Urbasi Sinha from Raman Research Institute honoured with Gates-Cambridge Impact Prize 2025

Professor Urbasi Sinha  has had a transformative impact on quantum technologies in three areas: fundamental quantum science, policymaking and practical applications. In the process she has significantly contributed to a shift in how policymakers regard quantum technologies, from it being perceived mostly as a risk to it being viewed as an opportunity to tackle our most pressing global challenges, including public health, climate change and food security. Quantum computing, for instance, is being used to study materials that absorb carbon in a number of different ways.

Professor Sinha’s lab in India has been able to generate consistently significant results in quantum science and technologies while delivering several global as well as national firsts. She has also won multiple awards and accolades, including the Chandrasekarendra Saraswathi National Eminence Award in 2023 and the Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar: Yuva Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award 2024 for Physics, the highest science prize from the Indian government in this category. She was also named one of Asia’s Top 100 Scientists in 2018.

In 2023, she was awarded the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Photonic Quantum Science and Technologies which now enables her to grow her science simultaneously in India and Canada, and through her continuous support for educational training programmes targeting low and middle income countries, such as the Open Quantum Institute’s quantum for all hackathons, she has been an outstanding ambassador for the field.

Now she is moving into the entrepreneurial field, having co-founded a start-up to produce practical applications based on quantum research, for instance, in relation to more precise medical imaging. Quantum algorithms in ECG imaging, for instance, allow for the detection of subtle patterns and anomalies that might be missed by conventional methods, potentially leading to earlier and more precise diagnosis of cardiac conditions.

Her nomination for the Gates Cambridge Impact Prize said: “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.”

Source: Gates Cambridge.org