CHEMICAL ECOLOGIST | GLOBAL DIRECTOR | SCIENTIFIC ENVOY
Relating science in the human context while laying the foundation for a sustainable planet.
AS FEATURED ON
"A SERVANT LEADER"
- Eliane Ubalijoro, PhD
Global Hub Director, Canada, Future Earth and Executive Director, Sustainability in the Digital Age
Global Hub Director, Canada, Future Earth and Executive Director, Sustainability in the Digital Age
Shannon has traveled across four countries and three continents to inspire collective science and technology-based actions that sustain our planet.
“Changing hearts and minds for the future of this planet starts with listening to people’s needs, gaining and maintaining trust, developing science-based practices that incorporate their values, and co-creating solutions that establish ownership and responsibility in everyone for this planet.”
Shannon combines cutting-edge science with compassionate reasoning that she has developed over years living and working with many peoples and cultures. Her unique blend of scientific thinking and empathy allows her to help others develop solutions that are rooted in science but incorporate the values and needs of the end-users. She helps others to incorporate both human-centered design and evidence-based solutions into their sustainability initiatives.
Dr. Shannon B Olsson
CHEMICAL ECOLOGIST | GLOBAL DIRECTOR | SCIENTIFIC ENVOY
Born in rural New York State, Shannon has dedicated the last 22 years of her life to listening to nature, and the last eight years to laying the foundation for a sustainable India. As a Ph.D graduate from Cornell University, a project leader at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, and then a faculty member of the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in India, Shannon is an international leader who brings her unique approach of merging her science background with non-science communities in multiple countries and sectors.
With more than 20 years of experience as a chemical ecologist, she is a science consultant, sustainability identity advisor, and international speaker who helps organizations, companies, institutes, and governments across the globe to implement emphatic science into their climate action and sustainability planning efforts.
Currently, Shannon is the Global Director of the echo network. She also serves through the echo network’s international hub as Special Scientific Envoy to India with the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences (ATV) in close collaboration with the Danish Innovation Center in India (under the auspices of the MFA and the MHER).
preserving ecosystems
Shannon moved to India in 2014 to study one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet, in hopes that it would help her to better contribute to preserving our planet’s collective future.
A year after performing some studies in a gorgeous rhododendron-covered valley in North Sikkim, this paradise was converted to a parking lot – all the flowers, butterflies, and nature were gone. This is when Shannon realized that as a scientist, she had a choice: either she could keep studying biodiversity until it disappeared, or she could work with others to find a better way to preserve ecosystems for the future.
View some of Shannon’s notable
work here:
'Sustainability is not just about reduction of consumption, but also about uplifting those in the bottom of the pyramid'
The Hindu
Bumblebees living in the world's most polluted cities are dying, scientists reveal
The Telegraph
More of Shannon’s notable
work here:
Public Speaking
As an international speaker, she is an engaging and authentic storyteller whose warm and empathic personality connects science in a deeply personal way that her audience can relate to.
Shannon has spoken to thousands of audience members in Asia, North America, South America, Europe and Africa on ecology and sustainability. She has also recently spoken at the G20 Development Working Group Event in Mumbai in December 2022 and the Nobel Conference in 2023.
“My science is committed to laying the foundation for a sustainable planet.” -Shannon
Listen to Shannon at the …
As a three-time TEDx speaker, Shannon has delivered talks in India about ecological and environmental issues. Two of her most notable talks were TEDx Chennai and TEDx Mais. Her TEDx Chennai talk Connecting with Tiny Insect Brains through Virtual Reality (VR) is about using empathy to understand and protect our natural world. Her TEDx Mais talk What Do You See discusses how seeing the world from an animal’s viewpoint can help us to understand our role in Earth’s future.
ECHO NETWORK
Play Video
Shannon is the Founder and Global Director of the echo network, an international social innovation partnership between public and private organizations initiated in 2019 by the Principal Scientific Adviser GOI that enables organizations to use science and technology to reach their sustainability goals. The echo network is a growing worldwide network of thousands of individuals from academic, government, industrial, NGO, service, and philanthropic sectors . The network is a living tool to embed science into a society that helps each individual understand the importance of science in their daily lives and each organization realize its goals toward solving India’s systemic problems. “Organizations and people keep coming back to us because they believe our system of listening, sharing, and cocreating science-based solutions is the most effective method to address climate change, health, agriculture, and other major global concerns.” – Shannon
Play Video
global sustainability
With her background, Shannon works with organizations around the world to develop their national and global sustainability identity, goals, and relationship with society. She helps these organizations comprehend current requirements and the newest science and technology for sustainability by putting their external outputs in the perspective of society’s global sustainability demands. She gives human-centered and evidence-based recommendations on how an organization may handle its customers, donations, R&D, and place in global sustainability in her consulting engagements. Shannon is, among other pursuits, currently a co-PI in the Biodiversity Collaborative and a founding member of ECOBARI (Ecosystem-based Adaptation for Resilient Incomes).
With her background, Shannon works with organizations around the world to develop their national and global sustainability identity, goals, and relationship with society. She helps these organizations comprehend current requirements and the newest science and technology for sustainability by putting their external outputs in the perspective of society’s global sustainability demands. She gives human-centered and evidence-based recommendations on how an organization may handle its customers, donations, R&D, and place in global sustainability in her consulting engagements. Shannon is, among other pursuits, currently a co-PI in the Biodiversity Collaborative and a founding member of ECOBARI (Ecosystem-based Adaptation for Resilient Incomes).
