Imagine India

What does it actually take to fix India's water crisis — not in theory, but on the ground? In this episode, we sit down with three people working at very different points of the same problem: Dr. Indumathi Nambi (IIT Madras), Mayank Kumar (PhD fellow, IIT Madras), and Nandakumar (International Center for Clean Water). Together, they unpack why water remains one of India's oldest and most s...

In this deeply thoughtful episode of Imagine India Fireside Chats, members of the echo network’s Nutrition consortium come together to explore one of modern India’s most painful contradictions: how a country rich in food, farming traditions, and biodiversity still struggles with widespread malnutrition! Through honest conversations on indigenous foods, climate resilience, school nutrition, farmer...

This episode brings together a multidisciplinary team working on a Biopackaging Consortia project led by the echo network. Featuring voices from academia, industry, and research—including Tridha Gajjar from National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, Anders from Technical University of Denmark (DTU), and Sunitha from LoopM Alternatives and Sreeraghavi, the PhD Fellow from NID — the conversation explo...

How do we build meaningful community engagement in large cities? The 50th episode of Imagine India, with this year’s Fireside Chats, explores how the Forum Project is bringing together students, researchers, and communities to co-create solutions for real-world challenges. In this episode, Prashanth N S and Kranthi Vysyaraju from the Institute of Public Health Bangalore, along with Nora Engel from...

Today, we dive into one of the most urgent and often misunderstood topics of our time: disease surveillance. Sandul Yasobant (Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health Sciences-IIPHG), Abbey Olsen (Assistant Professor, University of Copenhagen), and Poonam Vyas(SAGE Surveillance Fellow - IIPHG) sit down with Shannon to unpack why surveillance isn’t about control, but about preparedness and...

For 4 years, at the Imagine India Podcast, we have been listening to our changemakers and light-bringers imagine the India & world they dream of building. Now, it is time for us to share with you what our students and consortia members are doing to turn those dreams into a reality. We’re excited to introduce Imagine India Fireside Chats—a new monthly series that takes you behind the scenes of...

Three young voices—rooted in purpose and driven by hope—are taking on one of today’s most urgent challenges: waste management. In this episode, meet Sowndarya Acharya (SAGE PhD Fellow), Devyani Srivastava (SAGE Senior Ambassador 2025), and Smita Singh(SAGE Junior Ambassador 2025), as they share why they chose to focus on waste, segregation, and community awareness. In conversation with host Shanno...

In this thought-provoking episode, Shannon Olsson , Founder & Director of the echo network, sits down with Sunayana Ganguly , Co-founder and Director of the Climate Educator Network, to explore how learning shapes our relationship with our planet in the current climate crisis. Together, they reflect on what it means to connect deeply with nature, people, and place — and why building resilient,...

This month, we bring you a powerful conversation at the crossroads of technology, empathy, sustainability, and human choice. Lia Leffland, Managing Director of the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences (ATV), joins Shannon Olsson to reflect on the shared responsibility we all carry in shaping the future of technology. Together, they explore how humane choices can guide innovation—and why science an...

In this inspiring episode, Prof Gulshan joins Shannon to explore, how the Global South & Global North approach sustainability differently, why collaboration across borders is more urgent than ever, and the surprising life lessons he’s learned from his pet dog. When asked about how he dreams of India 10 years from now, he says, most insightfully, that he wants to see an India where everyone get...

The echo network SAGE Summit 2025 was held in July in Bangalore. There were 56 SAGE Ambassadors, 82 global experts, and 11 PhD scholars who attended the 2-day Summit and participated in conversations & idea-sharing. In this episode, five of our experts reflect on the conversations that moved them, the students who inspired them, and why they believe this network is unlike any other. Listen now...

Siddharth Kankaria, a dear friend of our network, joins Shannon in a powerful conversation about his vision to democratise and decolonise access to knowledge. Much like the Echo Network, Siddharth believes in nurturing a scientific temper, making research more accessible to all, and championing the recognition and respect of indigenous knowledge systems. His work is a call to bridge worlds—of scie...

