Tanja Masson-Zwaan
President Emerita
Tanja Masson-Zwaan is Asst. Professor and Deputy Director of the International Institute of Air and Space Law at Leiden University, and President Emerita of the International Institute of Space Law (IISL).
Tanja advises various bodies on space law issues, teaches and supervises students at Bachelors, Masters and PhD level, carries out research and publishes on a broad range of space law topics. She co-authored the 4th edition of ‘Introduction to Space Law’ (Kluwer 2019) and serves on the Board of Editors of Kluwer’s Journal Air and Space Law.
Tanja is member of a team of experts advising the Dutch government on the implementation of the Netherlands Space Activities Act. She attends the annual sessions of the Legal Subcommittee of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space as an observer, and co-founded the Hague Space Resources Governance Working Group.
Nandasiri Jasentuliyana
President Emeritus
Dr. Jasentuliyana, a national of Sri Lanka, is President Emeritus of the International Institute of Space Law. He holds advanced degrees in Law and International Relations from Universities of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), London and McGill, and is a Attorney-at-Law. He holds a Graduate Diploma in Air and Space Law from the International Institute of Air & Space Law in Montreal, Canada, and has served as an intern at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
He was formerly Deputy Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna and Director of the Office for Outer Space Affairs.
Appointments
The Dutch Government appointed Tanja as an Arbitrator for space related disputes at the Permanent Court of Arbitration, and as a Member of the Space Learning Group of ICAO.
Authorship
He is the author of the four-volume “Manual of Space Law”, Oceana (1979),
“International Space Law and the United Nations”, Kluwer Law (1999), “International Space Programmes and Policies”, North Holland (1984); and Editor of “Space Law: Development and Scope”, Prager (1991), and “Perspectives on International Law”, Kluwer (1995).
Memberships and Board Positions
Tanja is an elected member of various professional associations such as the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), the Académie de l’Air et de l’Espace (AAE) and the International Law Association, including its Space Law Committee and the Netherlands’ Branch NVIR. She was a Member of the Founding Boards of the European Centre for Space Law (ECSL) and of Women in Aerospace-Europe and serves an Honorary Board Member of Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC).
Memberships and Board Positions
He has been a visiting lecturer at Princeton, Stanford, Columbia and McGill. He is a Trustee of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), Member of the Board of Directors of International Space University (ISU), Member of the Bureau of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), and served as a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal of Space Policy and the Journal of Space Law. He was the recipient of the 1982 Testimonial Award of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) awarded annually in recognition of important contribution to Space Law & Policy and the 1989 Leadership Award of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA). He was selected by the United States National Space Society to its unique worldwide list of “100 space people who have had the greatest impact on our lives”.
Awards
Tanja is a recipient of the Distinguished Service Award of the IISL (2001), the Social Sciences Award of the IAA (2008) and the IAF Distinguished Service Award (2015). She is a Member of Honour of the Netherlands Space Society(NVR) and was honoured with a Royal decoration as Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau in 2020.
Awards
Dr Nandasiri Jasentuliyana was the recipient of the 1982 Testimonial Award of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) awarded annually in recognition of important contribution to Space Law & Policy and the 1989 Leadership Award of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA). He was selected by the United States National Space Society to its unique worldwide list of “100 space people who have had the greatest impact on our lives”. Dr Nandasiri Jasentuliyana is the recipient of an IISL Testimonial Certificate (1982).