Shivansh Gupta

Gurugram, India — June 2026Harvard University · Class of 2030Vol. I, Issue 1

Lead Story

Building at the mathematics & philosophy.

Harvard ʼ30

AI Builder.

Startup Founder.

Team India Debater.

Researcher.

Coder.

Obsessed with mathematics, philosophy, music & languages — and with thinking as clearly as possible about hard problems. Building ambitiously. Always becoming.

Full story →

I'm an incoming Harvard freshman ('30) and IBDP graduate. I founded The Teen Debater — Asia's largest youth-led debate nonprofit — training 12,000+ students across 250+ schools in 15+ countries. I represented India on the national debate squad (2022–24), competing at Harvard, Stanford, Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Toronto, and Georgetown.

I represented Team India at Eskom Expo ISF — winning the Gold Medal & Best in Engineering. Published economist (Oxford & Wesleyan mentors), built 300+ apps since age 12, won 2nd in the world at the Int'l Economics Olympiad. Spoken on BBC, ET Now & All India Radio — named a Top 50 Global Student Prize finalist.

I build big, ambitious things — AI systems, startups, research, content, art. Obsessed with AI, mathematics, philosophy, music & languages. Always pursuing: to become the best version of myself — and to help others do the same.

In action.

Speaking

Every room is a stage.

In the lab

I like love to work.

The Teen Debater

Asia's largest youth debate nonprofit.

Visit →

Gurugram, India · Harvard ʼ30

AI Builder.

Startup Founder.

Team India Debater.

Researcher.

Coder. Author.

In action.

Speaking to rooms. Shipping at midnight.

Speaking

Every room is a stage.

In the lab

I like love to work.

On the circuit

Countries competed

Continents debated

Top 10

Speaker awards

Intl universities

In numbers

Apps built

Age I started

World (IEO)

Media features

Lead Story

Shivansh Gupta · Harvard ʼ30

“Philosophy teaches you to ask harder questions. Mathematics teaches you to answer them.”

Read the full story →

“My biggest learning is to always keep learning.”

By Shivansh Gupta

I'm an incoming Harvard freshman ('30) and IBDP graduate. I founded The Teen Debater — Asia's largest youth-led debate nonprofit — training 12,000+ students across 250+ schools in 15+ countries, competing at Harvard, Stanford, Oxford, and Cambridge.

“Philosophy teaches you to ask harder questions. Mathematics teaches you to answer them.”

Full story →

Interests & identities

AI BuilderStartup FounderMathematicianPhilosopherDebaterResearcherCoderAuthorPianoPolyglotTEDx Speaker

The Teen Debater

Asia's largest youth debate nonprofit.

Visit →

I got accepted to Harvard, Yale, UPenn, JHU, Georgia Tech, UCLA — and more.

Creator

I create — music, content & media.

Music

Piano · Drums · Guitar

Content

YouTube · Reels · Shorts

Media

BBC · ET Now · AIR

100+Awards·

15+Countries competed·

4Continents debated·

300+Apps built·

Top 10Speaker awards·

2ndWorld — IEO·

284+Media features·

HarvardClass of ʼ30·

7+Intl universities·

12Age I started coding·

Asia's #1Youth debate nonprofit·

33Debate highlights·

TEDxSpeaker·

BBCFeatured·

100+Awards·

15+Countries competed·

4Continents debated·

300+Apps built·

Top 10Speaker awards·

2ndWorld — IEO·

284+Media features·

HarvardClass of ʼ30·

7+Intl universities·

12Age I started coding·

Asia's #1Youth debate nonprofit·

33Debate highlights·

TEDxSpeaker·

BBCFeatured·

Currently Exploring

Four frontiers.

§ A

Artificial Intelligence

Building at the frontier

Fascinated by the mathematical structures underlying intelligence — from transformer architectures to reasoning systems and alignment. Building AI tools and exploring what it means for machines to think.

LLMsReasoning SystemsAI AlignmentDeep Learning

Startups & Ventures

Founder mentality

Founder of The Teen Debater (Asia's largest youth debate nonprofit, 12,000+ students) and multiple tech projects. Interned at Antler VC. Building things from zero is the highest form of thinking.

NonprofitVC0→1Product

Mathematics

Rigorous thinking

Silver Medal & 2nd in the world at the International Economics Olympiad. Multiple international math olympiad medals. Mathematics is the language I use to make arguments airtight.

OlympiadsEconomics MathLogicProof

Philosophy

Asking harder questions

Philosophy of mind, ethics of AI, epistemology, and the nature of consciousness. Debate trained me to argue both sides of any question — philosophy trained me to question the question itself.

Philosophy of MindAI EthicsEpistemologyLogic

Venture

The Teen Debater

Asia's largest youth-led, government-recognised debate nonprofit. Trained 12,000+ students from 250+ schools across 15+ countries.

Debate

Team India, 2022–24

Top 15 from 3,000+ students pan-India (<0.9% selection). Harvard, Stanford, Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Georgetown — and many more.

Recognition

Young Changemaker 2025

By The Economic Times (Times Group). Top 50 of 11,000+ nominations globally — Global Student Prize 2025, Varkey Foundation.

“Philosophy teaches you to ask harder questions. Mathematics teaches you to answer them. AI is where both collide.”

Shivansh Gupta · Harvard ʼ30

Ventures & Leadership

What I've built and led.

