Sophie Healy Thow

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Sophie Healy Thow, Ireland, 19

Sophie Healy Thow got launched into the international nutrition space when she was just 15 — when her science project on how to make faster-growing and higher-yielding crops won the 2014 Google Science Prize. Healy-Thow later co-founded the organization Agrikua, which empowers "young women to become change makers and entrepreneurs in agriculture and agribusinesses." Small rural women farmers represent the majority of the workforce in the agricultural sector and provide over 80% of the products. Despite this, these farmers frequently do not have access and control over the land and resources with which they work. Agrikua works to ensure that these women are able to overcome these barriers by providing a supportive global network that offers the necessary tools for empowerment.

Her mission is “to work towards a world free from malnutrition in all its forms. To ensure that young people are at the forefront of this change and that no decisions are made about the future without the future."

She has also become a prominent speaker, traveling from her home in Cork, Ireland, to give a Ted Talk, attend international conferences, and participate in the Paris climate agreement. Currently, she is on Scaling Up Nutrition's lead group (SUN), a global network of nutrition experts and advocates aiming to end undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, and obesity.
In the future she is dedicated to continuing "to work with Governments, big organisations, the private sector and civil society, local communities and young people to ensure that we have a world free from malnutrition in all its forms. A healthy diet is currently a luxury which I promise to work towards changing."

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