Parsons School of Design, Transdisciplinary Design, MFA, 2025
Medha hails from the serene Himalayas of India and grew up in the vibrant city of Bengaluru, where she earned her undergraduate degree in computer science while volunteering with Guardians of Dreams, an NGO dedicated to children and childcare institutions. Her professional journey spans diverse roles, including recruiter at Accenture, project manager at the Association of Designers of India, and UX researcher at Curefit Healthcare Pvt. Ltd. Across these experiences, Medha has remained deeply committed to creating meaningful experiences and transforming systems to benefit people. Currently pursuing her MFA in Transdisciplinary Design at Parsons School of Design, she is focused on her thesis: Decolonising Education through the Lens of the Vedic Education System, exploring pedagogical frameworks that aid holistic development of youth.
As the Innovation & Design Fellow within the IRC’s Research & Innovation unit, Medha will support the User-Centered Design team in the testing and implementation of winning solutions aiming to address humanitarian challenges, selected via a crowdsourcing competition. These solutions will be prototyped in real-world or analogous settings to assess their deployment and user experience. Medha’s responsibilities will include coordinating logistics and communications for prototyping activities, developing prototyping plans, and strategizing for future large-scale roll-outs and partnerships. As part of her fellowship, Medha will also have the opportunity to collaborate with the Airbel sexual and reproductive, maternal and neonatal health designer to create a user-friendly implementation guide for program designers, drawing from past pilot projects and expert feedback.