Meet the Team
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Founder and CEO
Kohinoor Darda
(she/her)
Kohinoor holds a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience (Bangor University, UK), and has previously worked as a researcher at the University of Glasgow (UK), Macquarie University (Australia), and University of Pennsylvania (USA). Her research investigates how the brain and mind are engaged in and influenced by art, and how humans navigate in their social world. She is currently the founder and director of ARISA Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation in Pune, India. Through ARISA, Kohinoor aims to bridge the arts and sciences to advance interdisciplinary and intersectional research and dialogue, promote social change, and make the sciences and arts open, equitable, and accessible to all. She enjoys social interactions with fictional characters in novels and underwater aesthetic experiences when scuba diving.
Community Outreach Manager
Sanjana Edwankar
(she/her)
Sanjana is the Community Outreach Manager at ARISA. She holds a BA in Psychology and has done post graduate certification in Counselling Psychology. She has recently completed Diploma in Applied Theatre. She has extensive experience in working with adolescents from marginalized communities in individual and group settings through her work with various NGOs and public schools. She has also worked in the field of adoption as a counsellor, guiding parents in their pre-adoption process and being a counsellor for post-adoption challenges. Sanjana takes an eclectic approach in her practice, integrating art, drama, and experiential activities in it. Her aim is to create and foster inclusive, respectful, and supportive spaces for growth and well-being.
Senior Program Coordinator
Madhura Deshmukh
(she/her)
Madhura holds a BA in Economics from Fergusson College, Pune, and an MA in Dance (Bharatanatyam). She is passionate about arts, languages, and culture and has been working at the intersection of arts and education for over seven years. She strongly believes in a multidisciplinary approach to the arts to enhance accessibility and create meaningful opportunities for artists. Madhura is also a trained classical dancer and has completed C2 in French. When not working, she enjoys films, music, traveling, and motorcycle rides.
Research Assistant and Social Media Manager
Tanvi Raghuram
(she/them)
Tanvi holds a triple major in Communication and Media Studies, English Literature, and Psychology, along with a Master’s degree in Clinical Neuropsychology. As an intersectional feminist, she actively integrates her work with the advocacy and empowerment of typically Othered communities. Belonging to the neurodivergent community, she champions a multidisciplinary and reparative approach to research, emphasizing inclusivity in neuroscience. Tanvi strongly believes in the soft power of the arts—especially cinema and literature—as a means of educating people on social politics. Her work reflects a commitment to bridging scientific inquiry with the expressive potential of the arts, fostering critical discourse and meaningful change.
Creative Coordinator
Hansika Mangwani
(she/her)
Hansika Mangwani is a Pune-based new media and mixed media artist. Her work merges cultural memory with scientific curiosity, blending emotion and rationale. She orchestrates light, sound, space, and time to explore subconscious dynamics within human physiology and emotion. At the core of her practice lies a fusion of technology, science, and humanity, creating transformative narratives that evoke well-being. With a background in Virtual Reality, she integrates emerging technologies with the tangible world, using art as a conduit for introspection and transformation, pushing its boundaries beyond convention.
Video Designer and Editor
Siyona Varghese
(she/her)
Siyona holds a B.A. in Psychology from D.Y. Patil University and an M.Sc. in Neuropsychology from Christ University, Bangalore. She is the host of Code Neuron, a podcast exploring the intersections of neuroscience, art, and human behavior. Alongside her passion for neuroscience, Siyona is a Cognitive Wellness Trainer, conducting workshops for professionals in high-pressure environments such as trading and law, helping them enhance focus, creativity, and cognitive resilience. She is also a trained dancer, with a keen interest in Bharatanatyam and the folk dances of Kerala, and a filmmaker passionate about creating short films and videos that blend science with storytelling. Outside of work, she enjoys watching horror movies, painting, and exploring new ways to connect neuroscience with art and culture.
Lab Manager
Sakina Bharmal
(she/her)
Sakina holds a B.A. in Psychology and recently completed her M.A. in Education from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. She has been the co-founder and co-host of 2 Pupils in a Pod, a podcast on education. Alongside her passion for education, particularly assessments and making them inclusive of student voices, she is also a strong advocate for mental health, especially within educational spaces. She aims to leverage the power of community and school spaces to promote student well-being and, through that, help mainstream mental health for future generations. A writer at heart, she dabbles in poetry, prose, short stories, and essays, and equally enjoys reading. On weekends, you’ll often find her glued to the screen, watching football and Formula 1.
