Profiles of our Resource Persons

Prof. (Dr.) Kai-Uwe Schrogl

President of International Institute of Space Law (IISL)

Prof. Dr. Kai-Uwe Schrogl is Special Advisor for Political Affairs at the European Space Agency ESA (Headquarters in Paris). From 2019, he was seconded to the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy in Berlin to support the German Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2020 and the Presidency Trio until the end of 2021. Up to 2019, he was the Chief Strategy Officer of ESA (Headquarters in Paris, France). From 2007 to 2011 he was the Director of the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) in Vienna, Austria, the leading European think tank for space policy. Prior to this, he was the Head of the Corporate Development and External Relations Department in the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Cologne, Germany. Previously he also worked with the German Federal Ministry for Post and Telecommunications and the German Space Agency (DARA) in Bonn, Germany.

He has been a delegate to numerous international bodies and forums and has served from 2014 to 2016 as chair of the Legal Subcommittee of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, the highest body for space law making, comprising 73 Member States. He also was chair of various European and global committees (ESA International Relations Committee; European Coordination Committee for the International Space Station Intergovernmental Agreement; two plenary working groups of the UNCOPUOS Legal Subcommittee, the one on the launching State and the other on the registration practice, both leading to UN General Assembly Resolutions). He presented, respectively testified, at hearings of the European Parliament and the U.S. House of Representatives.

Kai-Uwe Schrogl is the President of the International Institute of Space Law, the professional association of space law experts from almost 50 countries, Member of the International Academy of Astronautics (recently chairing its Commission on policy, economics and regulations) , the Russian Academy for Cosmonautics and Corresponding Member of the French Air and Space Academy, the International Law Association, as well as Member in academic space law and policy related institutions in China, India, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, and the UK. He is also the incoming Co-Chair of the Global Future Council on Space of the World Economic Forum.

Kai-Uwe Schrogl has written or co-edited 20 books and more than 140 articles, reports and papers in the fields of space policy and law as well as telecommunications policy, most recently the Handbook of Space Security in two volumes (at Springer) and A Research Agenda for Space Policy (at Edward Elgar). He sits on editorial boards of various international journals in the field of space policy and law (Space Policy, Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht, Studies in Space Law/Nijhoff; previously also Acta Astronautica). Kai-Uwe Schrogl holds a doctorate degree in political science and lectures international relations as an Honorary Professor at Tübingen University, Germany.

Prof. (Dr.) Eligar Sadeh

“The Man Who Wrote the Book”: Eligar is CEO & Founder of both the Astropolitics Institute and Astroconsulting International LLC; Chief Editor of the academic Journal of Astropolitics; and a professor of astrophysics, aerospace engineering, and astropolitics. Professional experiences include work with NASA, Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Stanford University, the Massachusetts Insitute of Technology, University of Colorado, U.S. Air Force Academy Eisenhower Center of Space and Defense Studies, and the International Space University. Eligar’s leadership at the Institute and seminal books, Space Strategy in the 21st Century, The Politics of Space: A Survey, and Space Politics and Policy: An Evolutionary Perspective, helped revolutionize the way we think about the human relationship to space enterprise.

Prof. (Dr.) Armel Kerrest

Emeritus Professor of Public Law in the French Universities, he taught International Public Law, especially Space Law and Law of the Sea at the Universities of Western Brittany and Paris XI. He taught in other French and foreign universities on many occasions, published books and articles on European and International Law especially Space Law and Law of the Sea.

He advises for Space Law International Organisations, Governments and Companies. He is the Vice chairman of the European Centre for Space Law of the European Space Agency (ECSL/ESA), the President of the Association for the Development of Space Law in France, the Chairman of the Institute of Law of International Spaces and Telecommunications (Brittany); a former member of the board of Directors of the International Institute of Space Law, a Member of the Space Law Committee of the International Law Association (ILA) and a member of the Société francaise de droit aérien et spatial (SFDAS). He is a member of the International Academy of Astronautics and a corresponding member of the Académie de l'Air et de l'Espace.

Prof (Dr.) Ricky J. Lee

Dr. Ricky J. Lee is an international academic and commercial lawyer specialising in the aerospace industry, having acted for and advised government agencies, launch providers, and satellite operators in over two decades of private practice. He has taught space law at universities since 2000, and holds a Ph.D.(International Law) from Murdoch University and an LL.M.(International Law) from the Australian National University.

Ricky is an Intellectual Forum Senior Research Associate of Jesus College, Cambridge; Adjunct Professor of Law, Nirma University, India; and Adjunct Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame Australia. He is a Fellow of the Australia and New Zealand College of Notaries; the Commercial Law Association of Australia; the Royal Society for the Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce; and the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety. He has published over 150 books, chapters, articles, and papers, and has presented frequently at international conferences, symposia, and workshops.

