delhi, Jan 19 (IANS): Professor Urbasi Sinha from Bengaluru-based Raman Research Institute (RRI) has been honoured with the 'Gates-Cambridge Impact Prize 2025' by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation at Cambridge, the UK, it was announced on Sunday.
A faculty in the ‘Light and Matter Physics’ theme at the RRI, professor Sinha is among the eight winners of Gates-Cambridge's Impact Prize to celebrate its 25th anniversary, according to a statement by the Ministry of Science & Technology.
“I have seen how the scholarship has evolved over the 25 years and am thrilled to celebrate its anniversary and to be recognised for my work over a similar time span,” she said, adding that “It is very humbling, but also makes me believe in the impact I can have in the next 25 years.”
According to the nomination for her Gates-Cambridge Impact Prize, “professor Sinha’s vision and dedication are paving the way for a future where quantum computing serves as a catalyst for solving humanity’s most pressing issues, embodying the true spirit of science in service of global progress.”
She is a researcher in both quantum fundamentals and technologies and heads the Quantum Information and Computing (QuIC) lab at RRI an autonomous institute of Department of Science and Technology.
Her lab was one of the first in India to manufacture and establish the usage of heralded and entangled photon sources towards various applications in the following areas: quantum communication, quantum computing, quantum optics and quantum fundamentals and information processing.
Professor Sinha has leadership roles in the recently announced ‘National Quantum Mission’. This initiative encourages research and development in quantum technologies with an aim of making India globally competitive in quantum innovation, according to the ministry.
She was awarded the prestigious Rashtriya Vigyan Yuva Puraskar by the government. She is also a recipient of the Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Photonic Quantum Science and Technologies, University of Calgary, Canada.
She has played a leading role in the creation of the Open Quantum Institute (OQI), first of its kind multi-stakeholder institution, launched at CERN in March last year.