IISL Awards Dinner 2024 and IISL Awardees

The IISL Awards Dinner 2024 took place on Thursday, 17 October 2024, at the Palazzo Emilio Turati in Milan -- the site of the Milan Chamber of Commerce, where also the IISL Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition took place. In a celebratory and cheerful ambience, the IISL awards were presented by Marco Ferrazzani on behalf of the IISL Awards Committee, composed of K. R. Sridhara Murthi (Chair), Olavo de Oliveira Bittencourt Neto, and Corinne Jorgenson; and Mark Sundahl and Mahulena Hofmann for the Diederiks-Verschoor Committee. The 2024 awards were bestowed as well as some awards from 2023, that could not be presented in person last year.

For an overview of all IISL Awardees, see also here.

Awardees 2024

Lifetime Achievement

The IISL Lifetime Achievement Award recognises outstanding lifetime dedication to the development and furtherance of space law.

This year's Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Marco Ferrazzani, "[i]n recognition of his many decades of outstanding services to the international space law community and the International Institute of Space Law, to which he has made invaluable contribution as Director and his distinct contributions in the creation of the European Centre for Space Law, his strong stewardship in supporting the Manfred Lachs Moot Court in the European region, and his notable role for capacity building in different regions of the world and for promotion of international cooperation in the field of exploration and peaceful uses of Outer Space".

Distinguished Service

The Distinguished Service Award honours extraordinary achievements to the goals of IISL.

This year's Distinguished Service Award was presented to Rafael Moro Aguilar -- "a renowned scholar in the field of Space Law, made outstanding contributions in the very challenging role as a co- editor of the annual IISL proceedings for about a decade. Rafael has also richly contributed to the IISL working group on light pollution of the night sky from a space law perspective and has also further strived hard in establishing the linkage with International Astronomical Union. Rafael spearheaded the promotion and dissemination of space law in the Spanish speaking countries and had also undertaken the Spanish edition of Cologne Commentary on Space Law, Volume I".

Certificate of Gratitude

The Certificate of gratitude recognises extraordinary services rendered to the Institute.

This year, the Certificate of Gratitude was presented to Yu Takeuchi as well as Jairo A. Becerra and Laura Gamarra-Amaya in recognition of their extraordinary support of the Institute.

Yu Takeuchi is serving as Co-Chair of the STM WG since 2021 and contributed to presenting WG’s research result at the IAC 2023 and its achievement of promoting legal aspect of STM at COPUOS Legal Subcommittee. He served as Associate Regional Organizer of Asia-Pacific of the Moot Court Competition 2023 and currently is Regional Organizer for 2024 Competition. His contributions had been essential in the increased recognition of the IISL activities among policy makers and by the Japanese government.

Jairo A. Becerra and Laura Gamarra-Amaya, as professors at the Faculty of Law of the Catholic University of Colombia have been passionately promoting space law education and research among Latin American students. Their hard work and advocacy over the years led to organisation of a regional round of the Manfred Lachs Competition in Latin America.

Young Achiever Award

The Space Law Award for Young Achievers was introduced as a new category of award in early 2019 and recognises meritorious contributions or outstanding achievements relevant to the field of space law or distinctive service to the activities, events or goals of IISL by young individuals.

This year, the Award was presented to Ruvimbo Samanga and Scarlet O’Donnell.

Ruvimbo Samanga, is Space Law & Policy Analyst/Researcher, with mission to collaborate on space-related, capacity building research for the African and the global space sector. She has been the Ambassador of Milo Space Science Institute and had supported international projects. She has been recognised by IAF with the Young Space Leader Award in 2022 , had been serving in the Advisory Board Member Inter Astra Retreat and completed the African Space Policy & Strategy Course from African Space Leadership Institute.

Scarlet O’Donnell made scholarly contributions to the principle of international responsibility for activities in Outerspace. She is a doctorate in essential field of space law, supported emerging space faring nations with regard to adherence to space global governance, and had rendered substantive support to IISL in various functions. With the backdrop of work experience in UNOOSA and DLR, and with a continuous engagement of discourses on Space Law tempered with an analytical articulation, Scarlet represents a fine example of the energetic new generation that links the rich traditions of space law with the renewed pathways of future generations.

