Michael Salka is Co-director of the Master in Advanced Ecological Buildings & Biocities (MAEBB) and Technical Director of Valldaura Labs at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC)(2022 - present), as well as a Gates Scholar PhD in Architecture candidate at the University of Cambridge (2021 - 2025). His career has harnessed environmental forces through the planning, design and construction of water infrastructures in rural Rwanda (2012 - 2014); net-zero neighborhoods and mixed-use urban infill developments in the USA (2014 - 2018); and prototypical engineered timber buildings, public spaces, and future 'Biocities' in Spain (2018 - present). He has published research in peer-reviewed journals (2013 - 2022) and books such as Springer Nature's Transforming Biocities (2023) commissioned by the European Forest Institute (EFI), alongside reports on biobased social housing for the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), while his built works have featured in popular media outlets such as The New York Times (2021). His doctorate investigates how geospatial data can inform the nature-based value chains needed to meet the massive worldwide demand for new and renovated buildings in light of global climate change and associated ecological, socio-cultural and economic crises.