Postdoc Ajinkya Kulkarni Receives Jury Distinction at SNSF Scientific Image Competition 2026

Ajinkya Kulkarni, postdoctoral researcher, has received a jury distinction at the 2026 SNSF Scientific Image Competition, recognizing both the scientific relevance and visual impact of his work.

Organized annually by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), the competition honors outstanding visual representations of scientific research. Submissions are evaluated for their aesthetic quality as well as their ability to communicate knowledge, tell a human story, and inspire new perspectives.

Ajinkya’s submission was selected for its visual narrative. The jury noted: “Through its subjective perspective, the image follows the researcher’s footsteps through his research site, populated by people unaware of his presence—without revealing what he is doing there. It is the beginning of a story that we are invited to complete.”

This distinction reflects recognition of exceptional work within a highly competitive international field.

The concept behind the image draws on Ajinkya’s background:

“The interior of the farmers’ market in Nashik—a town north of Mumbai, India where I grew up—represents a large acoustic space. Wearing headphones, I move between aisles of vegetables laid out on tarps and in baskets. The building’s concrete pillars and open sides create a mix of echoes, distant speech, and ambient noise from handling crates and vehicles.”

It also reflects his research focus:

“This image positions the location itself as my object of study. The wide perspective emphasizes scale—both of the physical environment and of the research challenge. My work focuses on privacy and security in digital speech and language processing: detecting synthetic voices and developing models that protect personal data. Unlike curated datasets, recordings captured in real-world environments such as Nashik provide a robust stress test. Documenting these soundscapes supports the development of reliable, privacy-preserving speech technologies for everyday public settings.”

All selected works can be discovered at the Biel Festival of Photography from 9 to 31 May.

Ajinkya has also been recently awarded a Bridge Proof of Concept Grant to counter voice deepfakes.

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SNSF Scientific Image Competition 2026 communication: Ten years of spectacular scientific images
Award winning photographs: Flickr 2026 Winners and distinctions