Prof. (Dr.) Maria A. Pozza

Dr Maria Pozza is the Director and principal lawyer of Gravity Lawyers, a law firm in New Zealand that provides specialist legal advisory services in space law. Gravity Lawyers also provides advice on cyber security, IT, Data, UAV’s and risk assessment. Dr Maria has been appointed as the Director of the Otago Foreign Policy School, and sits as a committee member of the National Security School. She is the Springer’s Series Editor in Space Law and Policy; the most recent publication was on Risk Management in Outer Space Activities: An Australian and New Zealand Perspective. Her most recent award was in late 2021 from AI Global as the Most Influential Women in Aerospace law 2021.”

Prof. (Dr.) Rossana Deplano

Dr Rossana Deplano is Lecturer in Law and Co-Director of the Centre for European Law and Internationalisation at the University of Leicester (UK). She specialises in public international law, including international space law and United Nations law.

Rossana holds an LLB and LLM from the University of Cagliari (Italy), a PhD from Brunel University London (UK) and a PhD from the University of Nottingham (UK). She has been Visiting Scholar at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, University of Cambridge (2017) and Scholar-in-Residence at the Library of Congress, Washington DC, U.S.A. (2018 and 2019). She has presented at the 12th Stanford International Junior Faculty Forum (2019).

Rossana is author of Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives to International Law: How States Use the UN General Assembly to Create International Obligations (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming October 2022) and The Strategic Use of International Law by the United Nations Security Council – An Empirical Study (Springer 2015). She has co-edited the handbook on Research Methods in International Law (Edward Elgar 2021) and the volume Pluralising International Legal Scholarship: The Promise and Perils of Non-doctrinal Research Methods (Edward Elgar 2019).

In the field of international space law, she has published ‘The Artemis Accords: Evolution or Revolution in International Space Law?’ (2021) 70(3) International and Comparative Law Quarterly 799-819.

Prof. (Dr.) Yun ZHAO

Prof. Yun ZHAO is Henry Cheng Professor in International Law and Head of Department of Law at the University of Hong Kong (HKU); PhD (Erasmus University Rotterdam); LLM (Leiden University); LLM & LLB (China University of Political Science and Law). Prof. Zhao is currently the Representative of Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP) of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH); Standing Council Member of Chinese Society of International Law and Council Member of Chinese Law Society; Chair Professor at Xiamen University (2020-2023). He is listed as arbitrator in several international arbitration commissions. He has published widely on various topics including particularly Dispute Resolution and Space Law.

Prof. (Dr.) Sandeepa Bhat

Prof. (Dr.) Sandeepa Bhat is working as a Professor of Law and Director of Centre for Aviation and Space Laws at National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata. He has the experience of researching on five Major Research Projects sponsored by World Bank, ISRO, the WB Judicial Academy, Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Apart from being a member of Board of Advisors of Global Network against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, Brunswick, United States of America, he has the distinction of being the member of the American Society of International Law (ASIL), Baltimore, United States of America, International Academy of Space Law (IASL), Moscow, Russia, and the International Institute of Space Law (IISL), Paris, France. Dr. Bhat has published three books on Space Law and three books on Medical Law. In addition, he has published more than fifty articles in the journals of international and national repute. He has presented over hundred and ten research papers in the international and national conferences including the coveted International Astronautical Congress, as well as in international conferences held at Jakarta, Seoul, Sharjah, Singapore, Changsha, Paris, Austin and Southampton. He also has the distinction of being a member of Indian Space Research Organization’s Expert Advisory Group for drafting the National Space Act for India.

Prof. K.R.Sridhara Murthi

Prof K R Sridhara Murthi is the Director of Academics and Planning at JAIN Deemed-to-be University, Bangalore and an honorary Director of International Institute of Space Law. Prof Murthi made rich contributions to Indian Space Programme for over three decades in the fields of Space Policy, International Relations, and expanding India’s commercial space activities. He had been a Vice President of the International Institute of Space Law and served earlier in the Boards of International Astronautical Federation and International Academy of Astronautics. He contributed to the Study Groups set up by the International Academy of Astronautics on ‘Space Traffic Management’ and ‘Global Perspectives on Regional Cooperation in Space: Policies, Governance & Legal Tools’. He has over 60 publications in national and international Journals.

Shri. V. Gopalakrishnan

Mr. V. Gopalakrishnan, had served as Policy Analyst on Space Law and Policy matters at ISRO HQ. His overall professional experience over thirty years in ISRO includes a good blend of techno-managerial and legal aspects of space activities such as Transfer of Technology, IPR management, international cooperation, strategic security and space law & policy topics. He had been a member of Indian Delegation to various international fora such as UNCOPUOS, UNIDIR, UNIDROIT and MTCR Technical Experts Meetings. He has worked on the formulation of the first draft legislation on the space activities in India. He has co-edited three publications on space law, contributed chapters to a few publications on space law and presented papers in various national and international fora. He is a member of the International Institute of Space Law and a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers (India) under Aerospace Area. Currently, he is an Adviser in the VS Mani Centre for Air & Space Law at GNLU, Gandhinagar.

Page updated

Report abuse