Bede Mickan

Bede Mickan serves as a Lecturer at The University of Western Australia's School of Agriculture and Environment while concurrently working as Research and Development Manager for Richgro Garden Products since 2017. He also acts as Industry Representative for Soil Science Western Australia and guest lectures in courses including Feeding the World (AGRI1001) and Wastewater Engineering: Treatment and Resource Recovery (ENVE5502).

His educational background includes an MSc (2011) and PhD in soil microbial ecology (2016), awarded with an Australian Post Graduate Award. His PhD investigated agricultural management practices on soil microbial processes related to rhizosphere Carbon and Nitrogen cycling under water stress.

Mickan operates as a microbial generalist focusing on bridging academic research with industrial applications. His core research themes include Generating value from waste, Developing the biorefinery, and Climate change mitigation through water stress adaptation and carbon sequestration. Methodologically, he specializes in DNA sequencing of bacteria and fungi to analyze functional genes in metabolic pathways.

His recent 2025 publications reveal consistent focus on waste-derived soil amendments, with biochar-digestate interactions emerging as a dominant research thread across multiple high-impact environmental journals. Key trends include greenhouse gas mitigation, plant-microbe interactions in amended soils, and nutrient recovery from organic waste streams.

• Australian Post Graduate Award

Mickan supervises one PhD student at Murdoch University (topic: lactic acid fermentation from two-stage anaerobic digestion) and has guided multiple UWA MSc projects. He secured two AusIndustry Innovation Connections grants for Richgro Garden Products, driving collaborative research in microalgal cultivation and digestate reuse. Current projects include Pasture diversification to promote climate resilience (2024-2028) and Soil biological mechanisms underpinning biological amendments (2022-2025).

His work integrates academic rigor with industrial application through partnerships like the SproutX accelerator (where he co-founded Food3 startup) and collaborations with Soil Science Western Australia. Mickan's research fingerprint highlights expertise in digestate utilization (100%), food waste valorization (96%), and rhizosphere engineering (57%).