Uma Shaanker obtained his Master’s degree in Genetics and Plant Breeding and a Ph.D in Crop Physiology from the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore. His research interests include plant evolutionary biology, conservation genetics, bioprospecting, endophyte biology and data mining. After superannuation as Professor and Head, Department of Crop Physiology and School of Ecology and Conservation, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, he was an ICAR Emeritus Scientist at the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore. From 2019 to 2021 he served as Adjunct Faculty and from 2021 to 2024 he was a Senior Professor, Department of Bioscience and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Jammu. 

Uma Shaanker is an elected Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore. He was a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and an Honorary Fellow of the Jawaharlal Nehru Center for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore. He is recipient of the Sir CV Raman Young Scientists’ Award and the State Environment Award, Government of Karnataka.

He has published more than 240 peer-reviewed papers, about 30 articles in books and monographs, besides authoring or editing fifteen books. He has served as an expert member on the advisory panels of the Department of Science and Technology, SERB, Department of Biotechnology and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Government of India. Along with Prof. Kamal Bawa FRS and Prof. K.N. Ganeshaiah, he is one of the founding trustees of Ashoka Trust For Research In Ecology And The Environment (ATREE).