Angels Of Pune: How VigyanShaala Is Breaking Barriers For Girls In Science Through Mentorship And Opportunity
· Free Press Journal
Pune: VigyanShaala International is our Angel of Pune this week. Co-founded by Dr Vijay Venugopalan and Dr Darshana Joshi, the organisation works to make science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education more accessible to young people, particularly girls from underserved communities, through mentorship, practical learning and career guidance.
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For many young women, pursuing a career in science involves more than academic ability. Limited access to mentors, research opportunities and professional networks can make it difficult to explore careers beyond conventional educational pathways. VigyanShaala International seeks to bridge this gap by helping students gain the skills, confidence and guidance needed to pursue their interests.
The organisation began as a volunteer movement of global scholars in 2015 and was formally co-founded by Venugopalan and Joshi in 2019. Venugopalan, who grew up in Pune and pursued higher studies in physics before moving to Europe, was inspired to focus on this work after travelling through more than 100 villages, schools and towns across India. He encountered talented young people, particularly girls, whose ambitions were often limited by a lack of opportunities.
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VigyanShaala’s flagship initiatives, She for STEM and STEM Champions, help students connect academic learning with practical experience and career opportunities.
Through She for STEM, undergraduate women pursuing STEM degrees receive career-readiness training, interact with women scientists and professionals, and undertake projects with the support of mentors. The programme also introduces them to research opportunities and helps them explore possible pathways into higher education and employment.
STEM Champions focuses on hands-on scientific learning through college-based innovation laboratories, where students can conduct experiments, develop prototypes and apply scientific concepts to real-world challenges. Fellows also engage with teachers and school students, encouraging scientific curiosity in underserved regions.
The emphasis is on helping students understand how science can be applied beyond textbooks. Through practical projects and interactions with professionals, they can explore unfamiliar fields, develop their interests and make more informed decisions about their futures.
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One example is Muralika, a young woman from a fishing community in Kerala who is pursuing fully funded postgraduate studies in physics at Technion, Israel.
Through the Kalpana, She for STEM programme, she connected with mentors, including Dr Darshana Joshi and Shalini, whose expertise in soft condensed matter physics helped deepen her understanding of the subject. She also had the opportunity to collaborate with Shalini on a project, gaining exposure to scientific work beyond conventional classroom learning.
Her journey illustrates how mentorship can connect students with academic and research opportunities they might otherwise struggle to access. Such support can be particularly valuable for young women from communities with limited exposure to professional scientific networks.
VigyanShaala’s She for STEM programme has reached more than 20,000 girls across India. Meanwhile, its STEM Champions initiative has helped more than 50 students pursue postgraduate studies at institutions including IITs, NITs, Fergusson College and Savitribai Phule Pune University.
The organisation has also received recognition from institutions and initiatives including the Department of Science and Technology, NITI Aayog, the Ford Foundation, Echoing Green and Nikkei Asia.
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VigyanShaala aims to mentor 100,000 girls by 2030. To achieve this, it plans to expand its programmes across underserved regions, strengthen partnerships with educational institutions and establish more innovation laboratories where students can experiment and develop solutions to practical problems.
It is also working to expand access to mentorship through digital tools, including CURIE, its personalised mentoring bot, which is designed to make guidance more accessible to students across different locations.
The larger vision is to create an environment in which a student’s gender, geographical location or financial circumstances do not determine their access to scientific opportunities.
By connecting young women with mentors, practical learning and pathways into research, VigyanShaala International is working to ensure that scientific talent is not limited by a lack of exposure—and that more students have the opportunity to turn their curiosity into a career.