Mike Bridges
Mike Bridges
Gaia Project Australia Chief Research Officer
Michael is Gaia Project Australia’s Chief Research Officer, combining his varied professional experiences ranging from high-risk mineral extraction, environmental science and Agtech. The company is focused on providing cost-effective, sustainable solutions for farmers as climate change and a changing world increase pressures on our vulnerable food systems. Gaia cultivates a unique perspective on the intersections of these diverse sectors and the barriers that hinder progress to a circular economy. Michael's role at Gaia is to foster collaboration between academia & industry to provide robust solutions for our food systems and to meet the ambitious 2030 climate goals.
To achieve this, Michael and the Gaia team are collaborating with esteemed institutions like NASA, La Trobe University, and the Australian Research Council to harness the adversity of space to forge robust solutions for farmers on Earth. In May 2023, the Gaia Project also became the only winner in the Asia Pacific region for the NASA Deep Space Food Challenge - International Prize (which allows them to now compete in Phase 3), with the challenge aiming to advance the necessary technology and food systems for future astronaut travel to Mars.
To achieve this, Michael and the Gaia team are collaborating with esteemed institutions like NASA, La Trobe University, and the Australian Research Council to harness the adversity of space to forge robust solutions for farmers on Earth. In May 2023, the Gaia Project also became the only winner in the Asia Pacific region for the NASA Deep Space Food Challenge - International Prize (which allows them to now compete in Phase 3), with the challenge aiming to advance the necessary technology and food systems for future astronaut travel to Mars.
Related Sessions
Redesigning Our Food Systems for Space and a Healthy Planet
THU, OCT 19, 10:00 AM
Conference
With the increasing challenges of climate change and food security on Earth, it may be difficult to understand why we should devote so many of our limited resources to space travel and feeding astronauts. However, the innovations in space technology have tremendous value with terrestrial applications in how we can create resilient solutions with innovative food systems that can directly tackle food insecurity, and provide the necessary nutrition in areas of natural disaster or food deserts.
Our panel of experts will explore how innovations designed for space and new developments in alternative proteins can create a regenerative, circular agriculture system suitable for deep space travel, and also to support a healthy and biodiverse ecosystem here on earth.