§ B

The Teen Debater

FounderSep 2023 – Present

Founded Asia's largest youth-led, government-recognized debate nonprofit — training 12,000+ students across 250+ schools in 15+ countries. Democratized debate education through workshops, tournaments, mentorship, and open-access resources. Also founded Beyond the Gavel, TTD's official podcast, distributed across Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music. Recognized with the Young Changemaker Award 2025 (ET Now) and featured in 284+ publications.

NonprofitFounderEducation

Team India Debate

Indian National Debate SquadDec 2022 – Dec 2024

Selected in the top 15 from 3,000+ students pan-India (selection rate <0.9%) to officially represent India at international WSDC tournaments. Green Squad (2022–23): competed at Thistle Cup and AWSDO. White Squad (2023–24): competed at UPenn WSDC, Everest WSDC, and Doxbridge WSDC. Medalled, ranked, and broke at multiple international championship rounds.

Team IndiaWSDCDebate

Team India Economics

Silver Medalist · 2nd in the World2024

Represented India at the International Economics Olympiad (IEO) 2024, winning the Silver Medal with a perfect score of 100/100 — ranking 2nd in the world. Selected through the National Economics Olympiad circuit, competing against top students from 50+ countries across economics, finance, and econometrics rounds.

Team IndiaOlympiadEconomics

Team India @ Eskom ISF

Gold Medal · Best in Category2024

Represented India at the Eskom Expo International Science Fair in Johannesburg, South Africa — Africa's largest science fair. Won the Gold Medal and Best in Category (Engineering) for ParkinStep, a wearable CNN-based gait-freezing detector for Parkinson's patients. Also received a cash prize and international recognition alongside IRIS National Fair Finalist status (Top 100, ISEF India).

Team IndiaScience FairEngineering

Intern at HSRLM & WCD, Govt. of India

Government InternJan 2025 – Mar 2026

Dual government internships: at Haryana State Rural Livelihoods Mission (Nuh), reached 40,000+ women across SHGs with curriculum on financial literacy, digital security, and fraud-call safety (featured in Outlook India); and at Women & Child Development Dept. (Gurgaon), upskilling Anganwadi workers under Kishori Shakti Yojana on banking, insurance schemes, and government financial apps.

GovernmentPublic PolicySocial Impact

HIXS Leadership

Congress President · DebSoc Founder · TASS Ambassador · Grade 9 Rep2022 – 2026

Student Congress President 2024–25 — elected by 400+ students, authored the first Code of Conduct, ran a 6-stage election for 450+ students. Founded HIXS DebSoc (Distinctive Debate Club Grant, ISDS), hosted HIXS's first-ever Debating Cup (24 teams, 72 participants). TASS Ambassador — co-led the inaugural TASS FireSide Chat series. Previously elected Grade 9 Representative (108+ votes, Oct 2022).

LeadershipGovernanceFounder

Debate · § C

Team India & global championships.

Full record →

ICYD (Cambridge University)

2023

ESL Champion · 3rd Best ESL Speaker · 11th Best Open Speaker

Harvard Debate Council International

2023

Semi-Finalist · 4th Best Speaker · 4–0 Record

Oxford Schools (Oxford University)

2024

ESL Finalist · 3rd Best ESL Speaker

Showing 3 of 33

View all 33 →

Research & Publications · § D

Published work.

Publications

Who Cares? Unpaid Labor, Human Capital and Inequality in India

American Journal of Student Research

2025

Who Cares? Unpaid Labor, Human Capital and Inequality in India

A two-period economic model showing how unpaid care work shapes human capital formation — documenting that India's poorest households shoulder 53.9 more minutes of unpaid care per day than the richest. Supported by Dr. Rocco Zizzamia (Fulford Junior Research Fellow, Somerville College, University of Oxford). First paper to uniquely theorise the feedback of care on human capital in a neoclassical model.

EconomicsGenderPublished

Read paper

Project NeoWave: Conservatism & Gender Dynamics in the USA and India

Journal of Student Research (+5 more journals)

2024

Project NeoWave: Conservatism & Gender Dynamics in the USA and India

A comparative analysis of conservative ideologies and gender dynamics since 2010, conducted under President Meaghan Blight of Wesleyan College. Presented at a panel discussion with 9 senior Wesleyan economics students. Published in JSR and archived on RePEC.

EconomicsPolicyPublished

Read paper

Showing 2 of 5 publications

Engineering · § E

Things I've coded.

All projects →

ParkinStep

Wearable sensor shoes (Arduino + 8 Force-Sensitive Resistors) feeding a CNN to detect gait-freezing in Parkinson's patients in real time with audio alerts. Gold Medal & Best in Category (Engineering) representing Team India at Eskom Expo ISF, South Africa. IRIS National Fair Finalist (Top 100 for ISEF India).

PythonArduinoTensorFlowCNNHealthcare

Helping Hand

Mobile app connecting elderly people to nearby teen volunteers for daily tasks. Won ₹75,000 (>$1,000) from Harvard MUN India's Impact Initiative (pitched to 1,200+ people), Honourable Mention at MIT Appathon 2022 (from 800+ submissions), and published in InterACT Magazine.

MobileSocial ImpactApp

Nutrizen

AI-powered Asian diabetes management tool that diagnoses using a growing database, provides downloadable health reports, and connects users to nearby doctors. Presented at AIClub Student Research Symposium 2022 (one of 10 invited speakers).

AIJavaScriptNode.jsHealthcare

Showing 3 of 13

View all 13 →

Press & Media

All coverage →

ANI NewsThe PrintET NowBBC World ServiceAll India RadioOutlook IndiaThe Tribune