Nationality: French

Country of Residence: USA

Nominator: Frans von der Dunk

Supporters: Michelle Hanlon, Christopher Hearsey, Julie Jiru, Irmgard Marboe, Sergio Marchisio, Steve Mirmina, Rosa Ma. Ramírez de Arellano, Alexander Soucek

Professional path (including present position)
Current Positions: Coordinator of the UN-mandated Space Mission Planning Advisory Group (SMPAG) Legal Working Group on Planetary Defense (2018-present), Director and Lecturer on Space Law, Policy and Ethics at The Space Consortium (2017-present), Founder/Director of Massachusetts Space Week (2018-present) and Consultant at BryceTech (2023-present).

Past positions:

  • Lecturer on Space Law, Policy and Ethics at Boston College Law School (2021-2022), at Harvard Law School (2019-2021) and at Harvard Summer School (2019-2022);
  • Lecturer in the Department of Astronomy at Harvard University (2021-2022)
  • Planetary Protection and Planetary Defense Space Law and Policy Consultant at the Institute for Defense Analysis (2020-2021)
  • Planetary Protection and Defense Project Officer at the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) (2014-2019)
  • Space Economics Senior Research at Harvard Business School (2018-2019)
  • Space Regulation and Policy Consultant at Loft Orbital (2017-2018)
  • Team Manager, NASA - ASU Center for Science and the Imagination (2015-2016)
  • Advisor, French Ministry of Economy and Finance (2013-2014)
  • Emergency Hotline Advisor, French Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2006-2013)

Education and degree
PhD in Political Science, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris (2014-2024), France
PhD in Human and Social Dimensions of Science and Technology, ASU (2015-2019), USA Science and Technology Studies Research Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School (2017- 2018), USA
Space Studies Program, International Space University (2017), Ireland
Space Policy Visiting Scholar, GWU's Space Policy Institute (2016-2017), USA
LL.M. in Air and Space Law, Leiden Law School (2015-), Netherlands
M.A in Earth Science, Environment and Ecology, specialized in Space Oceanography, Earth Observation/ Remote Sensing, Bordeaux 1 University (2014-2015), France
M.A in Political Science and Law, Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University (2012-2014), France
M.A in American Civilization, specialized in Science, Technology and Society, Brown University (2011-2012), France
MA in American Contemporary History and International Relations, Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University (2009-2011), France
B.A in World History & Law, Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University (2006-2009), France

Main publications in English

  • Understanding the Social Aspects of an Asteroid Impact Threat from Socio-Anthropological Lessons Learned in Natural Disaster Management
    in “The Legal Aspects of planetary Defense”, Published by Brill, 2021, presented at the 7th IAA Planetary Defense Conference, held in Vienna, Austria, 26-30 April 2021, id. 80, https://www.unoosa.org/documents/ pdf/smpag/PDC2021_Presentation_Day5/
  • Planetary Defense Legal Overview and Assessment Report by the Space Mission Planning Advisory Group (SMPAG) Ad-Hoc Working Group on Legal Issues to SMPAG (04/08/2020) https://www.cosmos.esa.int/documents/336356/336472/SMPAG- RP-004_1_0_SMPAG_legal_report_2020-04-08+1.pdf/60df8a3a-b081-4533-6008-5b6da5ee2a98? t=1586443949723
  • International Planetary Defense: An Ethnographic Study, Published by “ProQuest Dissertations and Theses”, 2020
    https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2019PhDT……..83H/abstract
  • The International Planetary Protection Handbook, Published by "Space Research Today", Vol. 205 (10/2019)
    https://www.researchgate.net/publication/ 337415491_The_International_Planetary_Protection_Handbook_THE_INTERNATIONAL_PLANETARY_PRO TECTION_HANDBOOK_An_online-only_supplement_to_Space_Research_Today_volume_205
  • Biological Contamination Prevention for Outer Solar System Moons of Astrobiological Interest: What Do We Need to Know?, Published by “Astrobiology”, Volume 19, Issue 8, pp.951-974, August 2019 https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/ast.2018.1996
  • Space Angels, Multiple Equilibria, and Financing the Space Economy, Published by "Harvard Business School", (05/2019) https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=55897
    •SpaceX, Economies of Scale, And A Revolution In Access To Space, Published by "Harvard Business School", (05/2019) https://economicsofspace.hbs.harvard.edu/publications/spacex-economies-scale-and- revolution-access-space
  • International Coordination on Planetary Defense: The work of the IAWN and the SMPAG, Published by "Acta Astronautica", (07/23/2018) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094576517315667

Membership and professional affiliation
For All MoonKind's Institute on Space Law & Ethics, Board Member (2023-present) American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Member (2023-present) IAF Space Education and Outreach Committee Member (2022-present)
JustSpace Alliance, Board Member (2020-present)
International Institute of Space Law (IISL), Member (2019-present)
International Astronautical Federation (IAF), Near Earth Object Committee Vice-Chair (2019-present), International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) International Planetary Defense Conference (PDC), Organizing Committee Member (2019-present)
Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Initiative, Member (2018- present)
UN-Space Mission Planning Advisory Group (SMPAG), Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) representative (2017-present)

Awards and other accomplishments
United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) Space4Women Mentor North America / Europe / North Africa (2020-2023)
United States Green Card EB-2 for “Exceptional Abilities” Recipient, 2021
Harvard Kennedy School, Research Fellow Recipient, 2017
International Space University - French Space Agency (ISU/CNES), National Grant Recipient, 2017 George Washington University - Space Policy Institute, Visiting Scholarship 2016
French Ministry of Higher Education (CIFRE/ANRT), National Doctoral Scholarship Recipient, 2015 French Ministry of Defense (DGA/CNRS), MoD Doctoral Grant, Recipient 2014

