Dr Nyein Chan Aung is an internationally award-winning industrial designer, design researcher and artist. Nyein began his design career at LiftPort Group (Seattle, USA) – a research and technology company focused on developing the Space Elevator. Nyein’s interest in space exploration was furthered during his PhD through collaborations with Monash University, Harvard Medical School, NASA, TEAGUE and Boeing to alleviate sleep challenges found across various aerospace environments. Today, Nyein is a Senior Design Researcher at Monash Design Health Collab, where he spearheads novel health and med-tech designs at the intersection of mobility and healthcare. Nyein is best known for projects including a patented aircraft cabin that improves sleep for economy passengers (PhD Work) and a revolutionary lightweight CT Scanner for use in road and air ambulances to provide early stroke diagnosis.

Lauren Crystal is the Co-founder and Managing Director of the human-centred design and development agency Your Creative. Lauren is redefining the way companies use research to create intelligent brand experiences across a range of industries including scientific research, technology and humanitarian causes, working with clients such as Afterpay, DFAT, Firmus and Victorian Women’s Trust. Lauren was named the Telstra Business Women’s Victorian Emerging Leader of the Year. She is an ongoing contributor for Startup Daily, Hackernoon and Smart Company. Lauren holds a Masters of Social Science from The University of Edinburgh and a post-graduate Fellowship from Central European University in Budapest.

Jonathan Irawan is the Computational Design Lead at Hassell Studio. His body of work specialises around the implementation of experimental and innovative design and construction methodologies, focused around highly responsive adaptive systems, behavioural analysis and simulation. His mission lies in bridging the gap in design technology research between academia and industry implementation, constantly experimenting and prototyping to augment the design process. Having previously worked and gained experience in delivering multidisciplinary projects within Asia, Australia and the UK, he incorporates a wider perspective in the formulation of design solutions. Recently he was engaged in the development of Phase 3 in NASA’s 3D Printed Habitat Centennial Challenge to design the first autonomously 3D Printed Habitat, capable of sustaining four Astronauts in Mars for one year.

Jane Poynter is the Founder and Co-CEO of Space Perspective, a paradigm changing space tourism company based in Titusville, Florida. In this role, Jane is charged with ensuring all those who fly with Space Perspective on Spaceship Neptune experience the most meaningful and memorable journey possible, igniting, and inspiring curiosity leading to a global space perspective. Prior to founding Space Perspective, Jane was part of the original eight-person crew for Biosphere 2 – a research project testing the viability of closed ecological systems to support human life in space on a two-year mission.

Jane was also the founding President of Paragon Space Development Corporation. Almost three decades later Paragon is thriving as a key part of NASA’s human exploration mission to the Moon and Mars developing pioneering life support systems and thermal control products for extreme environments. These systems are used on the International Space Station, by NASA, major aerospace companies and the US military. Jane’s expertise, knowledge and passion are at the core of her drive to have as many people as possible experience and understand our planet from the perspective of space. Almost universally, astronauts recount the profound impact of seeing the Earth in space – it is this experience that invites a vision of a global view of humanity and life on Earth.