Rise and Rhodes Trust Announce 2024 Cohort of Rise Global Winners: 100 Promising Young People Dedicated to Serving Others

2024 Rise Global Winners represent 49 nationalities, expanding the Rise Global Community to 13 new countries

NEW YORK, Sept. 17, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Today, Rise, in partnership with Rhodes Trust, announced the 2024 cohort of Rise Global Winners. One of Eric and Wendy Schmidt’s philanthropic initiatives to foster global talent, Rise supports promising young people, aged 15-17 and provides them with opportunities that allow them to work together to serve others over their lifetimes.

Rise partners with trusted global organizations in the public, private, and social sectors—including schools, nonprofits, and businesses—to elevate and support talented youth worldwide. The program connects these future leaders with needs-based scholarships, networking opportunities, and the potential for additional funding as they tackle the world’s most pressing problems.

“This year’s Rise winners are already addressing systemic problems in their communities and beyond, with innovation, foresight and leadership,” said Wendy Schmidt. “We look forward to welcoming the 2024 cohort into the Rise network, where we hope they will build the knowledge and relationships they need to make a difference for our world.”

The 2024 Rise Global Winners include the program’s first winners from Bolivia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Niger, Panama, Puerto Rico, Rwanda, Serbia, Sudan, and Syria, with 49 nationalities represented in total. This year’s Winners are a diverse group of talented and driven young people who are committed to building a better future through innovative ideas and solutions, including a fully automated street cleaning robot, an eco-friendly fishing net alternative, increasing accessibility to quantum computing education for primary and secondary school students, and a 3-D printed mind-controlled prosthetic arm.

Sample of the 2024 Cohort:

• Millena Xavier Martins (Brazil) created OBAFRO, the first event of its kind in Brazil focused on advocating for racial equality. Open and free to everyone, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation or socioeconomic status, the event aims to create an inclusive space to discuss and understand issues related to race and diversity. OBAFRO encourages participants to become agents of change in their communities, schools and society at large.
• Kristýna Říhová (Czech Republic) designed a new fishing net material alternative for euphotic zones called Fluoronet, which is non-disruptive to the environment, will reduce the number of loose fishing nets in the ocean and save thousands of animal lives.
• Daniel Alejandro Honciuc Menendez (Ecuador) founded “Redes Quantum Ecuador”, a quantum computing outreach network aiming to fill the gap in quantum computing education in Ecuador, from early ages. The project plans to provide resources to train physics undergraduates to teach quantum computing to children and a safe platform where parents can arrange one-on-one mentorships for their children.
• Enzo Ribeiro Visintin (Portugal) created “We – Your Supportive Neighbourhood”, a program that promotes community engagement as a means of combating hunger, poverty, and social exclusion. “We” establishes self-service points in strategic locations throughout the city that can be located on an affiliated app where donors and consumers can exchange products such as food, books, clothing, and toiletries, simply and conveniently.
• Vanshika Digania (India) created a robust and user-friendly AI model for predicting biological age. This advanced tool incorporates a broad spectrum of genomic, epigenomic, and proteomic biomarkers to uncover the underlying mechanisms of biological deterioration. Clinically applicable, ArogyaNex will aid in understanding age-related conditions and contribute to the UN’s ‘Decade of Healthy Aging’ goals.
• Ikram Omolara Babs-Lawal (Nigeria) designed and created a fully automated street cleaning robot to combat environmental pollution and health issues such as malaria by reducing the presence of refuse that breeds mosquitoes.
• Maha Zahida Nawaz (Pakistan) Created, designed, and 3D-printed an inexpensive mind-controlled prosthetic arm called MindArm, which doesn’t require brain surgery and provides a novel, low-cost alternative for amputees, stroke patients and paralysis victims of all socio-economic circumstances.
• Beyza Kaya (Türkiye) developed Plantzma, an eco-friendly ‘plasma fertilizer’, which reduces crop loss by enhancing seed germination and boosts root and vegetative development through enriching irrigation water with nitrogen species.

The full list of Winners can be found at: https://www.risefortheworld.org/global-winners/

“Rise is more than just a program; it’s a community of extraordinary young people who are passionate about serving others and making a lasting impact on their communities,” said Mark German, Executive Director of Rise. “The 2024 Rise Global Winners are a testament to the incredible potential of our next generation of leaders, and we are proud to empower them with the tools and resources they need to become agents of positive change.”

“We congratulate the latest cohort of Rise Global Winners and welcome them to the community,” said Elizabeth Kiss, Warden and CEO of the Rhodes Trust. “These brilliant, passionate, and committed young people are going to make a positive impact on their communities and the wider world in the years to come. As a 121-year-old organization committed to fostering public-spirited leadership, we are proud to be a part of these young people’s journey and excited about the life-changing educational and networking opportunities they will receive through Rise.”

The Rise community – now spanning 400 Winners and 1600 Finalists from 103 countries and nationalities – is committed to improving the quality of life for more people, enhancing human health and opportunity, and preserving as well as restoring essential planetary systems now and in the future. For more information, please visit: www.risefortheworld.org.

About Rise

Rise is a program that supports promising young people and provides them with opportunities that allow them to work together to serve others over their lifetimes. The program starts at ages 15–17 and encourages a lifetime of service and learning by providing support that includes need-based scholarships, mentorship, networking, access to career development opportunities, and the potential for additional funding as Rise Global Winners work toward solving humanity’s most pressing problems. For more information about Rise, visit www.risefortheworld.org

About Rhodes Trust

The Rhodes Trust, based at the University of Oxford, is an educational charity that forges brighter futures for individuals and the world through a family of global fellowship programmes. The Rhodes Scholarship is the world’s pre-eminent graduate fellowship, bringing exceptional people of character to the University of Oxford to study. Over 8000 Rhodes Scholars, from more than 50 countries, have gone on to serve at the forefront of education, business, science, medicine, the arts, politics and beyond. Alongside visionary partners around the world, we are proud to be a global family of programmes: the Mandela Rhodes Foundation, Atlantic Institute, Schmidt Science Fellows, Rise, and Oxford Next Horizons.  

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