For more information on this year's young achievers, see also here:

Meet the 2024 IISL Young Achiever Awardees

The Space Law Award for Young Achievers was introduced as a new category of award in early 2019 and recognises meritorious contributions or outstanding achieve…

International Institute of Space Law | IISL

Diederiks-Verschoor Award

The Diederiks-Verschoor Award 2024 was presented to this year's winner David Eagleson by Mark Sundahl and Mahulena Hofmann.

The IISL Board of Directors additionally annually grants the Prof. Dr I.H.Ph. Diederiks-Verschoor Award, given to the best paper accepted for presentation at the Institute’s Colloquium during the IAC by an author not older than 30 years and who has not published more than five papers in the Proceedings of IISL Colloquia. A medal is donated each year by the initiator of the Award, Prof. Oscar Fernandez Brital from Argentina.

Awardees 2023

IISL presented the 2023 Awardees who were not presented with their Awards in person last year, during this year's ceremony.

For a full list of IISL Awardees please see here.

Lifetime Achievement Award

The Lifetime Achievement Award 2023 was presented to Lesley Jane Smith.

Lesley Jane Smith was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award for two decades of distinctive contribution to IISL. Various roles, including the current position of Vice-President of the Board of Directors, Director, International Programme Committee Co-Chair to name a few.

She also contributed to establishment of strong cooperation between the IISL and the International Astronautical Federation, among other things having served as the legal counsel of the IAF and working tirelessly for over a decade to coordinate the formation of the programme of the IISL Space Law Colloquium within the International Astronautical Congress. She also was a Board member of Women in Aerospace Europe. She currently serves as the Alternate to the ESA Industrial Ombudsman. Prof. Dr. Smith has also been involved in Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition.

Lesley Jane Smith's own research interests in space law cover the areas of liability for commercial space activities and related issues of space debris, commercial issues of industrial and agency procurement, as well as regulatory aspects of GNSS and intellectual property issues relating to outer space activities. She has published widely on an extensive range of space-related legal questions, co-authored studies for the International Academy of Astronautics, contributed to all three volumes of the Cologne Commentary on Space Law (CoCoSL).

Lesley Jane Smith’s decades of devotion to space law, especially via academic track of her career, manifest in unconditional respect to her professionalism, knowledge of space law and policy, promotion of space law education, support to IISL activities and gratitude and respect of her past and current students, as well as space law peers.

Young Achiever Award

One of the 2023 Young Achiever Awards was presented to Maruška Strah during this year's ceremony.

Maruska Strah has made significant achievements in space law and governance through her official role as the Executive Director of World Space Week and as a member of the IISL. These Include:

• Continuous contribution to the IISL as IISL STM WG Co-Chair, working on STM papers and on IISL STM report;
• Liaison between IISL-IAF-IAA on trilateral cooperation on STM, which resulted in a report presented at the IAC 2022, contributing to the law and policy parts of the report;
• Support IISL and working on the Institute’s visibility when it comes to STM;
• Collaboration with Slovenia with regarding the first Slovenian Space Law;
• Contribution to Slovenia during the EU Presidency when it comes to STM; and
• Currently enrolled in the interdisciplinary PhD program dedicated to STM at the Law Faculty of the University of Vienna.

Certificate of Gratitude

Two Certificates of Gratitude presented during this year's Awards Dinner concerned the Outgoing Audit Committee and were presented to Henry Hertzfeld and Ulrike Bohlmann.

The Audit committee provided nine years of service to the IISL completing annual audits that were presented to the IISL General Assembly. This function is essential to the organization, and the outgoing members of the committee diligently provided critical reports that informed the Institute of its financial wellbeing. They are nominated for their long and excellent service in this capacity.

IISL congratulates all Awardees and thanks them for their continuous engagement and hard work for space law development and the mission of the International Institute of Space Law!