Career Pathway Interview: Shannon Hanson, Entrepreneur and Biodesigner at <scp>ReefCircular</scp> —How Pencil Sketches Become Thriving Ecosystems

In this interview, we feature Shannon Hanson, Entrepreneur and Biodesigner at ReefCircular (https://www.reefcircular.com/) (Fig. 1). I first connected with Shannon through LinkedIn. I vividly remember how fascinated I was when the algorithm brought some of her work to my feed. There were two main reasons for this: first, I have a strong background as a nature “manager,” and I'm always intrigued when engineered structures (conceived and built by humans) can integrate seamlessly with nature and even enhance it. Second, the fact that someone can establish their own business and make it successful is, in itself, an inspiring story. So, when I started thinking about someone to interview in the field of environmental engineering and biodesign, Shannon's name immediately came to mind. On top of that, she enthusiastically accepted the invitation, saying that this series reminded her of “scrolling through Reddit threads towards the end of my PhD, looking for stories of people following non-academic career paths!” This perspective, indeed, perfectly captures the spirit of this series: to give readers insight into how the tools and knowledge developed during a PhD can be applied beyond academia. In this conversation, I asked Shannon about her current responsibilities at ReefCircular, and the journey that led her to the role she holds today. A.S.: CAN YOU INTRODUCE YOUR BACKGROUND AND THE POSITION THAT YOU'RE CURRENTLY IN? S.H.: My background is in marine science. I have a BSc in Marine Biology and Oceanography from Newcastle University (UK), an MSc in Oceanography from the University of Southampton (UK), and a PhD in Biogeochemistry from The University of Hong Kong. Now I'm the CEO and co-founder of ReefCircular, a start-up based in Denmark that makes artificial reefs to restore damaged marine ecosystems and boost biodiversity (Fig. 2). A.S.: HOW DID YOU MAKE THE TRANSITION FROM ACADEMIA TO YOUR CURRENT POSITION? S.H.: Quite early on in my PhD, I knew I didn't want to stay in academia. My mental health suffered a lot during my PhD, to the point where, toward the end, I was in physical pain. It felt like I could see all around me how stressed and overworked the PhD students, post-docs, and professors were. From my perspective, the contracts for most post-docs are short, and there aren't enough professor positions for all the post-docs out there, and the pay for post-docs isn't great considering their expertise and the amount of work they do. I also didn't like the environment at university that I had experienced—the publish-or-perish culture, or the way some professors treated their students and postdocs extremely poorly while the university seemingly did nothing about it. Altogether, it just didn't seem like an attractive career path to me anymore. After I finished my PhD, I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do, definitely something in marine science, as it's my lifelong passion—as you might be able to tell! At the time when I was looking, there weren't too many marine science jobs advertised in the country I was living in, so I thought I might have to move elsewhere. By happenstance, I met someone interested in biomaterials, and together we decided to start ReefCircular. A.S.: WHAT MOTIVATED YOU TO FOLLOW YOUR CAREER PATH? S.H.: I've always been fascinated by the ocean. I grew up on the west coast of Scotland, a literal stone's throw away from the sea, where my father was a fisherman. My parents taught me from an early age the importance of nature and the need to protect it. In school, the sciences were my favorite subjects, so it was only natural that I would combine my love of the ocean with science. A.S.: WHAT ARE THE THINGS THAT YOU WOULD TELL PEOPLE CONSIDERING A CAREER AS AN ENTREPRENEUR AND BIODESIGNER? WHAT DO YOU WISH THAT YOU WOULD'VE KNOWN? S.H.: It's not an easy path, but even though it can be stressful at times, I find it far less stressful than my PhD and much more freeing and rewarding. I think a lot of the skills needed to be an entrepreneur, many people in academia will already have: determination, curiosity, problem-solving, and persistence. I underestimated how important it is to have a good network as a start-up. So I would say if you're thinking about a similar path, try and build a strong network as soon as possible through events, clusters, and reaching out to the right people. A.S.: WHAT EXCITES YOU THE MOST ABOUT YOUR POSITION? WHAT ASPECTS DO YOU NOT ENJOY? S.H.: I love the ocean, and I'm just so happy that I get to do my dream job protecting it. I'm quite a creative person, so I love being in the lab developing new biomaterials and working with Camila Martínez Alarcón, ReefCircular's co-founder and CTO (https://www.reefcircular.com/about), to develop new designs. My background isn't in material science, so developing the bioconcrete has also been another learning curve. I've learned a lot through reading different papers (including biomedical ones), looking to nature for inspiration (e.g., coral skeletons), and of course, lots of trial and error! When we design the artificial reefs, it usually starts with me making a rough sketch with a pencil and paper. I think about where the artificial reef is going to go, what the natural ecosystem used to look like, and what species are present there and design the reefs based on that. For example, when we make artificial reefs for harbors, we tend to make them with a lot of small crevices to provide shelter for smaller species of fish and juveniles, which are typically found in harbors. Next, I'll show the sketch to Camila. She has a background in architecture and is a computational designer and 3D printing expert. We'll then work together to combine the biodiversity features of my sketch with what is actually possible to 3D print! Camila is the one who computationally designs our reefs and does all the 3D print prototyping. Next, it's amazing to get into the field, deploy the reefs and see the positive effect they have on marine biodiversity! For example, our first pilot project was in Denmark, where we put out harbor wall-mounted ReefTiles and seabed BoulderReefs (Fig. 3). We put the ReefTiles out before the BoulderReefs, and when I went back to deploy the BoulderReefs in just a month, I was able to see a huge difference. The tiles were completely covered in a mix of barnacles and different species of algae. I could see crabs and starfish on the reef tiles and little fish feeding on the algae. We used underwater cameras to monitor the reefs, and even though it was a very small project, we saw a big difference between the sites with our reefs vs. the control site without: about 4 times more fish and 2 times more species overall. It was fantastic to see how much marine life liked the reefs and to know we can make a difference if we try. In addition to the scientific aspects, I also really enjoy the business side of things. I don't have a background in business, so it's all quite new to me, but I'm enjoying learning. Overall, there's not too much I don't enjoy, actually! Of course, as a very niche start-up in the sustainability sector, it can be challenging, but I enjoy problem-solving and finding solutions. A.S.: IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU'D LIKE TO SHARE? S.H.: Just that, if there are any PhD students out there who are looking into an alternative career path to academia, to let them know that such opportunities absolutely exist and that they're not a failure for trying something different! When I was at university, the only roles we were trained for were academic ones, and there wasn't any support for PhD students who didn't want to stay in academia. My advice would be, if academia isn't for you, start growing your network during your PhD. Whether through volunteering, internship, or collaborative projects, these experiences can be a really helpful way of transitioning from academia into another role. AS declares he is an Associate Editor of Limnology and Oceanography Bulletin.