RECENT PROJECTS
Non-Profit Organizations
Assisting a non-profit organization in reviewing recently funded initiatives and placing them in the perspective of current science and global food security patterns.
International Institutions
Providing guidance to institutions on how to include global sustainability into their research and instruction.
Biotech Companies
Advising biotech companies on the most up-to-date ecological and environmental research for their goods.
Other Organizations
Assisting a number of organizations in developing specific goals and purpose statements that meet global sustainability requirements.
imagine india podcast
On the international Imagine India podcast, Shannon interviews leaders in sustainability, focused on topics ranging from climate policy to wildlife to livelihoods of rural communities. The echo network’s Imagine India podcast listens to the dreams that our light-bringers have for India and our planet. The podcast dreams of the world not as it is, but as it could be. It emphasizes that by working together we already have all of the tools we need to achieve our dreams. Episodes are released monthly on Spotify.
WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT SHANNON
Shannon has done an exceptional job of putting together a cross-sector set of expertise and leadership for the echo network. I’ve gotten to meet high-level folks with deep expertise, and it’s been a welcoming space even as someone not familiar with Indian context. In addition, Shannon has been persistent in getting me to engage, working through individual challenges and limitations to find places of mutual value. Finally, the team design process that Shannon structured, balancing broad vision with getting to the details of what a program proposal to drive real impact might look like, is among the best examples I’ve been part of (or led) across many design processes.
Alexander Dale, PhD
Lead, Sustainability & US Communities, MIT Solve , Cambridge, MA, USA
Shannon has done an exceptional job of putting together a cross-sector set of expertise and leadership for the echo network. I’ve gotten to meet high-level folks with deep expertise, and it’s been a welcoming space even as someone not familiar with Indian context. In addition, Shannon has been persistent in getting me to engage, working through individual challenges and limitations to find places of mutual value. Finally, the team design process that Shannon structured, balancing broad vision with getting to the details of what a program proposal to drive real impact might look like, is among the best examples I’ve been part of (or led) across many design processes.
Alexander Dale, PhD
Lead, Sustainability & US Communities, MIT Solve , Cambridge, MA, USA
Shannon is a skilled scientist with original ideas. She is an enthusiastic and supportive leader of junior scientists and has excellent leadership skills. Shannon is also an excellent speaker, who can transfer knowledge in an efficient way and who can adapt very well to different audiences.
Prof. Dr. Bill S. Hansson
Director Max Planck Institute of Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany
Shannon is a skilled scientist with original ideas. She is an enthusiastic and supportive leader of junior scientists and has excellent leadership skills. Shannon is also an excellent speaker, who can transfer knowledge in an efficient way and who can adapt very well to different audiences.
Prof. Dr. Bill S. Hansson
Director Max Planck Institute of Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany
Progress in our quest for sustainability requires effective partnerships and networking among diverse actors. Through her Directorship with the echo network, Shannon has shown how people from different disciplines and sectors can be brought together to address complex issues. She has shown exemplary ability in pulling together ideas and people to develop new ideas and approaches for collective action.
Prof. Kamal Bawa
President, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Bengaluru, India
Progress in our quest for sustainability requires effective partnerships and networking among diverse actors. Through her Directorship with the echo network, Shannon has shown how people from different disciplines and sectors can be brought together to address complex issues. She has shown exemplary ability in pulling together ideas and people to develop new ideas and approaches for collective action.
Prof. Kamal Bawa
President, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Bengaluru, India
Shannon is a poised charismatic and thoughtful speaker. In groups, she is a great listener and team player. As a scientist, she is very collaborative and is a servant leader, always willing to support others and is dedicated to being a force for good in our increasingly uncertain and complex world.
Eliane Ubalijoro
PhD, Global Hub Director, Canada, Future Earth and Executive Director, Sustainability in the Digital Age, Montreal, Canada
Shannon is a poised charismatic and thoughtful speaker. In groups, she is a great listener and team player. As a scientist, she is very collaborative and is a servant leader, always willing to support others and is dedicated to being a force for good in our increasingly uncertain and complex world.
Eliane Ubalijoro
PhD, Global Hub Director, Canada, Future Earth and Executive Director, Sustainability in the Digital Age, Montreal, Canada
Shannon is a wonderful and trusted thought partner and collaborative leader. She’s shown great skill and tremendous foresight in stitching together an ecosystem of partners, across sectors and geographies to weave a compelling narrative around complex social and ecological issue.
Shloka Nath
Acting CEO, India Climate Collaborative, Mumbai, India
Shannon is a wonderful and trusted thought partner and collaborative leader. She’s shown great skill and tremendous foresight in stitching together an ecosystem of partners, across sectors and geographies to weave a compelling narrative around complex social and ecological issue.
Shloka Nath
Acting CEO, India Climate Collaborative, Mumbai, India
Awards & Honors
Shannon has received international recognition from countries like India, the U.S. and the UK for her work. Being named one of the top 75 women in STEAM working for sustainable development in India is one of Shannon’s greatest achievements because she was the only foreigner honored. As part of her recognitions, she has also been honored as an INK Fellow, four-time TEDx speaker, Nobel Conference Speaker, Fulbright Scholar, Ramanujan Fellow, Exhibitor, Victoria and Albert Museum, and India-United Nations Pinning for Research Excellence by Ghandian Scholars.