Chiba University proudly presents the International Workshop on Space Agriculture and Horticulture 2025, a groundbreaking event set to take place from March 9–11, 2025, at Matsudo Campus, Japan.

Bringing together leading researchers, industry pioneers, and space agencies—including NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the German Aerospace Center (DLR)—this landmark workshop will explore the frontiers of space agriculture and horticulture.

The workshop aims to foster a deeper understanding of research initiatives across institutions worldwide, focusing on space horticulture, bioregenerative life support systems, and plant cultivation beyond Earth.

Through dynamic discussions and interdisciplinary collaboration, we seek to forge new pathways for future collaborative research, driving the next era of sustainable life in space.

We warmly welcome researchers, postgraduate students, industry professionals, and academic communities worldwide to join us in shaping the future of food production beyond our planet.

The winners of this year’s Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists  in the UK are:

Life Sciences Laureate: Prof. Christopher Stewart (Newcastle University): Christopher leads a laboratory where groundbreaking research on microbiome-based therapies for pre-natal infant mortality is already making a life-saving impact.

Chemical Sciences Laureate: Prof. Liam Ball (University of Nottingham): Liam has transformed green manufacturing on an industrial scale, developing safer and more efficient methods of producing pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals with minimal environmental impact.

Physical Sciences & Engineering Laureate: Prof. Benjamin Mills (University of Leeds): Benjamin is transforming our understanding of climate change on earth and in space with revolutionary methods to predict long-term climate change. His research not only uncovers Earth’s climate history over billions of years, but also how other planets might evolve to support life.

As the largest unrestricted prize for UK scientists under the age of 42, the Blavatnik Awards celebrate Britain’s greatest young minds in their fields. This year, the three Laureates—each awarded £100,000 in unrestricted funds—were chosen from a shortlist of nine finalists, representing some of the brightest young scientific minds across the UK.

Among them, the three Laureates are tackling some of the most complex and pressing issues in science and society:  infant mortality, green manufacturing and predicting long-term climate change.

Tonight’s prize-giving gala at The Orangery, Kensington Palace highlights the growing impact of regional universities across the UK driving scientific breakthroughs.

Building on a previous study that supported the ancient philosopher Plato’s conjecture—that Earth is mostly made from cubes—geophysicist Douglas Jerolmack of the University of Pennsylvania teamed up with longtime collaborator, mathematician Gábor Domokos of Budapest University of Technology and Economics, to use their framework for understanding fracture patterns on Earth to survey fracture networks across the solar system. Their findings could offer insights into detecting potentially habitable environments on other planets.