Junior Researcher
Isra
(she/her)
Meet Isra, our youngest team member at ARISA since April 2024! A budding bibliophile, Isra dives into books with the same enthusiasm she plunges into pools. Her expert frown is reserved for new faces, but her smiles light up the room when she's making a monumental mess with her meals. Not just content with splattering khichdi, she's a curious linguist too—her favorite word is "Kay?" (Marathi for "What?") as she explores the world one question at a time. Watch out, world: Isra’s making waves, both in water and in wonder!
Dognition Expert
Bosky
(she/her)
Meet Bosky, the adorable canine member of the ARISA team, whose tail wags are as enthusiastic as her love for adventure! This cutie has a PhD in Dognition—mastering the art of outsmarting us all with her sharp mind and playful antics. Bosky is a pro at chasing balls and even better at cleanup duty, especially after Isra's mealtime masterpieces. Her favorite pastimes include leisurely walks, abundant cuddles, and giving Isra loving face washes!
Advisory Board
Prof. Anjan Chaterjee
Anjan Chatterjee is a Professor of Neurology, Psychology, and Architecture and the founding Director of the Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics. He wroteThe Aesthetic Brain: How We Evolved to Desire Beauty and Enjoy Art and co-edited Neuroethics in Practice: Mind, Medicine, and Society and The Roots of Cognitive Neuroscience: Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychology.
He has received the Norman Geschwind Prize in Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology and the Rudolph Arnheim Prize for contribution to Psychology and the Arts. He is a founding member of the Board of Governors of the Neuroethics Society, the past President of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics, and the past President of the Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology Society.
He serves on the board of The Global Wellness Institute and has served on the boards of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, Haverford College, the Norris Square Neighborhood Project, and the Associated Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired.
Prof. Emily Cross
Emily is a cognitive neuroscientist and dancer based at ETH Zürich, where she leads the Social Brain Sciences (SBS) Team and co-directs the Social Brain in Action Laboratory (www.soba-lab.com). Through her research, she uses complex action learning paradigms (often involving dance, acrobatics, and music), social interaction manipulations, and robots, in combination with brain imaging and brain stimulation, to explore how our brains and behaviours are shaped by different kinds of experience throughout the lifespan and across cultures.
She served as the Principal Investigator on the European Research Council Starting Grant entitled 'Social Robots', which ran from 2016-2024. Further funding of her research has been generously provided by the National Institutes of Health (USA), Humboldt Foundation (Germany), Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NL), Volkswagen Foundation (Germany), Economic and Social Research Council (UK), Ministry of Defense (UK), Marie Curie Actions (EU), Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol (Wales), Leverhulme Trust (UK), and the Australian Research Council (Australia).
In addition to research and teaching, she is passionate about raising the profile and participation of women in science, and engaging and enthusing the public about scientific research and how the arts and sciences and mutually benefit each other. She regularly presents public lectures and interactive events that have people interacting with robots, learning to dance, and/or discovering new and exciting things about the human brain!
Prof. Akhtar Badshah
Dr. Badshah is Chief Catalyst at Catalytic Innovators Group where he advises organizations and individuals to catalyze their strategy focused on social and philanthropic investments. He also conducts Purpose Mindset leadership Workshops with organizations to help individuals articulate their strengths and values and craft their purpose statement. Dr. Badshah is the Distinguished Practitioner at University of Washington at the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, the Business School, at the Bothell campus and a faculty advisor at the START Center in the Department of Global Health. He is the founder and curator of Accelerating Social Transformation, a mid-career professional development certificate course on social impact.
Dr. Badshah is a seasoned executive with over 30 years of experience in international development, managing a corporate philanthropic program and co-founding a global nonprofit for social enterprise. Dr. Badshah led Microsoft’s philanthropic efforts for ten years, where he administered the company's community investment and employee contributions.
