Merlin Sheldrake is a biologist and author of the New York Times bestseller “Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures,” which won both the Royal Society Book Prize and the Wainwright Prize for its groundbreaking exploration of fungal networks and their profound influence on life on Earth. Sheldrake received his PhD in tropical ecology from the University of Cambridge for research on underground fungal networks in Panamanian tropical forests, where he served as a predoctoral research fellow of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and currently works as a research associate of Vrije University Amsterdam while collaborating with the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) and the Fungi Foundation. His expertise in mycorrhizal fungi reveals the intricate relationships between fungi and their environments, challenging conventional concepts of individuality and intelligence by demonstrating how these organisms form vast underground networks that connect plants, share resources, and communicate across forest ecosystems. A passionate brewer and fermenter fascinated by relationships between humans and more-than-human organisms, Sheldrake has also presented the documentary “Fungi: Web of Life,” narrated by Björk, bringing fungal wisdom to broader audiences through both scientific research and accessible storytelling that reveals how fungi fundamentally shape our world’s ecology, economy, and consciousness.
Why their voice matters: Sheldrake’s research reveals that forests and ecosystems operate through fungal networks of cooperation and communication that mirror spiritual insights about interconnectedness, providing a scientific foundation for understanding Earth as a living, intelligent system while demonstrating that collaboration rather than competition drives much of natural evolution and ecosystem health.
