Resurrection and some (badly overdue) updates

Well, what can I say…the last 4 months have been a blur!

Apart from completing one full year since we officially started Onward (we still haven’t celebrated that yet!), we’ve been neck deep in projects, deadlines, fieldwork, analysis, business development…you name it. Of course, all good problems to have, for a young organization (or, so they say!)!

Here are some of the significant developments…

Firstly, 2 recent additions to the Onward team…

1. Samrat Nawle (Senior Researcher)
   Samrat joined us in early June this year. With a degree in Industrial Design from National Institute of Design, Samrat has over 7 years’ experience in User Research, Contextual Studies & Innovation, and Product Design (specifically automobile design). Prior to joining Onward, he worked with Human Factors International (Contextual Innovation team) and Reva Automobiles. Aside from his really weird (?!) sense of humour, Samrat brings with him an undying sense of commitment and passion for user centered innovation, and has already started making a huge difference to the work we’ve been doing.
2. Ranjit Singh Research Associate)
   Our most recent team member (joined barely 2 weeks ago), Ranjit has a B.Tech degree in ICT (interesting, eh?) from Dirubhai Ambani Institute of Information & Communication Technology (DA-IICT), Ahmedabad. He’s been working on academic projects for the last year in a variety of areas including – Information visualization of a Tribal healthcare initiative, developing a model for understanding indigenous innovation systems in India (Worked as Research Assistant on case studies of grass-root innovation in India encompassing the notion of coping, Jugaad – the bricoleur’s approach – and the middleman as a fixer) — and also worked as a freelance journalist for DNA, Ahmedabad (extensive statistical research on trend stories, feature stories on the city of Ahmedabad, technology reporting). Unsurprisingly (for those who know him), he chose to stay away from the typical “software engineering” jobs, to pursue his passion for Innovation, Information Design and User Research.

More updates coming soon (really)!