Young Innovator Awards
The Conduit Young Innovator Awards recognise the effort and potential of changemakers between the ages of 18 and 28. We congratulate the winners of the 2023 Young Innovator Awards in the categories of Climate, Education, and Social Justice & Inclusion.
We congratulate the winners of the Young Innovator Awards in the categories of Climate, Education, and Social Justice & Inclusion. These talented young changemakers have showcased their innovative solutions and ideas that contribute to a better world.
- Katie Hodgetts – The Resilience Project (Climate: Winner)
- Shaheer Aslam Joiya – Fast Clerking (Climate: People’s Choice)
- Sara Berkai – Ambessa Play (Education: Winner & People’s Choice)
- Zak Marks – Kitt Medical (Social Justice & Inclusion: Winner)
- Ali Ghaderi – The Babylon Project (Social Justice & Inclusion: People’s Choice)
Meet Our Finalists
Click to see each category’s winners and finalists
Climate Finalists
Katie Hodgetts
Project: The Resilience Project (Climate: Winner)
Katie Hodgetts, founder/director the Resilience Project, fortifying a generation of resilience changemakers.
Katie (she/her), Global Youth Finalist for empowering young people (2018) and SouthWest’s 30 under 30 (2022), has extensive experience in youth climate organising. This includes campaigning with UK Youth Climate Coalition (UKYCC) since 2017, coordinating a team of youth in their national anti-fracking campaign, attending several COPs as a UK youth delegate and co-founding Bristol Youth Strike 4 Climate. She has coordinated 12+ mass mobilisations and delivered key speeches to crowds of >30,000 people alongside Greta Thunberg. She founded the Resilience Project age 23 after experiencing a campaigning burnout in 2018. Informed by her own experiences, her mission is to build resilience in the youth climate movements and create change-making spaces filled with support, inclusion, collective care and joy.
Shaheer Aslam Joiya
Project: fastclerking (Climate: People’s Choice)
Doctor/Surgical trainee, NHS Clinical Entrepreneur, Honorary clinical lecturer
I’m Shaheer , 28 years old, a life long immigrant who’s lived across 4 different countries. I work as a doctor and surgical trainee in the nhs. I love to teach and learn. During the pandemic I cofounded a free medical teaching organisation called the 6pm series and we’ve taught 30k + attendees and collected over 15k feedback forms. I am an nhs clinical entrepreneur and a honorary clinical lecturer for Glasgow uni. What I’m currently trying to solve is based on my everyday lived experience. I feel that our inefficiencies in healthcare not only fuel waste in the nhs but the entire world. I know that because I’ve done electives in 5 countries across 3 continents and vastly different economies. We need to change, intact we must change. I’d love to talk to you all about it.
Karishma Gupta
Project: Eslando
Fashion Technologist on a mission to accelerate textile recycling.
Karishma is the founder of Eslando Circular Fashion (formerly known as Satatland). She is a Fashion Technologist with over a decade of experience in working with mega apparel manufacturers in the East and retail Startups in the UK. She has seen the devastating effect on our land and rivers of producing way more clothes than we consume. She also worked with sustainable brands where she became disillusioned when she saw all those clothes still piling up in landfills.
She believes that by closing the loop on fashion through accelerated recycling, we have a powerful opportunity to reverse the trends of declining sustainability in our world through Eslando Circular Fashion.
Education Finalists
Sara Berkai
Project: Ambessa Play (Education: Winner & People’s Choice)
Ambessa Play founder, designing DIY kits encouraging kids to build.
Sara Berkai is the founder of Ambessa Play, a social enterprise encouraging children to build and learn through play. With a software and charity background, she volunteered and designed edtech workshops and later studied a master’s degree in Child Development at the University of Oxford. She has been awarded Innovate UK’s Women in Innovation award, Young ICT Leader by the International Telecommunications Union, and the AnitaB.org ‘Pass It On’ award. After 3 years of research and with children as co-designers, Ambessa Play has just launched a ‘DIY flashlight’ on Kickstarter with 480+ global backers. For every kit purchased, a refugee child out of school receives one for free.