In this inspiring episode of the Imagine India Podcast, host Shannon Olsson speaks with Dr. Lene Lange—scientist, author, advisor, and founder of LL Bioeconomy Research and Advisory. With a career spanning academia, government, and industry across over 100 countries, Dr. Lange shares her journey of bridging sectors to promote sustainable bioresource use and North-South collaboration. She reflects...

Our 40th Imagine India podcast is a beautiful conversation about 'kindness based on evidence', between two women leaders and earth-protectors, Prerna Singh Bindra; our guest for the month, and Shannon Olsson, our Founder & Global Director. Listen to this full episode as Prerna talks about her experience of being a wildlife journalist, author, Tiger & wildlife protector, Standing Member of...

This month we have with us Dr. Bhaskar Rajakumar who is a doctor, a professor, a public health advocate, and Director of Healthcare Initiatives at AI & Robotics Technology Park (ARTPARK) at IISC. Bhaskar talks to Shannon about his personal experience early on in life that led him to chose a profession where he could work towards making healthcare accessible to all. He then goes on to talking a...

Our latest episode of the Imagine India podcast features an inspiring leader; Sunitha Varadan. Sunitha is an entrepreneur, a mentor, an innovative thinker and the Founder of LoopM Alternatives. Catch Sunitha talk to Shannon Olsson about food security, plastic circularity, women empowerment, and more. Listen to the full episode here.

Today's guest on the Imagine India podcast is a dynamic professional, an entrepreneur, a researcher, a teacher & a consultant - Aditya Parekh. But to the echo network Aditya is first our friend. He joined our network as a promising post-doctoral volunteer and from there, over the last 4 years has now grown into a dependable Consortium member & an expert on regenerative agriculture. Lis...

In 2024 we had 13 brilliant lightbringers come to our Imagine India podcast and share their dreams & hopes with us all. From farmer to founders to ecologists to students to forest officers and theatre artists, we have a beautiful cohort of guests who dream of a better, kinder India, and world! Listen to snippets of the conversations here. You can access the full episodes on our Imagine India S...

Welcome to the latest episode of the Imagine India podcast, where we discuss the sustainable dreams our changemakers have for our planet. In this episode, two 'possibilists', Shannon Olsson and Kirtana Kumar, discuss the need to recognise art and theatre as important tools for learning and understanding science and sustainability. If you are wondering what 'possibilists' mean, please tune into teh...

This episode of the Imagine India podcast features Christian Rasmussen, who comes with a background in the Future of Sustainable Production and is the founder of ProBalance; a startup deeply committed to supporting the sustainability journey of small and medium-sized businesses through innovative technology and advanced data analysis. Christian talks to our Global Director, Shannon Olsson about th...

In this month's episode Dr. Rakesh Mishra, Director, Tata Institute for Genetics and Society talks to Shannon Olsson about his humble upbringing, and how that has helped widen his opportunities. Rakesh also talks about how his team at TIGS is working towards making the treatment of rare genetic disorders easily affordable to all by using mRNA therapeutics approach. Listen to the full episode and s...

Once again we have taken our Imagine India podcast 'on the road' in association with ECOBARI! Instead of speaking with our guests in their offices or studios, we visited the Mhaswandi village in the Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra. Our guest today is a very special person; Nanda Kale, or Nanda Taai as she is lovingly called by her community. Nanda Taai is the Vice President of the Women...

In today's episode, we have with us Priya Shyamsundar, Lead Economist, Global Science, at The Nature Conservancy. Priya is an ardent advocate of Biodiversity conservation, Natural resource management, Poverty and equity and Policies and institutions. She is an economist & a researcher with immense expertise in the filed of Environment & development and Climate Change issues. Listen to...

The 30th episode of the Imagine India podcast is a special one featuring young sustainability leaders from the echo network's SAGE Ambassadors Program! Listen to Ahaana, Rishabh & Anna talk to Shannon about their passion for building a sustainable world. In this inspiring episode, our young leaders talk about things they want to do to make the world a better place. They also share messages...

This month's guest, Dr. Vijay Venugopalan is a Physicist turned Social Entrepreneur and is the Co-Founder of VigyanShaala. He is driven to create real-life impact through science and innovation. Vijay talks to Shannon about the need for scientific temperament, equity, innovation, and sustainability in education. He also discussed how VigyanShaala is changing the course of STEM education in the...