Ruchir Sharma

Ruchir Sharma is an international affairs and social entrepreneurship expert across India and Europe, with experience ranging from research at IIM-Ahmedabad to public policy and security sector reform with a Swiss inter-governmental agency, and from business innovation in the German technology sector to international environmental advocacy with one of Europe’s oldest NGOs and at the United Nations.

In 2017, he was selected as an MIT Global Entrepreneur and Indo-German Young Leader, and in 2018, named a Climate Reality Leader by Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project and helped ProVeg International win the UN Momentum for Change Award for Planetary Health.

He is also an international affairs commentator in the media, having been quoted in the New York Times, and contributing to the Huffington Post, FirstPost, Swarajya, and Russia Insider, with a keen interest in the BRICS, European politics, and international terrorism.

Career and Media Work

Having lived, worked, and studied across Australia, Germany, Greece, India, and Switzerland, Ruchir Sharma has worked on a wide range of issues across the globe, including:

 

  • Applying Marxist theory and Deng Xiaoping thought on contemporary Indian politics to develop a working theory of ‘Modian socialism’ successfully competing with a Nehruvian socialism that has been co-opted into a neo-colonial establishment.
  • Research on Swedish neutrality and foreign policy under Social Democrat Prime Minister Olof Palme
  • 4 years working on defence, intelligence, and police reform and gender mainstreaming in post-conflict countries with histories of inter-ethnic violence
  • Unionising unpaid interns at the UN, NGOs, and Diplomatic Missions.
  • Research on the history of terrorism and effective counter-terrorism strategies worldwide, under experts such as MM Mohamedou, Stathis Kalyvas, Richard English, Erica Chenoweth, and Andreas Gofas.
  • Policy work on deradicalising potential and current neo-Nazis and violent religious extremists through ecosystemic approaches.
  • Advising progressive political parties within the European United Left-Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) on policy, campaigning, and communications strategies.
  • Helping MNCs in the food industry adopt and switch to sustainable, healthy, ethical, and profitable slaughter-free protein technology as an alternative to meat.
  • Spearheading advocacy on agriculture-related emissions and solutions to address them at the UN.
  • Giving the first-ever TEDxTalk in the Middle East or North Africa to discuss the topic of plant-based food choices, rooting them in their long history as an integral part of culinary tradition in the region.
  • Interpreting across English-German-Hindi-Urdu for Afghan and Pakistani refugees and asylum-seekers in the EU.

 

 

 

COP23: Time to switch to animal-free protein?

United Nations
United Nations Global Goals
Publication year: 2017

U.N. Faces Scrutiny Over Unpaid Intern Who Slept in a Tent in Geneva

New York Times
Katie Rogers
Publication year: 2015

If It Happened Abroad: “Despite Street Protests And Human Rights Concerns, Peaceful Handover Of Power To U.S. Strongman After Disputed Elections”

Swarajya
Ruchir Sharma
Publication year: 2017
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At the Indo-German Young Leader 2017 Forum, Berlin

Presentation in Brisbane, as MIT Global Entrepreneur 2017

Representing ProVeg International at the Embassy of India, Berlin

With George Papandreou, Prime Minister of Greece, in Geneva

At the MIPIM Startup Awards 2016, Hong Kong for the EichenGlobal Advisor app

Projects and Achievements

  • UN Momentum for Change Award 2018

    As Head of Campaigns and Communications at ProVeg International, led their successful efforts to win the UN Momentum for Change Award.

    After leading the team working on ProVeg International’s climate change advocacy efforts at the UN Climate Change Conference 2017 (COP23) in Bonn, brought ProVeg’s climate-friendly school meal project to the attention of the UN, as a Lighthouse Activity under their Momentum for Change initiative.

    Thanks to these efforts, at COP24 in Katowice, ProVeg International won the 2018 Momentum for Change Award under the category “Planetary Health”, for efforts in reducing the environmental and human health impacts of school meals in Germany through plant-based food choices.

    This campaign worked together with the food industry, health insurance providers, catering firms, and schools to revamp school kitchens with efficient equipment, train cooks on how to create healthy meals with a fraction of the climate footprint of traditional school meals, and provide health insurance discounts for the beneficiaries of such interventions, in light of their improved health outcomes.

  • 'The Public Policy Tool on Our Plates' at TEDxCarthage

    Gave the first-ever TEDxTalk on plant-based food choices in the Middle East and North Africa.

    The organisers of TEDxCarthage in Tunisia were curious if Ruchir’s message of a transition away from industrialised animal agriculture at the level of the UN and Global North could be applied to societies and economies in the Global South, particularly the Middle East and North Africa.

    His talk, “The Public Policy Tool on Our Plates” touched upon ancient Greek mythology, the economic foundations of what we call “culture”, and the importance of postcolonial societies being proud of their food traditions and resisting the aspirational marketing messages and neo-colonial lobbying efforts of food and agri-business multinationals based in the Global North.

  • ProVeg International at COP23

    Led the ProVeg International delegation to the COP23 UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany.

    ProVeg is an international food awareness organisation active in five different countries – Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and the U.K., growing out of the internationalisation of the 150-year-old German Vegetarian Union (VEBU).

    ProVeg works with governments, private companies, public institutions, medical professionals, and the public, to help the world transition to a more plant-based society and economy that is sustainable for humans, animals, and our planet.

    Met with French President Emmanuel Macron, Indian Minister for Environment, Forests, and Climate Change Dr Harsh Vardhan, and Dutch MP Lammert van Raan.

    Handed over a petition with over 60,000 signatures demanding animal agriculture be placed on the UN climate change agenda and into national mitigation strategies. Ran an official event entitled “Reducing Livestock’s Long Shadow: Opportunities to keep warming well below 2⁰C”, with international experts on the climate impact of meat production and consumption.

  • Veg-O-Mat

    The first-ever election tool to measure the sustainability-friendliness of political parties.

    The Veg-O-Mat, inspired by Germany’s famous Wahl-O-Mat election tool, is the first voter aid of its kind, designed to help the public understand the policy positions of the major German political parties on animal welfare, the environment, agriculture, and plant-based lifestyles.

    The process involved interviewing 7 political parties (CDU/CSU, SPD, Die Linke, Alliance 90/The Greens, FDP, Animal Protection Party, and V-Party3) on their positions across 16 questions of interest to members of the Vegetarian Union of Germany.

    Using the Veg-O-Mat’s question-and-answer tool, anyone can easily find out which parties are closest to their own positions.

  • EichenGlobal Advisor App

    The first app in Europe to instantly valuate the market value and current rent for any residential property.

    The EichenGlobal Advisor app, available on iOS and Android marks a pioneering effort at demystifying the often complex world of real estate.

    Designed from the bottom-up, using the latest in user innovation approaches, the app taps into big data, to accurately evaluate the current market price and fair rent for every single residential property in Germany, and uses this data to bring tailored reports for any residential address to one’s fingertips.

    Anyone can use the EichenGlobal Advisor app to find out the market price and current rent for any residential address in Germany, with just the touch of a button. Plus, one can also access 10-year graphs tracking the price and rent trends for every city neighbourhood, town district, and rural village in Germany.

    All app features are open to the public, as it aims to democratise and simplify the often-daunting world of the real estate market.

  • Geneva Interns Association

    Unionising the (often unpaid) interns at the United Nations, international organisations, and NGOs in Geneva, Switzerland.

    Appointed Head of Social Affairs at the Geneva Interns Association in its first year of operation, to improve conditions for the large number of interns working in international organisations and NGOs in Geneva.

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