Book IWD Speaker: Isha Datar

Executive Director of New Harvest, Director's Fellow of MIT Media Lab, Shuttleworth Foundation Fellow & Co-Founder of Clara Foods

Isha Datar has spent more than a decade changing the way the world thinks about meat, and her work speaks directly to the spirit of International Women’s Day. She began exploring cellular agriculture in 2009, long before it became a recognised industry. Her early observation was simple and bold; the science was promising, but the field lacked funding. She pushed for support, treating climate change as a shared responsibility rather than a distant problem. A year later, she published a paper in Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies outlining how in-vitro meat could move from concept to reality, a moment that marked the start of a new chapter for food production.

Her career has been defined by collaboration. While working in Policy and Public Affairs at GlaxoSmithKline, she drew together academics, non-profits, and companies to move lab research into public life. This experience shaped her future leadership. In 2013, she became Executive Director of New Harvest, guiding the organisation into a global research engine for cellular agriculture. The team expanded from cultured meat to new forms of eggs and milk; Perfect Day’s cow-free dairy and Clara Foods’ chicken-less egg both grew from New Harvest’s early work. Their first successes proved that biotechnology could offer familiar nutrition without the environmental cost.

Isha’s influence extends through advisory roles, fellowships, and talks. She delivered a TEDxToronto talk in 2012, followed by a global TED Talk in 2021 that explored how real meat could be produced without harming animals. She has served on the National Engineering Biology Steering Committee for Ontario Genomics, advised the Feed the Next Billion XPRIZE, and supported organisations like Homeworld Collective and MIT Media Lab.

Her story aligns with International Women’s Day because she embodies leadership in a frontier field. She works at the intersection of science, ethics, and public policy, offering a practical vision for feeding a growing population. Event audiences respond to her clarity, her warmth, and the sense that progress is within reach. She represents women shaping the future of global sustainability, making her a compelling choice for International Women’s Day events.

---

---