Dr Kate Ferguson is the Associate Director Strategic Projects at the Australian National University Institute for Space (InSpace) where she builds linkages between the space and research communities to develop the next space missions using space technology to solve society’s challenges back on Earth. As part of this role, she is managing the partner engagement for the ANU-led Future of Space CRC bid, targeting Round 27 submission. The Future of Space CRC is taking advantage of the reduced cost of access to space to accelerate economic opportunities across diverse sectors such as pharmaceuticals and semiconductors to drive new impacts that benefit life on Earth. Kate also led the stakeholder engagement, project development and contract negotiations for the ANU portfolio for the iLAuNCH Trailblazer program, with 13 projects active and developing advanced space manufacturing products. She was awarded her PhD in 2016 from the Australian National University during which she developed quantum communication hardware for long range quantum networking.