Speakers

Dr Meganne Christian FRAeS is a member of the European Space Agency astronaut reserve and Senior Exploration Manager (Commercial) at the UK Space Agency, advising on human and robotic spaceflight in the post-ISS landscape. She holds a Bachelor of Engineering and a PhD in Industrial Chemistry from the University of New South Wales. From 2014 to 2023 she was a materials science researcher at the National Research Council of Italy, and participated in parabolic flight campaigns to test graphene coatings for thermal management in satellites. She has also undertaken two missions, including a winter-over, to Concordia Station in Antarctica, where she was a research scientist in charge of atmospheric physics and meteorology. In November 2022, she was selected from a pool of over 22,500 applicants across Europe to be one of the 17 members of the European Space Agency’s first astronaut class in 13 years.