ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM FELLOWSHIP - CLASS OF 2024
United Nations Academic Impact and MCN are proud to partner on the Millennium Fellowship. This year, 52,000+ young leaders applied to join the Class of 2024 on 6,000+ campuses across 170 nations. 280+ campuses worldwide (just 5%) were selected to host the 4,000+ Millennium Fellows.

UNITED NATIONS ACADEMIC IMPACT AND MCN PROUDLY PRESENT RIA KACHHAL, A MILLENNIUM FELLOW FOR THE CLASS OF 2024.
Shiv Nadar University | Greater Noida, India | Advancing SDG 11, SDG 17, SDG 7, SDG 12 & UNAI 9

" I’m excited to join the Millennium Fellowship because it offers the guidance and motivation I need to bring my project to life and establish it as a lasting practice at my university. The fellowship gives me confidence in my idea, knowing that experts in the field see its potential and will be supporting me every step of the way as I work to make my dream a reality. "
Millennium Fellowship Project: Project Himayah
Through Project Himayah, our goal is to decrease the amount of single-use plastic produced on our campus. Our basic framework revolves around a circular economy model involving collaboration among our university administration, on-campus food vendors, and established economic organizations dedicated to upcycling such waste. Each entity has a specific role to fulfill: the food vendors implement waste segregation in their establishments and help in consolidating single-use plastic waste, the administration facilitates the regular collection and shipment of this waste to external organizations, and the organizations, in turn, repurpose the waste into bags and other products, which are then utilized by the administration for corporate gifting purposes. Project Himayah serves as a small yet significant effort to build a community by raising awareness about the importance of sustainable practices. Our aim is to advocate for sustainable waste management practices and provide support to eco-enterprises specializing in transforming waste into valuable products. This initiative seeks to mitigate the environmental impact of plastic waste on the SNU campus while simultaneously creating job opportunities to help people from surrounding villages to gain more financial independence. We believe in wanting to make a mark for generations to come.
About the Millennium Fellow
Ria Kachhal, a final-year BMS student at Shiv Nadar University, is a 21-year-old environmental enthusiast from Delhi. Growing up, she was deeply influenced by the climate crisis, learning about it through her school, family, peers, and the media. Her passion for sustainability began in childhood when she practiced rainwater harvesting with her mother at their home. Currently, Ria is leading Project Himayah, which is focused on upcycling single-use plastic on her university campus. She is strongly committed to sustainability and aspires to make a global impact through her initiatives.





