Xiu Gao

    Xiu Gao is a Joint PhD student between Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) and KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Before transitioning to industrial ecology, she worked extensively in marine plankton ecology, including more than 100 days of fieldwork across three oceanographic cruises.

    Her doctoral project, Seaweed-based blue food systems in China: environmental performance, metabolic dynamics, and trade-mediated sustainability transitions, explores the sustainability of seaweed production and consumption through integrated environmental system analysis.

    Her current research focuses on a material flow analysis (MFA) of phosphorus in China's seaweed industry, quantifying the inputs, outputs, and flows of phosphorus across the kelp production chain—from ocean uptake to processing and end uses. This work aims to improve phosphorus efficiency and reduce resource use and environmental impacts. She collaborates with Vita Weitong Xu, a PhD student at KTH and member of the Blue Food Center, on a life cycle assessment (LCA) project in Fujian Province, one of China’s major seaweed-producing regions.

    Her supervisors include Fredrik Gröndahl, Jiechen Wu, Jean-Baptiste Thomas, and Ji Li. Her work contributes to the fields of industrial ecology, environmental system analysis, aquaculture sustainability, and food system environmental impacts.