Dr. Shweta Basnett completed her PhD in 2019 on the evolutionary ecology of Himalayan Rhododendrons from Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) Bengaluru. Her doctoral work contributed to understanding Rhododendrons' plant-pollinator interactions and reproductive phenology in the Sikkim Himalayan region. Her study identified the temperature, evolutionary history, and pollinators as the critical drivers determining the budding, flowering, and fruiting of high elevation Himalayan Rhododendrons.

She has published multiple papers in reputable international journals, and her findings were covered in the Hindu and highly esteemed nature and conservation magazines in India. In 2018 her work on Rhododendron phenology won the best oral presentation award from the Biometeorology Society in International Phenology Conference held in Melbourne. In 2020 she received a research award from the American Rhododendron Society to further study Himalayan Rhododendrons' biochemical and morphological traits.

Under the Fullbright-Nehru postdoctoral program at Maryland University, Dr. Shweta is seeking to understand the effect of changes in the biotic and abiotic environment on the evolutionary history of mountain endemic plant-pollinator interactions. This work also involves estimating the survival/evolution of endemic plant-pollinator interactions under future climatic scenarios. The outcome of the work will contribute to detect global conservation priorities for one of the largest flowering plant genera, Rhododendron, and its associated pollinators in the face of climate change.