Mr. Nishant Raj Sarraf, a 19-year-old from Birgunj, Parsa, is a dynamic social innovator and AI researcher dedicated to addressing civic and health challenges in Nepal. As founder of RedPaper, he leads initiatives that empower youth through legal tech, writing, and digital advocacy. A Remote Research Fellow at Stanford’s iGEM Bioengineering Research Program, he develops AI tools for early autism detection using speech analysis.
Mr. Nishant founded RedPaper, overseeing Turtle Justice, a justice-tech project that trains an AI model on translated Nepali legal statutes to provide accessible legal guidance. He with his Co-founder leads RedPaper’s Article Unit, guiding monthly writing workshops that produce essays published in outlets like My Republica. His E-Ink Protest mobilized 1,000+ grievance letters after Prakriti Lamsal’s custodial death, securing acknowledgment from Odisha’s Grievance Department. At Stanford, he writes preprocessing scripts and trains models to detect vocal markers of autism, advancing scalable screening tools. Co-founded a robotics initiative reaching 7 rural schools, training 800+ students with Arduino-based lessons and securing NPR 125,000 through member-driven fundraising.
Impact Created
RedPaper’s Turtle Justice has sparked rights-awareness among students and communities by making legal information accessible. The Article Unit has amplified youth voices through published essays, fostering civic dialogue. The E-Ink Protest achieved institutional response, demonstrating the power of digital advocacy. Nishant’s Stanford research is laying the foundation for early autism detection, with open-sourced datasets benefiting global researchers and families. His initiatives have empowered Nepali youth to engage with justice, education, and health, creating a ripple effect of awareness and opportunity in underserved regions.
