The male partner contribution is largely ignored when it comes to clinical assisted reproductive technology (ART) innovation. The processes and timing of semen collection, culture media and insemination have all been designed around what is best for the egg/female. Very little research has focussed how best to prepare sperm to maximise the chance of fertilisation success or defining the fertilisation potential of different sperm populations within the ejaculate. This remarkable neglect has resulted in the clinical inability to recapitulate or compensate for the natural sperm-selecting conditions of the female reproductive tract, a limitation that contributes to average fertilisation rates in IVF rarely surpassing 65%. Our idea is to identify key differences in sperm fate between natural conception and ART and to try and bridge the gap. One obvious difference is that clinical IVF does not recapitulate the physiological events of sperm maturation (hyperactivation and capacitation) and licensing that occur in the female reproductive tract prior to conception. The current protocols for sperm washing in IVF isolate motile sperm populations and remove the plasma fraction of the ejaculate, but no further sperm maturation or selection process have been widely implemented. Utilising known agents present in the female reproductive tract that induce sperm capacitation and hyperactivation in vivo and novel sperm selection pressures (i.e. microgravity) we aim to redefine the importance of sperm in fertilisation and programming of a healthy embryo and the translation of these outcomes to improve ART pregnancy rates.