Zubair Junjunia
Project: ZNotes
Founder of ZNotes, a global learning platform providing free access to high quality resources
Zubair Junjunia is an award-winning entrepreneur, who founded the global learning platform, ZNotes at the age of 16. To date, they have reached over 4 million students and 30 million hits from 190+ countries. Recipient of the Diana Legacy Award, Zubair is the National Youth Leader for the UK at the Global Partnership for Education, advisory board member at DEFI, Cambridge University and EY Foundation. An SDG advocate, he has been published and spoken internationally including at the 74th UN General Assembly, QF WISE Awards and first-ever youth moderator at the UN ECOSOC Youth Forum. Zubair holds a Master’s in Mathematics from UCL.
Joe Seddon
Project: Zero Gravity
Founder & CEO of Zero Gravity | Unlocking potential by propelling low-income students into uni, work and life.
I’m the Founder & CEO of Zero Gravity, a digital platform that mentors low-income students into top unis and careers. Inspired by my own journey from a single-parent background in West Yorkshire to Oxford University, I launched Zero Gravity with the last £200 of my student loan to level the playing field for the next generation. Since then, we’ve mentored 8,000+ students into top universities, partnered with major employers, and I’ve been recognized in the Forbes30Under30. I’m passionate about leveraging tech-for-good and driving impact through a social entrepreneur approach.
Social Justice & Inclusion Finalists
Zak Marks
Project: Kitt Medical (Social Justice & Inclusion: Winner)
Co-Founder of Kitt Medical | Multi-faceted creative living with severe allergies
I’ve lived with a severe allergy to nuts all my life. As a design graduate with multi-faceted creative experience, I decided to tackle the problems myself and millions around the world face every day as a result of allergies. That’s why I came up with the idea of an something that could be ‘just like a defibrillator, but for allergies’ in 2020 whilst studying design at university. Since then I’ve grown a small team, and together we’ve successfully launched our now multi-award winning ‘Anaphylaxis Kitt’ service with life-saving medication and training in schools and academies across the country.
Ali Ghaderi
Project: The Babylon Project (Social Justice & Inclusion: People’s Choice)
Ali is an actor, activist, advocate for refugees and founder of Babylon Project, which provides creative activities by and for young refugees, asylum seekers and migrants.
Ali is an actor and activist, and founder of Babylon Project, which provides creative activities by and for young refugees, asylum seekers and migrants. He has worked and volunteered with many charities and organisations, such as Our Second Home, Counterpoints Arts, and the British Red Cross, and has campaigned with Safe Passage and Together with Refugees for safe routes and to end the Rwanda Plan. As an activist he usually focuses on human rights, and has addressed the UNHCR via Human Rights Watch, both Houses of Parliament, and many conferences and demonstrations, speaking about the rights of refugees.
Frederick Fabian
Project: Resolut
Co-founder of Resolut | Entrepreneur, scientist and activist for a sustainable and inclusive future
Frederick is an entrepreneur and scientist with a strong determination to contribute towards preserving our planet while building a sustainable and equitable world. As one of three co-founders, he leads Resolut’s product development, harnessing his software and data expertise from his time as lead data analyst for MyFairMoney, a retail investment platform launched by the think tank The 2° Investing Initiative. Following the completion of an MSc in Climate Change, Management and Finance, Frederick is currently pursuing a PhD in Climate Science at Imperial College. When he is not working on climate change topics, he can be found in the forest or mountains.
Prizes
- Up to £20,000 cash prize
- Complimentary 12 month membership to The Conduit
- Mentoring or support from The Conduit community
Finalists will receive complimentary membership to The Conduit for 3 months. All prizes are awarded per category.
Judging Criteria
Our panel of judges have determined the winners based upon the following criteria: Communication, Viability, Innovation, Impact, Scalability, Applicant character and, How the funds will be used
Award Partners:
- Centre for Innovation and Voluntary Action
- Jubilee Foundation
- LIS: The London Interdisciplinary School
- MSN Fund
- Mrs. Melissa Murdoch
- The Roger Ross Fund
If you wish to partner for next year’s award, please enquire here.
About the Award Founders
CIVA: The Centre for Innovation in Voluntary Action (CIVA) was set up in 1995 to develop, pilot and fund new ideas for addressing social problems.
The Conduit: a collaborative community of people committed to creating a just, prosperous and sustainable future.
Conduit Connect: the go-to platform for impact-driven investors to seek qualified and vetted impact investment opportunities.
