ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM FELLOWSHIP - CLASS OF 2025
United Nations Academic Impact and MCN are proud to partner on the Millennium Fellowship. This year, 60,000+ young leaders applied to join the Class of 2025 on 7,000+ campuses across 170 nations. 290+ campuses worldwide (less than 5%) were selected to host the 4,500+ Millennium Fellows.
UNITED NATIONS ACADEMIC IMPACT AND MCN PROUDLY PRESENT RUKMINI PRIYADARSHINI DAS, A MILLENNIUM FELLOW FOR THE CLASS OF 2025.
O.P. Jindal Global University | Sonipat, India | Advancing SDG 12, SDG 13, SDG 11, SDG 17 & UNAI 9
" “Growing up in Assam, where floods and ecological disruption marked the rhythm of everyday life, I came to see that environmental crises are inseparable from questions of justice and human dignity. These lived realities shaped my commitment to frameworks of ecological governance that are not abstract but responsive to vulnerable communities, particularly women and children, whose resilience holds lessons for sustainability. I aspire to work at the intersection of law, policy, and community action, amplifying underrepresented voices so that climate justice is not a distant aspiration but a shared, tangible future. Through the Millennium Fellowship, I am excited to collaborate with a global cohort equally committed to advancing the SDGs.” "
Millennium Fellowship Project: Every Drop Counts: Sustainable Water Futures
‘Make Every Drop Count: Sustainable Futures in Water’ is a campus-wide water stewardship initiative transforming JGU into a living sustainability laboratory. Although the university has sensor-fitted taps and large-scale wastewater reuse, major losses persist in student housing, buffet operations, irrigation, and unmetered common areas. Through smart-meter pilots, warm-water reuse systems, behavioural audits in residence halls, low-flow housekeeping training, and a rainwater-recharge prototype, the project turns policy recommendations into measurable practice.
The initiative directly supports JGU’s Green Audit 2025 findings and the university’s Net-Zero 2035 Goals by reducing preventable consumption, strengthening Scope-3 water footprint accounting, and building a shared culture of conservation among 20,000+ campus residents. The Fellowship enabled us to bridge policy and practice, collect empirical data, and create a replicable model for higher-education institutions across India.
About the Millennium Fellow
Rukmini Priyadarshini Das is a dual degree candidate in Business and Law at O.P. Jindal Global University, India. Born and raised in flood-prone Assam, she is a native Assamese speaker from a historically disadvantaged background. Recurring floods that displaced families and disrupted livelihoods in her community instilled in her a deep awareness of vulnerability, further strengthened through hands-on work in relief, rehabilitation, and gender-sensitive disaster response. She extended this grassroots commitment through internships with the District Legal Services Authority and the District & Sessions Judge in her hometown, Tezpur, where she assisted with mediation, legal aid, and judicial drafting. At JGU, she leads the Water Working Group, advancing SDG 6 through audits, repair initiatives, and transparent dashboards that improve equitable access to safe water. She also contributes to The Final Stand on climate policy, engages in clinical projects on police accountability and welfare rights, and serves on the Peer Support Committee. In training with eminent practitioners and judges across trial, appellate, and constitutional courts, including Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, she is deepening her practice of bringing litigation rigour into equitable policy design. Her research on forest governance and climate justice has been presented internationally, complemented by participation in the JGU-Monash Winter Immersion Programme on sustainability and WWF-India consultations. She has also collaborated with Justice Michael D. Wilson of the Hawaii Supreme Court to advance climate justice discourse. Recognised with the highest grade of “O” in Global South and International Law under Dr. B. S. Chimni, she grounds her scholarship in Global South perspectives. Looking ahead, she aspires to bridge law, policy, and sustainability while amplifying underrepresented voices to advance the SDGs and UNAI Principles of intercultural dialogue and sustainability.