Rukmini Vijayakumar
Rukmini is the Artistic Director of her Classical Dance Company, Raadha Kalpa, the Director of her Art Space, LshVa, and the founder of the Raadha Kalpa method, a pedagogical system for the practice of Bharatanatyam. One of the most sought-after Bharatanatyam soloists of her generation, Rukmini has performed all over the world. Her style, a unique reflection of her artistic practices. She stands apart with her innovative choreography, athleticism, arresting emotions, and attention to detail.
Rukmini’s primary training and rigorous practice of Bharatanatyam was under Guru Padmini Rao, Guru Narmada Rao, and Guru Sundari Santhanam. Her ideas of dance are influenced greatly by the movement philosophy of the Natyashastra, which has been preserved through the research of Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam. These codified movement structures, known as Karanas, were taught to Rukmini at a very young age by Guru Sundari. Also a student of western forms of dance, she graduated in 2008 with a BFA in Modern dance and Ballet from the Boston Conservatory, USA.
She has performed as a soloist all over the world, including the Jacobs Pillow Festival (USA), The Drive east festival at LaMama Theater (New York), The India Dans Festival at Korzo Theater (The Hague), Milapfest (Liverpool), Temple of Fine Arts (KL) amongst numerous other venues. She was noticed for her role as “the goddess of love” in Pandit Ravi Shankar’s Opera, ‘Sukanya’, produced by The Royal Opera house, London, 2017.
Board of Directors
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Dr. Kohinoor Darda
Founder and CEO at ARISA
Kohinoor holds a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience from Bangor University, UK, and has previously worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Glasgow (Glasgow, UK), Macquarie University (Sydney, Australia), and University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA, USA). Through her research, she investigates the cognitive and neural mechanisms that underlie our interactions in the social world and our engagement with art.
Kohinoor is also a trained Indian classical dancer (Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi) and likes to integrate her background in the arts with her interest in neuroscience in both her research and choreographic endeavours.
She is currently the founder-director of ARISA (Advancement and Research in the Sciences and Arts) Foundation, a not-for-profit research organisation based out of Pune, India. Through ARISA, Kohinoor aims to bridge the arts and sciences to advance academic research, preserve tangible and intangible cultural heritage, promote social change, and make the sciences and arts open, equitable, and accessible to all.
Outside of the research lab, she enjoys social interactions with fictional characters in novels and underwater aesthetic experiences when scuba diving.
Monish Darda
CTO & Co-Founder at Icertis
Monish is a cloud-technology pioneer and serial entrepreneur with a 30-year track record in the enterprise software space. As CTO and Co-founder of Icertis, Monish has overseen development of the Icertis Contract Intelligence (ICI) platform, the leading contract management solution in the cloud.
ICI is used by innovative companies like Airbus, Daimler, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft and Sanofi to manage 10 million contracts worth more than $1 trillion. Monish has also led Icertis’ successful deployment of cutting-edge AI and blockchain technologies, which have earned Icertis numerous industry accolades including recognition on Forbes’ prestigious AI 50 List for two years in a row.
With deep experience in distributed systems and cloud apps, Monish is the co-inventor of two patents in cloud resource management and provisioning. Monish led a string of successful ventures prior to co-founding Icertis, including the launch of BladeLogic’s India R&D. After BladeLogic was acquired by BMC Software, Monish contributed to BMC’s cloud management vision, laying the foundation for some of the early pioneering work in this area.
Monish has a BE in Mechanical Engineering and a Master’s degree from Florida Atlantic University. In his spare time, Monish enjoys playing his PS4—especially Call of Duty: Warzone. His other interests are Formula 1 and reading. He is a sci-fi aficionado and loves Isaac Asimov.
Col. Sarang Chavan
COO at Darda Solutions
Col Sarang Chavan is an Indian Army veteran with over two decades of active service experience. An alumni of the prestigious ’Indian National Defence Academy’, he tenanted many important operational and administrative appointments in the army across various levels including the successful command of an Infantry Battalion. He also served as part of the UN Peacekeeping Force in a multinational and multicultural environment.
He is an avid golfer and music lover, who loves to indulge in insightful conversations across varied topics. He is currently based in Pune and is the Chief Operations Officer at Darda Solutions, Pune, India.
Our Alumni
some of the amazing folks with whom we have been lucky to create!
Shradha Nagarajan
Shriya Parekh
Aalisha Jadhav
Varun Kheria
Samrddhee Pathare
Shweta Allam