Space law expertise
My expertise is in the legal and policy aspects of space threat management, notably in the fields of Planetary Defense and Planetary Protection. I have been teaching an annual semester-long course on space law, policy and ethics since 2019, have chaired the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) Planetary Defense Conference (PDC) Space Law and Policy sessions since 2021, and have vice-chaired the IAF/IAC NEO and Planetary Defense Committee sessions since 2020. I deepened my expertise as Planetary Protection Project Officer of COSPAR (2015-2019), leading the coordination and publication of the International Planetary Protection Handbook, before taking over the coordination of the SMPAG Legal Working Group on Planetary Defense in 2018. Since 2017, I also run space outreach programs (namely, “Massachusetts Space Week” and “The Space Film Festival”) through the Massachusetts-based non- profit and public charity "The Space Consortium". I have co-authored Harvard Business School Space Economics case studies, work as a consultant for Bryce Tech, and previously, for the Institute for Defense Analysis (IDA) and Loft Orbital. I have been a board member of the Space Ethics NGO JustSpaceAlliance since 2020 and of the For All MoonKind Institute on Space Law & Ethics since 2023.

IISL Position applied for
Director

Specify your relationship with the IISL
I have participated in IISL events and activities since 2015 (IISL and Galloway symposia, webinars, online meetings during COVID, social web events and IISL “happy hours”, etc.), became an IISL prospective member in 2017 and a member in 2019. I volunteered as a guest judge to the Tufts Manfred Lachs team in 2022, became the Boston College Law School Manfred Lachs team advisor in 2023 and have been coordinating a team of 17 international space lawyers and IISL colleagues since 2017 as part of the UN- mandated SMPAG Legal Working Group on Planetary Defense. I also co-authored with them a 2020 report on the legal aspects of planetary defense which I co-presented at the UN Legal Sub-Committee in 2022. Since 2018, I have run a series of IISL-related talks, “web portraits” and seminars featuring IISL board members and members of the IISL community, as well as the IISL President, whom generously also featured in two IISL-dedicated lectures as part of the space law courses I launched and taught at Harvard Law School and Harvard Summer School. I have also collaborated with fellow IISL members through the space law, policy and ethics course I have been running through the MA-based non-profit and public charity “The Space Consortium” since 2021 and through dedicated space law seminars and workshops during Massachusetts Space Week, a week-long state-wide event dedicated to space outreach, launched in 2017.

Specify the reason for applying for the postition and how you can serve IISL
I wish to serve as an IISL director to support and create more initiatives and platforms for easily- accessible-for-all space law outreach (similar to our space law activities during Massachusetts Space Week and the Space Film Festival). I also wish to support and create more equitable and freely accessible educational space law & policy 101 programs (workshops and seminars) in space law, similar to the free course we offer throughout the state of Massachusetts and to the one we are developing with COSPAR. I aim to increase access to space law resources and to develop “101 lessons” on the basics of space law, policy and ethics available to local students in universities and regions which do not currently offer such courses.
I also wish to support initiatives where transdisciplinary and collaborative works between space law academics, astronomers and space engineers can flourish, similarly to the way the SMPAG legal working group operates. As the vice-chair of the IAF committee on Planetary Defense & NEOs, a member of the Space Education and Outreach committee (SEOC),and a member of the COSPAR DEI initiative, I would like to help support existing bridges (with SEOC) and help create new bridges, like with the IAF NEO & PD Committee and the COSPAR DEI initiative.
Moreover, I wish to support the representation of space law professionals from low-income backgrounds by fundraising and building equity funds to help enable an easier access to our sector to those unable to afford working in it.
Lastly, I wish to support Diversity and Inclusion initiatives of all sorts, and continue to get involved in DEI projects such as those I have been supporting though the COSPAR DEI initiative and the UNOOSA
Space4Women mentorship initiative and program.
I wish to serve IISL with my transdisciplinary expertise, energy and commitment to further space law discussions. Through six degrees in five space disciplines and twelve years of professional experience in the space sector, I have committed myself to serving as a liaison and contributor to the field of space law. The networks I am embedded in via the Space Consortium, the UNOOSA Space4Women program, COSPAR, the IAF NEO, SEOC, the IAA PDC, AAAS and Planetary Protection and Planetary Defense committees I am involved in will give me the tools to work collegiately with my IISL colleagues and help move further the IISL goals.

Name, Surname of Nominator
Frans von der Dunk

Nominator's reasons for nominating the nominee
Support and create more initiatives and platforms for easily-accessible-for-all space law outreach (like with MA Space Week and the Space Film Festival)

  • Support and create more equitable and freely accessible educational space law & policy 101 programs (workshops and seminars) in space law (like the free course I am offering throughout the state of MA and one in the works within COSPAR to make 101 lessons on the basics of space law, policy and ethics available to local students in universities which do not offer such courses).
  • Support initiatives where transdisciplinary and collaborative works between space law academics and astronomers and space engineers can flourish, similarly to what we do through the SMPAG legal working group.
  • As the vice-chair of the IAF committee on Planetary Defense & NEOs and a member of the Space Education and Outreach committee (SEOC), I would like to help support existing bridges (with SEOC) and help create new bridges, like with the NEO & PD Committee.
  • Support the representation of space law professionals from low-income backgrounds by building and fundraising for equity funds to help create an easier access to our sector to those usually unable to afford working in it.
  • And support Diversity and Inclusion initiatives of all sorts, similar to what I did through the UNOOSA Space4Women mentorship program since 2017.

Supporters:

Michelle Hanlon

Christopher Hearsey

Julie Jiru

Irmgard Marboe

Sergio Marchisio

Steve Mirmina

Rosa Ma. Ramírez de Arellano

Alexander Soucek